Mike's return to Lomond Acoustica has mixed results
7.7.21 - You could argue that winter is on the wane I suppose, but it was chilly enough when Maria and I arrived at the Lomond Hotel on Wednesday evening. Anyway, it was dark and we were cautiously negotiating the ill-lit footpath to the pub when we were intercepted by the owner of a deep but amiable voice, who turned out to be noneother than the brains behind the Indelible String Band project, maestro Noel Kennedy.
We were pleased to see him, though I was somewhat surprised - I had been under the impression that he was in Auckland, but it turned out that he'd been turned back (twice) at the airport and his mission there abandoned.
We'd managed to get the last available table sorted for the three of us when sound-guy Ray Moon invited me to get set-up and sound checked.
Ray revealed that in addition to the new, (very high) and re-positioned stage, a new audio rig with a new digital desk had been installed, as well as an imposing bank of (new) digital lights.
Hmmm..
Well, I had my new Fender Telecoustic guitar to play with..
I'd left my specs at home (!) so to start off with I couldn't even locate the power input in the back of my miniature guitar amp and was generally more baffled at the end of the sound check than I had been at the start.
About half-way through the set I regained some presence of mind and requested that my fold-back be drastically turned down - and once that was effected I felt slightly more at ease.
But not completely.
Oh well. Brian Pieper, whose birthday it was, was very happy that I'd played 'the Old Man song' (My Dad Said), and the rest of the crowd certainly seemed happy enough (they demanded an encore) and the Lomond Acoustica's main man, Rod Claringbould, asked me if I'd like to appear there again somewhere along the line - and that's the main thing..