Depping for Coast at Searles Hunstanton

Chris the bass,  old bandmate from ReTrio,  asked me If I could stand in at Hunstanton for their new band Coast -  guitarist Glynn was off unwell.  They would provide PA and I would only need to bring a guitar amp,  mic and stand. Steve would do lead vocal and if I was up for it could I sing a couple as well.  Fine I said.
Come the day I loaded up my big sounding but physically small Mesa Lonestar valve amp,  Boss FX,  OM6 mic and stand.  And a music stand 'cos there were a couple of songs in the set list I wasn't familiar enough to busk.  As well as the usual Godin XTSA, I took my Rickenbacker 620-12 to give it a live airing.  Jacqui kindly agreed to accompany me and we set of for the North Norfolk coast at 6pm on a fine day.

Arriving at the gig I spotted Chris sorting the trolley to load in the gear and within a few minutes the gear was in,  car parked and I was ordering drinks!

Set up was easy and my stuff worked OK.  But the band had some problems with the PA monitors - in the end they settled for one monitor and we did Heartbeat as a sound check.  Time was short so just had time to down a beer and then we got changed for the 9pm start.  I would say the venue was about 70% full as we took to the stage.

We kicked off with "Heartbeat".  I found it a bit odd with Steve singing because I am so used to singing this song and lots of my performance cues are tied into doing that.   Despite the sound check,  the guitar sound was a bit toppy and when I switched to clean lead it was more so and a little distorted as well.  As the set progressed I decided to adjust amp levels to make it more power amp and less pre-amp but it didn't make much difference.  But it was good enough to play the gig and I don't think the audience would have been bothered. 

I picked up the Rickenbacker to do a 5 song Beatles / Searchers sequence.  Now the toppy problem was exacerbated!  Although it was interesting to play the Ricky live and it did sound very 60s,  it wasn't really the sound I wanted and I wasn't happy with the 2 volume controls. The band was going down Okish with a relatively quiet audience but the show was a little disjointed in places as they worked out what to do next. I was familiar with every song but some of the arrangements were strange.  I remember at one point playing "Albatross" which I jokingly renamed "Seagullross".  I felt I played it well and we did finish to some good applause.   We closed with "Runaround Sue.  I had finished the set on the 6 string and, with nothing jangly coming up next set,  I decided to pack the Ricky away.  As I came off Jacqui told me the guitar needed to come up a bit so I had a good look at the amp settings before we resumed.  I decided to take the treble down 10% and put up the mid 10%.  The way tone controls work on the Mesa is strange -  a reduction in treble seems to automatically boost mid and bass,  so this was a more than subtle change!

As we got going with set 2 it was clear the changes had fixed the toppy distortion and I was now happy with the sound.  I had to concentrate a bit 'cos some of Steve's arrangements were different from the record and I soon learned to keep an eye on where he was going with the song.  (Chris and Ian had mentioned that Steve's arrangements change every night!)  So there were a few mistakes and misunderstandings going on - but nothing too fatal.  I got to sing "Penny Arcade" as a request and it went down well.  A slowey followed:

The audience livened up for set 3 but the entertainments staff asked us to turn it down.  The set was not as slick as it used to be in ReTrio but Steve does a good job of working the crowd. By now Steve's missus Julie had enjoyed a drink and was joining in on lots of the dancing.  We approached the end doing "Johnny B Goode" which was interesting 'cos I could concentrate on guitar;  but again the arrangement was not what I expected.  We did try an encore with "Caroline" but it was a bit slower than it should have been.  Mind you it suited the crowd at that time of night. As we finished Ian gave me a big hug and asked me to consider coming back - they missed the leadership!  He asked Jacqui to work on me too.  Pack up was easy and we were on the way home by 12:15 getting in about 1:40am.  Tired the next day!  Reflecting on things,  its nice to be appreciated now I've gone but I'm pleased to be out of this set up.  I need some new challenges and I like things to be slick.   I had told Chris I'd be happy to dep with the boys again and he has already booked me to stand in for Steve in mid-December at Bramford so I'll need to keep in practice.

Proposed Rickenbacker Mod

After living with the new Rickenbacker 620-12 for a while I have become a little frustrated with the control system.  For a start tone controls are at the top,  but more importantly there is no master volume.

