First gig in 21 years...

[Highlander]

Here I go, pushing the envelope once again...


Comrades of the LBO...

Yep, 21 years... my goodness, doesn't the time fly past Sentient inhabitants...

Well, started early with a "GI crop" and a card from my daughter, wishing me luck...


Something for the Valve-Heads here...

Part of the message inside says, "Wishing the best of luck for your first gig since the stone ages!" She has her father's sense of the ironic...


Soundcheck went well and ran thru the set, with 2 songs played thru once more, then went home to change for the gig...

As my attire has come under close scrutiny and as this gig was to celebrate the "Child of '59" and as our drummer, Nick,  hit 50 earlier in the week with me rolling past in June and our guitarist/singer, OCP in August (keyboard player, Louis, a mere 40 year old) it has not gone un-noticed that Barbie has just rolled past, too...

Now, I want it clearly known that any connection with my name and a certain popular girls plaything's partner is entirely coincidental and has no bearing on the following...

...Tonight, Ken will be wearing an "exceptionally tasteless" Disney styled "Aerosmith - Rock 'n' Rollercoaster" top... white "vintage" Levi 501's, one size too small for present waistline... white M&S "exceptionally vintage - know their own way home" trainers... and a Tilley hat that got lost at Canaveral and made it's own way home... hair, a delightful shade of blue and green, by Roshina...


Now we've got that out of the way, whinge to your hearts content...

Nick's plan was an "Eighties" themed night with an invited audience of approximately 80 friends/colleagues/family and numerous parties really went for it with several dubiously attired females, several Ozzy's, a smattering of Rod Stewart's circa "do you think I'm sexy" (not), et-al, then plying them with alcohol and food and canned music, followed with a 9 number set featuring material from our last pub gig in '88 (7 originals and 2 covers) and it worked...!

I was detirmined to use all three of my basses (and my SG was OCP's back-up and his preference has always been my "Jack"), they had been "resting" for too long, so split the set up as follows...


Full Color Co-ordination... T'bird, shirt, and the goatee was green/blue - my daughter, Roshina's, idea... much to my wife Jackie's disgust, it washed straight out - it would have had to be cropped off for Monday, otherwise...

oh yes... FYI, I gave our FUJI-602 to my daughter, Roshina, to snap away from both edges of the stage as much as she liked and, unfortunately, the function switch got knocked, probably by me, onto the P for programmable option so these shots all have a bit of motion...  She is usually pretty good with the camera, especially with the instruction "point-and-click" - she took nearly 400...!
If anyone else among the crowd has some crisp shots 'll post at a later date...


I started off the set with the Tequilabird (tm), being inarguably the most striking instrument I own... We opened with a number entitled "Into the '80's", followed by "One in a million" and "All I want to do, (is be with you)", which features a nice chunky rolling bassline which I've always associated with the sound a steam-engine running full tilt might make, not thrash, just rolling on thru...


... OCP - "So, while Ken changes his instrument, and if anyone can think of what he should change it for, please let us know..."

Next up came the fretless RD for an instrumental called "Do the hamster" (hamster? don't ask...) - a slightly funky/jazzy number where I get to work-out...


On with the "Jack" next - I can understand why "The Official Chris Page" likes this instrument's sound; I run her with no tone control, both pots full on and both EMG-Select Passive pups and she does have a wonderful "growl", as I've said elsewhere, this is a phenomenal instrument for a budget...


"Me, and my shaaaa-dough... the Hiwatt DR103-SWITCH and Marshall 3x12 enjoyed their outing...

Chris pointed out that, "At this rate we'll be 71 before we play another gig..." and I pointed out that Louis would, "Only be 61..."


"Louis the Kiwi Keys" - will be a great loss to us when he returns to the country of his birth with his family later this year - anyone in Auckland, keep on the lookout - you'll be gaining a great key-smith b4 Xmas...! He went to the top of the hit parade when my daughter discovered you could get his CD on I-tunes...

... Anyway, next up was a novelty, which is not; I have always considered it to be one of our best numbers, but as it has novelty issues OCP has always held it back and played it under duress; Nick's boy's would have lynched him if we didn't play it so we segued it into the beginning of "Hold On"... the song is called "Armadillo" - "there's an armadillo, on my pillow..." and Chris writes great hooks, always has done, but lacks belief in his own abilities; we do our best to persuade him otherwise...


OCP - "Am I in tune...?" he looks like he enjoyed himself...


"No FP, No Comment..."

... So we rolled on into the old Sam-and-Dave number, "Hold On (I'm Coming)" which does have a Bee-U-tiful bass-line that just roll and rolls...
Next up was "Mony Mony", which I sort of chord thru... fun though... noisy...


