Simmo's back in town

[simmo123]

Hi Folks
A big Hi to all the members of the forum old & new it’s been a little while since my last post, sincere apologies for my absence which has been unavoidable what with several ongoing important issues ((health /family etc) to deal with which has taken up a lot of Patricia & myself’s time. Patricia is still having ongoing treatment but improving & myself still having my usual check ups, I look forward to being part of the forum once more & hopefully getting a few of my ramblings started up again. I am still fitting in some of my oldies gigs but have scaled back & just keeping them local, busking at our Sunday market has also been put on the backburner since last year, however I’m sure that there has been a few changes to the forum during my absence & hopefully most of the old crew are still around.
Once again best wishes to all...Ole Simmo

[freeway]

Great to see you back with us Terry we were all getting a bit worried when we didn't hear from you for so long glad you have things sorted now and back with us

Good to see your still gigging also keep em rockin !!

Regards to Patricia as well

Barry

[geordiebennett]

Hi Simmo,
It's good to see you're back with us again,we were wondering what had happened to you.Hope you get things sorted out at home soon.All the Best.Geordie

[simmo123]

Many thanks for your most welcome response Barry, Tommy & Geordie I really appreciate it and I will pass on your kind words to Patricia, I am finding that logging in etc seems a little strange but I think I have got it sorted, I haven't had a chance to have a look at many of the old posts / new members etc but I'm sure I will soon get up to speed but if anyone would like to catch-up with me including any current or new members re, forum news etc please feel free to do so. Life for the Simmo's is getting back to some sort of normality and the local oldies gigs at aged care homes, nursing homes, retirement groups are starting to flow in again, had one today plus three more this week as well. I am still staying local which cuts down on the travel side of things & having only to play for one hour concerts makes life easier as well. I am hopefully getting more accomplished at making my backing tracks what with having had a bit of time at home, I'm still editing & customising the midis using Sonar as well as using the quality sounds from my Sonic Cell sound module, then turning them into into wav/ then into mp3 which is the format I use on my oldies gigs. Since Patricia's health problems we had to cancel out trip to the UK which we had all booked & paid for and after the usual response ( playing silly buggers when it comes to paying out a genuine claim ) from our travel insurance, however after several months of stonewalling from them we finally got it all refunded ( less $200 fee for making a claim ).We are not to sure when we will be coming over to the UK but with myself still having a sister in Sussex & Patricia who was moved around for the early years of her life from home to home & never knowing any real family was able to finally track down after 60 years( with the help of a real gentleman from the West country of England who was into genealogy ) her real family ,( brother, sisters, nieces, nephews etc who had no knowledge that they had another sister. Its a long saga with lots of twists & turns.
I had better stop now as its starting to look like another of "ole Simmo's Ramblings".

Best wishes to all members ( new & Old )..

The Simmo's...from down Baldivis way

[doricvision]

good to hear from you again ,we were all quite concerned when you went awol,pass on my good wishes to Patricia
Bigmike

[JazzCat]

Welcome back simmo! I just dropped in from out of nowhere myself! we're a couple of baaad boys n' girls. LOL!

[rogerb]

Good to see you both back Simmo and Cat -you have been missed, it's been too long.

[Jacqui]

Hi Simmo,
Good to have you back in the camp again, sorry to hear that things have not been so good heath wise with you and Patricia, I hope things are on the up now for you.
It's a real shame you had to cancel your trip to the uk, but lets hope you can make it another time when things are a bit more settled and rosy, your health has to come first and foremost.

Also good to see Jazzcat back again, we've missed you being around too, hope things are good for you and your still keeping busy with your music.

I also don't get on the forum as much as I used to but try and pop my head in when I can and catch up on what's been happening.


Jacqui

[simmo123]

A big hi to Big Mike, Jacqui & Roberb it was really nice to get your most welcoming messages I didn't realise that I had been off line for so long, Patricia also would like to

thank you all for your kind thoughts as well, we both feel very humbled by the response of the forum members. Well today, Monday the 11th of May started off with perfect weather

for the time of year which is our autumn, clear skies and a top of 25c and unfortunately no rain in sight which means hand watering for all of the newly planted seeds ,plants etc,

we are the only state in Australia that does not have daylight saving so it means that it still gets daylight pretty early over here. Had a morning gig today, it was unfortunately

north of the Swan river (which divides the southern suburbs from the northern suburbs )we live in the southern area which is better for me when you factor in the travel. It was a

10.30 to 11.30 gig which meant that the freeway had cleared after the morning rush but I still had to leave around 9.30 to get there & set-up my gear. Ok all is well I get there in

time, set up & get into my first song when I hear the sound of a breaking string, it was the high E string, I managed to get through the song & as I always carry a set of spare

strings with me I was able to quickly put the spare on without to much of a delay before going into the next number. I have a pretty clear week up to Friday when I have local gig.

My PA system ( Yamaha 500 stagepas ) went down on me a couple of weeks ago, it had put in plenty of milage over the past few years & was ready for replacement so I bit the bullet &

got myself the latest Yamaha 600i stagepas which is heaps better. I managed to get rid of my old one through Gumtree without any problems. Being a solo act I can manage a lot of

the venues using just one speaker which means I can be ready to start within ten minutes of arriving.My backing goes through one channel, vocal another & my guitar in another

channel, with a few channels spare if needed. My guitar is an Ovation semi/acoustic which has an incredible sound, I got it second hand a couple of years ago from Frankies part of

the world in Queensland. I probably need to come forward a few years with my song list but playing all of the time to the Oldies groups I find that if I mix A few up tempo ones

they can jive to it seems to satisfy them. My cd is still ticking over with around 500 almost gone which was the amount I started with nearly 2 years ago, so I have just had

another 300 pressed which arrived a couple of weeks ago, the good thing was because they have the master copy from the first recording session it was just a matter of picking up

the phone to put my second order in. I had to go through the copyright process again but it was just a duplication of the first recording so I just received an a/c for the

copyright for the 300 new cds.

Well Folks..thats about all for now, so best wishes to all from the Simmo's down Baldivis way..ps good news they have almost finished a new shopping centre just a stones throw from

us which means we will not have to travel so far

[simmo123]

Hi again ,it looks like the ole fella has done a bit of a double take on this post...ah well nothing changes for the ole fella..hope that you can decipher it ok...Simmo