So I propose a mod' as per diagram below.  This will convert the two pick up tone controls into a master volume and master tone,  leaving the volume controls of the individual pickups as they were  -  but will I have the courage to actually do it???

 

A New Addition

A couple of weeks ago I was in a good mood following birth of grandson.  Had a day off and I was tinkering on 12 string guitars and realised I was finding it quite hard to hold the strings down across the full width of the neck.  This was particularly the case on my acoustic Takamine JC120 but even my PRS 12 string was relatively hard going.  Some of this is down to lack of musical fitness and some down to losing muscle strength as you get older.

Rickenbacker 12s are renowned for being strung opposite to most 12 strings with the bass string of the pair first on a down stroke,  and they are also known for their thin necks and close action!   I had tried a Rickenbacker 6 string a couple of years ago at friend Jack's house and remembered it being different with a very thin neck and a low but quite playable action.   A bit of research later revealed that neck nut width on most Ricky 6s and 12s is small at 41.4mm compared to a more typical 44 - 46mm from other manufacturers.  Of course with a 12 string 'real estate' on the finger board cramps fingers much tighter than a 6 string!  During this piece of 'guitar porn' research I found I was most attracted to the image of the 600 solid body series.   The Ricky 660-12 is a relatively new model and, in response to customer pressure, has a wider 44.45 mm nut width - but it is quite expensive.  In the end I decided to look for a more common and cheaper 620-12 with the thin neck to try out.  I particularly liked the Mapleglo models and, looking on the net, I found a Mapleglo 620-12 in stock at Music Warehouse Colchester.  So next time I went to the Ipswich office I finished a bit earlier and took a trip down to Colchester to try one out.

Well it looked fabulous and I immediately noted the price in the shop was lower than the web price ;-)   I plinked away for about half an hour and concluded:  + Easy action. + Perfect intonation.  + Love the sound,  its less strident than a normally strung 12 string and delivers a sort of natural chorusing sound when strummed. + The acoustic and amplified sound was very even across all the strings,  and  with a slight natural resonance,  I would say it was nicely compressed acoustically!  - The big playing drawback is the neck width cramping fingers.  Its easy to strum but hard to pick out notes to create arpeggios etc.  The neck depth comes across as feeling deep and chunkily full in the hand but with a nice silky feel. 

Rick's have a quirky control system!  You can select neck and bridge pickups individually or combined like a Les Paul - not my preferred system, I like one volume control!  There is a blend control which seems to combine pickups to give a more semi acoustic sound at one extreme and a trebley single coil sound at the other extreme.  There is a stereo "Rick-o-Sound" output which splits the pickups across two jacks,   its unlikely I'll use that.  Even in the shop it was clear that the hi gain pickups deliver a good sound level and lots of treble when you need it.

So it became 'make your mind up time'.  I could see just by playing I was getting more used to the thin neck and fingerboard so I decided if the price was right I'd go for it!  I cut the deal I wanted with the shop and left with the guitar in a strong but light Ricky case.

Here it is at home:

Now I've lived with it for a few days my playing on it is improving and, importantly, not really affecting how I play on a normal neck width guitar.  A bit like driving different cars?

This photo shows a comparison of the two necks side by side.  You can't really see much difference?   But they feel sooo different!

Soundwise I'm really happy with the Ricky and I'd love to try it on a gig sometime.  Maybe I'll work up a recording to demo it - something Beatley perhaps?  I'd also like to try out a semi-acoustic 360-12 or,  if money was no object,  the Pete Townshend 1993 12 which has the wider neck.  Dream on Mr Mog!

Family Band at Jo and SImon's Wedding

The wedding weekend approached and there was still no baby from Claire so we were a bit on edge as we prepared to set off on the Thursday.  I loaded up the Jazz Bass copy and red Godin XTSA along with the Phil Jones Suitcase bass combo and small 30 watt Vox Valvetronix for the gig.  Come the Friday evening we shifted the gear down to Simon's offices adjacent Temple Meads Station and had a bit of a practice in a basement there.  I met up with eldest son Jon who had travelled down form London to was play bass and a bit of guitar and we set up the gear keeping it simple.  Apart from the regulars in the family band,  Simon /Carl/Liz Vocals;  Roy Harmonica;  Paul Acoustic Guitar;  we had Brian (from the Flatmates) on Drums,  Jon on Bass and me on Guitar.  Echoey basement sound at the practice but we managed to get thru the half hour family band set so we left the gear there and made our way home / hotels for a pre-wedding drink hoping it would be alright on the night.