Some ladies did a "tom Jones" and Nick was showered with skimpy items...

... So back on with the RD for our last number which is entitled "Every time I see her", which is a number we never recorded, much to OC's regret, possibly one of our best, next to "All I Want..."

Nick made a good speech to the crowd and then asked the audience if they would like us to play another, or at least a repeat, which got a good reaction, so we played "All I Want..." again, this time on RD...


an arty shot of the RD in full flow...


the goatee fails to hide my rounded chin whilst "killing them not so softly" with my bgv's...


and then it was over...The amps were shut down and the lights dimmed...

All that remains is a "ringing in the ear (and I think it's the call of the wild...)", a great memory and a reasonably good live recording via the video, at least according to my wife and daughter. as I have not had the time to run through it yet... (ran my daughter home with the head and guitars and they watched it...). There was a lot of praise, I even had another drummer complementing me on my great playing (which did nothing for my ego... ).
How good was the whole night...? the general concensus was "Please sir, can we have some more...?" so watch this space...

Now then, this has been a fairly straight posting, but up to my usual eleven on a ten scale when it comes to volume, as you would expect, as I like to write as a sideline to the day-job, but if you would like some serious wierdness I'll post another story in the cafe... how about some properly humerous Sci-Fi, not fantasy like the last one (not my usual genre - Uwe, the "Bicycle repair Fietsen - look how he tightens his nuts...!"), I have a nicely twisted one called "Moonshine", a short story that spawned an unfinshed novel called "Scotch On The Rocks"...

ps did you get this far Rob...? I'm still working thru the BaCHbird...

[Dave W]

Congratulations, Ken. Looks like a you youngsters had a good time. And your attire was perfect. 

Some people have a knack for taking blurry pictures. Might as well just consider it an art form.

[Chris P.]

Nice, Ken! Great to see those basses on stage!

[Basvarken]

ps did you get this far Rob...? I'm still working thru the BaCHbird...

Haha! Yep, the pics did help.
Looks you had big fun.

[Freuds_Cat]

You guys all have THAT look on your faces 
Definitely comes across that you all had a great time. Loving your stories Ken.

[Hellraiser4]

It was indeed a thing of beauty....especially the T-shirt Ken!

[TBird1958]

Ken,

It's easy to tell you're having a great time, playing live is almost like heroin for me - I just love it that much.
Reading your posts is almost like your internal monolouge.................Love it 

[leftybass]

Hey, tonight's my first gig in 21 hours!   

[Highlander]

From the top, chaps and ladies...

Cheers Dave, us "youngsters" sure did... and I always believe myself to be a person of impecable (bad) taste...

Chris, Lets see if we can keep em there...!

Rob, I'll let my daughter know that all her efforts were not in vain... we certainly did...

FC (not sure of your name but just keep that cat away from my squirrel...!) - "The look... of love..." of being on stage... if I stop writing, I sink...
ps did you ever come across a strange Oz band called Mr Blonde...?

Hellraiser...! you sneaky Kiwi... welcome to the weirdness that is the inside if my mind, if you haven't guessed by now... you can give your own opinion of our gig , now - this is our keys player, Louis, who just happens to be a bit of a slut, because he plays for anyone...
ps he is allowed here as he also four-plays... As I've already stated, he will most definitely be a loss to us when he returns to NZ...

Mark - "Shiny, shiny, boots made of leather..." can't argue with you, I'll try to "keep it up" for you...

Ronn, your site matches the inside of my skull...

[Freuds_Cat]

Sorry Ken, cant say I've heard of Mr Blonde.

Bret

[Rhythm N. Bliss]

Congratulations Ken S! Looks like you returned to the stage with a BANG!

[Highlander]

Not surprised Bret, Sydney based cousin with the same name as me - guitar/singer/songwriter, still trying to live the unrealised dream, wierdly, there is another Ken Stewart in Sydney (Guerillas...?) - I only got his stuff because my daughter was interested - some good hooks...

RnB (Terr...?) a good time was had by all, thanks...

[uwe]

Ken, that T shirt is fashion iconic. Puts Kate Moss in her place. You should license with Toshop.

[Pilgrim]

Man, doesn't it feel GREAT to set foot on stage for the first time in more than two decades?  BTDT a couple of years ago, but Ken was smart enough to get photos! 

And a faaaaaaaaaaaaaabulous T-shirt, too!

[godofthunder]

 That looks like a whole lotta fun and makes me glad I never put it down even though many people ask why I don't act my age. What you want me to go get the shovel ? Sod off !