Mellotronists

I was at the show last night. The band was excellent but the sound mix was so 
bad and the sound was so LOUD that I would estimate that 25% or more of the 
audience left during the show... including my wife, who just couldn't take it. 
I brought two Trons to the show that they were supposed to play, but 
unfortunately the stage was too small to accommodate them. Also, John Hawken told me he 
was very nervous about it after not playing them for nearly 30 years. We may 
try again at Sellersville, Pa. on Saturday night. If possible I will meet 
Saturday afternoon with the band and rehearse the Trons. Then, there is NEARfest 
Sunday night.

In their defense, Dave Cousins told me after the show, as did John Hawken, 
that they were not allowed to use their own sound man at the Birchmere show, but 
instead had to utilize the in-house guy, who might as well have been deaf.

All of the band members were very nice and hung out until the last fan was 
greeted and the last drop was drunk.

Frank

I was at NEARfest and was disappointed to see John Hawken use the 
mellotron for only one small part in one song (that I noticed, anyway). 
  But Frank, it sounded sublime!  (BTW Frank, I tried to get somebody 
[who knew what you look like] to find you at one point during the 
weekend but was unsuccessful)  Was The Musical Box also using your 
M400?  Besides the M400, they had another keyboard set up to look like 
a mellotron, but I couldn't tell what it really was... (<cough> 
sampler?) do you know, Frank?  It seemed to me like the tron was set up 
just for show... when I heard tron sounds he seemed to be playing the 
other, taller keyboard.  I thought maybe he also used the same keyboard 
for his hammond sounds.

Hmm, any chance of getting Martin Orford to borrow your tron when IQ 
plays NEARfest next year?  :)

Hey, has anyone heard Nick Magnus' new CD "Hexameron" yet?  If it's 
anything like his last CD then I'm sure it's worthwhile.  (and might 
even have some tron)

-Jim/M400#680

NP: Gentle Giant "Giant on the Box" DVD (had seen most of the footage 
before, but still, one of the most amazing things I've ever seen)

On Jul 9, 2004, at 4:41 AM, lsf5275@... wrote:

> I was at the show last night. The band was excellent but the sound mix 
> was so bad and the sound was so LOUD that I would estimate that 25% or 
> more of the audience left during the show... including my wife, who 
> just couldn't take it. I brought two Trons to the show that they were 
> supposed to play, but unfortunately the stage was too small to 
> accommodate them. Also, John Hawken told me he was very nervous about 
> it after not playing them for nearly 30 years. We may try again at 
> Sellersville, Pa. on Saturday night. If possible I will meet Saturday 
> afternoon with the band and rehearse the Trons. Then, there is 
> NEARfest Sunday night.
>  
> In their defense, Dave Cousins told me after the show, as did John 
> Hawken, that they were not allowed to use their own sound man at the 
> Birchmere show, but instead had to utilize the in-house guy, who might 
> as well have been deaf.
>  
> All of the band members were very nice and hung out until the last fan 
> was greeted and the last drop was drunk.
>  
> Frank
>
>
>
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----- Original Message -----

From: Jim Anderson

To: lsf5275@...

Cc: mellotronists@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Wednesday, July 14, 2004 6:23 AM

Subject: [Mellotronists] Strawbs at NEARfest (was: Strawbs at the Birchmere, Alexandria, Va.)

Jim/all

Was The Musical Box also using your M400? Besides the M400, they had another keyboard set up to look like a mellotron, but I couldn't tell what it really was... ( sampler?) do you know, Frank? It seemed to me like the tron was set up just for show... when I heard tron sounds he seemed to be playing the other, taller keyboard. I thought maybe he also used the same keyboard for his hammond sounds.

For some reason, I've run into some real unpleasantness on other lists when I've commented adversely on The Musical Box. Nonetheless, I don't mind saying here that they haven't used a real 'Tron since the legendary Pierre V.left them, some years ago. Saying that, maybe they used Frank's at NEARfest? I actually find them astonishingly wooden (the band, not the 'Tron) - more like a theatrical performance with the music as an afterthought, although I've been metaphorically torn apart for saying so. And 'upper-class English as spoken by a native French speaker' does NOT work...

Hmm, any chance of getting Martin Orford to borrow your tron when IQ plays NEARfest next year? :)

After some recent (friendly) correspondence with Martin on the subject of 'Trons, I doubt it! If it's fantastically well set-up, he just might, but I wouldn't bet on it. And yes, it's most definitely sampled everything on the new IQ, apart from some real Taurus pedals, apparently.

Andy T.