Come the day,  Brian kindly offered to move all the gear about 100 yards to the wedding venue:  "The Tunnels"  and set up with their sound man while we were at the wedding.  When we arrived by boat around 8pm all was in place and just a bit of set up needed for a 9pm performance.  There were over 150 guests waiting and the venue looked full and lively.  And we started playing pretty much on time!  Simon declared that the sound check number "Folsom Prison" was worthy of also being the set opener so we didn't need to do that again - good call!  To be fair Rich the sound man did get a reasonable on stage sound quickly and out front it was reported as very good.  Part time band members Brian, Jon and myself formed the electric rhythm section at the back of the stage and Paul, Carl, Roy, Simon/Liz formed the front talent row leading the show.  After "Folsom" we got straight on with "Jackson"  featuring Liz playing June Carter to Simon's Johnny Cash.  Next was "Bird Dog" with Carl and Paul singing the Everly parts and Simon doing the Bird Dog answerbacks.  Simon then led us into the Big Bopper's "White Lightning".  By now the band was cooking and us chaps in the rhythm section started to relax and enjoy it more.  Roy, Paul and Liz did a couple of sloweys next:  "Rather Go Blind" and "Nobody's Fault But Mine" both bluesy classics from the day.  Then the band regrouped for "Love Me Do"  Paul did an interesting introduction of "Hoochie Coochie Man" and then we were away into it.  I got to do a solo in this and the band chugged along nicely.  Roy's nephew-in-law (Simon - a jazz bassist) sat in for the next couple of songs starting with "Mojo Working" - quite fast like Canned Heat.  Then Simon R started us into the last number:  "You Never Can Tell".  As planned he leapt off the stage to dance with Jo and we brought the set to a rousing conclusion.  The audience had been very on-side throughout,  the muso's had thoroughly enjoyed it and it had worked really well compared to the practice. 

Hoochie Extract

Never Can Tell

We all took a break for a drink before the open mic session started.  A couple of local musicians started it off with quirky renditions of some well know numbers.  Then I came on with Jon and Brian to do a mini-dancey set starting with "Alright Mama".  That got the dancers going but "Bad Moon Rising" really got them going and I ramped it up a bit more with "Johnny B Goode" which encouraged some even wilder dancing.  That finished my little set and we got a truly great response at the end.  I was tempted to do another rock n roller but couldn't think of the right one so we continued with "Brown Eyed Girl" with Simon R singing and Simon the jazzer on bass.

Then I was recruited to play bass in a scratch version of the Controversials with Matt on guitar,  Carl on vocals,  Brian on drums.  We did creditable versions of "Sunny Afternoon",  You Can't Do That and an Oasis number: "Cigarettes and Whisky"  which Matt had to coach me on a little.

I continued my bit by backing Liz on "Dream a Little Dream" which went well apart from the fizzle out ending which was par for the course considering we had never before played it together thru to the end!

I thought I had finished my stint but a couple of locals asked if Jon and I would back them with Paul playing drums.  Of course I said and we got underway with a good version of "Sweet Home Alabama".  "Oh Boy" followed but there were some timing issues with the vocals coming in oddly around the 11th bar of the verse.  They signed off with "Wonderful Tonight" which was pretty untogether and that was me done.

Jon then went on guitar,  with Simon on bass and a chap I didn't know on drums to back Roy doing a very good version of "Traintime"

A bit of Traintime

We were all pleased with the way the night had gone and lots of people on the crowd said how good it was and some even wanted to book the band for weddings!  I was patted on the back a few times for my guitar work and Ms J said the guitar thru the little Vox amp was 'singing nicely' out front. 

It just remained for us to shift the gear back to Simon's office at the close at 1:30am.  Brian,  Roy,  Carl and myself did that in a couple of journeys.  Then,  tired but happy,  we got taxi's home.  Most of us met up the next day at Wetherspoons for a brunch and catch up and we were still buzzing.

My Last Night with ReTrio at Bottisham British Legion

Well the day finally arrived for my final night with ReTrio.  They had recruited Glyn on guitar and so they expected to do the next gig at Burwell with him and Steve. 

5:15pm I ran round to Chris's to meet up with him and Ian sharing a car to the gig.  We made good time to Bottisham arriving about 6pm aiming for an 8pm ish start.  Modern building with a reasonably large concert room with vaulted roof - usually good for vocals.  Right from the off the lady meeting us explained that they didn't expect many to turn out tonight.  We were to set up on the dance floor in front of some curtains which would be good to absorb slap back from the rear wall.  As we set up I tweaked the Bose analogue input levels down half a notch to 5 to de-risk input overload - they had crept up at the last couple of gigs!  Ian had forgotten his mic stand so I lent Chris my spare straight stand and Ian used Chris's boom.  Otherwise set up was without incident and it all checked out well sound wise if a little loud.  I decided to take the volume down a notch on the PA for the performance.  My throat was still a little bunged up several weeks after the onset of my cold and I kept my mic up a bit to give some scope for close mic low volume singing if things got worse.

As we got some beers in a few folks arrived including a character dressed in 1950's 'teddy boy' gear.  I asked him if he was expecting some rock and roll and he revealed he was the local retro DJ specializing in analogue sound based on his massive vinyl collection.  He  reeled off a few numbers he would like to hear and as we did most of them so it seemed we were on the right track for this gig.  There were probably only 10 in the room as show time approached and Chris was all for doing the gig in civvies.  I persuaded them to get changed saying that even if there were only a few we should give them the best show we could.  We compromised by making ties optional!

At 8:15 we struck up with FBI playing to maybe 15 spread round the room and standing at the bar.  The sound was ok but not great with a slight middley harshness (from the hard floor?) - but quite workable.  We got a good round of applause from the few and pressed on with a typical set.  We continued to be well received and a few more arrived so I stepped up the bantering.  They seemed to like this and we got some good audience interaction going and towards the end even a few dancers came up to "Runaround Sue".  Even though we would be a little over time I kept us going through "All Shook Up" to prolong the dancing and try out some audience answerbacks - which they got the idea of towards the end.  We finished to strong applause from the increased crowd of about 20 now!  The ted DJ came over to me and said we were really good and could we fit in "The Wanderer"  - yes I said if you can feed me some words.  He reeled off the first verse and I tried to run that through my head as another chap came up to say the band was great and could we do a Stones number - 'Honky Tonk Women. I said?  'Fantastic' he said! 

As we resumed I was determined to make my last gig go well and resolved to do a strong last walk with "Apache"  The dance floor was ideal for this - slightly slidey!  So I announced I would show the audience how to dance and took to the floor.  I found for the 'guitar up' bits on F,  I could do the walk and then slide towards a table of ladies on my left and then alternatively slide to another table of ladies on my right.  I could see this was getting some traction and I hyped it up (slightly tongue in cheek) right up to the end.  We were rewarded with such big applause from such a small audience that it genuinely surprised and delighted us in the band.
Apache End
I bantered us on through the set fitting in the requests and doing generally dancier material.  I do recall that "Wanderer" went well enough despite lots of mumbled words!  I got some strong sing-a-long going with "Daydream Believer - Sweet Caroline"  And some dance action with frenetic Creedance performances,  e.g:
Proud Mary Solo
We finished the set with "Hot Love into East Anglia Girls"  again to very strong applause.  The word must have got around the venue as we now had about 25 people to play to!

We opened with "Great Balls|" for set 3  Good choice as we got some sing-a-long join in from the teds at the bar.  Somehow I messed up the beginning of "Dance the Night Away"!!  Not that noticeable out front but it put me at odds with the bass line.  I suppose my re-synching gave the dancers a little more time to get up before I started the vocal!  Anyway they loved our long non-stop sequence and we had lots of dancing and singing from our small audience out to enjoy themselves.  As we cruised towards the end Ian asked for one last rendition of "Penny Arcade"  and that also went down well with the sing-a-long crowd.  I opted to do a number from a 'local band made good' next with "Another Brick in the Wall" - this was as close as we got to a ballad on this night! 
Another Brick Extract

Next it was "Mustang Sally" to fill the dance floor again and then. as we approached 11:30pm, I announced "Johnny B Goode" as the final number.  Well they surprised us again with just about everyone out on the floor doing wild dancing.  We did our outro's for the final time with Chris showing off his 'well rounded bottom' and Ian 'rattling his pots and pans' and me getting the timing right on my final guitar solo as we hurtled to the end and a fantastic reception.  For such a small crowd they made a lot of noise so I told 'em they were "Born to be Wild"  and we encored it with gusto.  We were well over time as we finished and had to decline more encores as we left the playing area on a high note. 

Even though it was late we were inundated with well wishers who were making kind remarks about the professionalism and sound of the band.  Chris issued some cards to prospects and the ted DJ thanked us for a great song selection.  I was amazed at all this and put it down to the thought that they must be used to having downbeat old country acts at this gig.  Eventually we were able to get away and get changed and set about pack up.  We got all the gear in the cars and then I found Chris and Ian at the bar negotiating a return gig.  I had to be driving to Bristol the next morning so I organised a little round of handshakes we wished each other well and I left them to it.  Strange feelings of relief mixed with nostalgia driving home - thinking of the many bands I had been in over the last 50 years and how they had usually ended amicably.  The vids were rougher than I expected but give a flavour!

Chris texted the next day to say I would be a 'hard act to follow' and hoping we can remain buddies - which was just the ending I wanted!  But 'no rest for the wicked' as,  in the morning, I had to unload the band gear and load up some back line and guitars for my niece's wedding band practice in Bristol. 

Vid of Checkmates doing Cadillac Car at the Borderline

I received a video today of The Checkmates performance at the Borderline in February.

One number we don't do regularly was this:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZ9dcChchk0&feature=em-upload_owner#action=share
 

ReTrio and Steve at Seacroft Harlequinn Ballroom Hemsby

Good job Chris reminded me about this gig 'cos I had completely forgotten it was coming up and on a Monday I usually have a long day at work.  I was able to cut work short and got home at 1:30pm to find Jacqui was out lunching with the sewing ladies.  But she had kindly left me a shepherds pie dinner so I could have my main meal at lunch and the pack up bag of sandwiches in the fridge was for later for on the road.   She was back in time to say goodbye!  I set off at 4:58 to try and avoid the traffic that builds up at 5pm.  I made the tactical decision to head out on the A143 to take the Garboldisham route to the A11 rather than the usual run through Thetford.  This was a good decision as Chris later reported traffic was bad in Thetford and he had to take the Nun's bridges rat run through to the A11. After Norwich I found I was running well on time on a cool but sunny evening and I eased up for the last 9 miles to Hemsby.  Arrived at the gig and found the Harlequinn ballroom down near reception.  Some young ladies from entertainments directed me back through the car park to the back for load in.  I had just got back to the car when Chris and Ian arrived with Bridget and Sharon in tow. We did a bit of carobatics to turn round and head back to the car park.  Then left at the 'deliveries only' sign and run all the way down to the back entrance to the ballroom.  Chris undid a safety barrier that prevents people falling down the big step onto the dance floor and then we were able to make a short load in and on to the stage.  Quite a large stage but I had to shift the bingo table to develop enough room to fit my stuff in.  It is quite a long hall - the audience sits at the far end and dances on the big floor in front of the band. Similar to the previous gig we set one Bose up out front to project into the audience.  This set up is now our preferred method.  Can't think why we didn't try it in the past - my natural conservatism I suppose? We were set up with a few minutes left to check things were working before the bingo started. 

Whilst we were having a beer Steve arrived with his stuff. Chris and I discussed with him how we would set him up.  In the end we agreed he should concentrate on vocals and we would set his Tanglewood acoustic up through the PA on low volume so he could play along or not as he felt it.  We got changed ready for a quick start after the bingo.   Then I simply plugged Steve's guitar into the spare MP3 input and boosted the pre-amp a few dB 'till we got a reasonable level.  I had already set up the spare OM6 mic for him so it we were all ready to rock!

A couple of minutes later we were underway with FBI.  It was good to see Steve doing a few Shads moves to it as he strummed along and we finished to good applause from the over 60's audience.  Good on stage sound if quite loud.  After "Heartbeat" we carried on with Steve doing most of the vocal duties on a set he and Chris had drawn up.  Early on we came across their choice of ballad: "Nights in White Satin".  We did OK just losing the way a little in the flute solo which we 'da da da-ad'  We recovered from that to do the repeat verse (like the record) and a real big ending courtesy of Ian.  It did get a good reception.  Couple of newbies in there that I coped well enough with e.g.  "Stand By Me" - fortunately in the same key we do it in the Checkmates so I was able to rattle my usual solo out to it.   We did get a few dancers up most of the time and the audience clapped every number.  Steve did a good job singing many of the numbers I had been doing - but he introduced a few minor arrangement differences which we just played along with.  A high pitched feedback developed a few numbers in and I had to reduce the PA volume - it was quite loud!  Later when I was able to look at it properly I realised I had set Steve's mic too loud compared to the rest.  He has a powerful voice anyway so it would have been no bad thing to sort this at the beginning. But,  hey ho, these are the things you learn as you begin to work with a new member.  We finished with "Brown Eyed Girl" in the original key of G rather than the F I was more used to.  But apart from a fluff on the guitar intro it went very well and we finished to a strong reception as the Entertainments manager outroduced us.  

Then there was a long break for us (about an hour) while the entertainments staff put on their singing and dance show.  Really very good !  We could see they had put a lot of work into it.  There were 3 chaps and 3 young ladies;  they all got to sing and dance in a continuous show with lots of costume changes. 

We resumed about 10:30pm.  I plugged in a long lead so I could go out front for a Shads walk. I was able to go a long way out and strut my stuff.  The band balance was very good and not too loud.  I got as far as halfway down the hall and it was a perfect level.  The guitar sound was good and dominant, but not quite as 'shiny' as on stage.  This could be down to the panning of guitar away from the front of house projection Bose on Chris's side which I had set up for when they were both behind us.  It was very well received with lots of warm applause (as it has been recently at most gigs).  We played on through a Steve and Chris's choice for the set. Steve's choice of "Save the Last Dance" came early in the set and I was able to busk that happily in E - I added some harmoniser backing vocals which filled it out nicely. I came to grief shortly after in "Hippy Shakes" which I was singing.  Somehow I brushed the off switch on the long guitar lead.  I had done this several months previously at a Bury gig so should have remembered quicker,  but it took most of a verse for me to find the switch whilst singing and get it back on just in time for the solo!  We played on.  Another newbie was "Lets Work Together" an old Canned Heat 12 bar with Steve playing quite a decent mouth organ solo on. Ian got a tight beat going at the right pace and it went very well.  As we approached the end of the set Chris called for "Hi Ho Silver Lining". It was written in key of A in the set list.  This is the key I had been doing it in but, as we got underway,  Steve sang it in another key.  There followed a period of complete confusion with Chris dropping to G while I searched around C and D for Steve's key.  I eventually worked out he was in D but couldn't get Chris to move from G.  Ian wisely brought it to an end and we moved on quickly to "Alright Now" with me singing.  That went well and then (well over time) Chris announced Johnny B Goode as our last number.  A good choice - we did really well with it!  With Steve singing I was able to concentrate on guitar and Ian set a cracking pace.  Steve did all 3 verses before I was able to lead the band through shorter outroductions than normal.  I now outro Chris by saying.  "Ladies and gents he's been showing off his big round bottom all night (bass sound I mean)  big hand for Chris on bass!"  Then for Ian  "He's been rattling his pots and pans for you all evening - its Ian on drums"  Then I did a big hand for Steve on vocals and harp.  He then outro'd me and we went straight into the J B Goode intro solo followed by one round of chorus and Ian's massively big finish to this which adds at least 30 secs to the piece.  Finally, the entertainments manager outroduced the whole band as we waved to the audience.  He wisely suppressed any call for an encore and we were done.  All very professional I thought.  Overall I would say we weren't as slick as on Saturday and the sound was a little rougher - but we had had a good time with a kind of end of term atmos emerging.  Chris showed me some complimentary email remarks from the agent on our performance at Hunstanton on the Saturday which was good to see confirming my perception that we connected really well with the audience that night.

Pack and load was hard going with it being so soon after the Saturday gig.  Steve is a most helpful chap and insisted on bringing my gear out.  He thanked me (genuinely) for my big effort to make it all work on the night and asked again why I was leaving.  I stuck to my line about it all getting too much but I did mention I wouldn't give up completely e.g. continuing with the Checkmates a few gigs a year.  Good run home getting in about 1:30 am - really tired the next day though.   Looking forward to what I think will be my last gig with ReTrio on Saturday at Bottisham.  Steve is pre-committed so we are back to a trio for that I suppose.