Ole Simmo back on the scene

[simmo123]

A big hi to all members old & new, just thought that it was time this ole bugger put in an appearance, many apologies for being AWOL for a little while but hopefully someone will have a distant memory of my previous time on hangout. I am still into the music after having to have a break for a while due to various circumstances, I actually managed to find my original password which was quite amazing. I am now back gigging at senior groups aged care homes etc which I am very pleased about. My good wife Patricia has been a real rock for me, I guess after nearly 54 years together we must have got it right.
It would be great to renew old friendships plus get involved in the music scene again, as a solo act I am still involved in the midi/backing tracks etc but I guess that there has been a lot of changes etc since when I was involved with the forum

Look forward to picking up old friendships etc

Kind regards to all .."Ole Simmo" down Aussie way

[freeway]

Great to see you back amongst us Terry and glad to hear your still gigging away. Yeah its gone vey quiet here on the forum over the last year or so Id say a lot of it is due to the recent economic downturn not as many gigs about as before so less money and probably less to talk and complain about ha ha . I too have lost a lot of work Im lucky to be doing 1 gig a week these days compared to 3 or 4 nights a week in years gone by. Sign of the times I suppose the younger generation not hitting the pubs as much these days the whole drinking culture is changing . Drinking their bottles at home and straight to the night clubs seems to be the in thing nowadays by-passing the pubs altogether .Can't really complain after 30 years gigging its great to be still getting work . Anyway keep in touch great to see you back with us once again.

Regards to Patricia

Chat later take care

Barry

[simmo123]

Hi Barry, many thanks for your reply, glad to hear that you are still out there gigging and as you say its a sign of the times we live in regarding the slowing down of the gigging scene, I believe its a similar situation over here in our part of Aussie.I have a younger brother who plays bass in a five piece country band who is also finding the gigs hard to get other than a couple of regular oldies clubs, also if you look at what they are getting in payment for a four hour gig plus the setting up etc its really peanuts.
With my situation going around playing as a solo act ( thanks to my customised backing tracks ) to senior groups ,aged care facilities, nursing homes plus I am also been giving concerts to local government sponsored groups as well & I find that being only one hour concerts its not to stressful, in fact I really enjoy doing them.
Another upside is I an able to minimise my gear putting everything through my Yamaha stagepas 600i,using just one speaker at most venues.
Transporting is easy since I have customised a normal sac trolley with everything setup to go, just set up my mic & music stands & hook up to a power point, plug in my guitar & its a goer.
Our eldest son who is 50 years old does the same thing as the old man as well, in fact he may have up to 3 gigs in one day playing at similar type venues including a lot of mine, this coupled with an online site on Ebay where he has a site selling music memorabilia, cds, dvds, books etc he doesn't actually have a real job.
As you see Barry even though I was a bit of a late starter in this music thing ( about 60 years when I got my first serious guitar ( an Ovation ) I now have another but a semi/acoustic which I use all of the time.
As you know without all of the kind assistance given to me by the members of this site several years ago, guiding me through the world of midi I would probably never have followed though wit my music career.
I do have every thing turned into mp3 format for convenience at my gigs but I do save all of my edited midis using sonar cakewalk so I am able to make any changes on my home desk top computer key,tempo etc if required at any stage.

no gigs today its a free day, weather here a little cool for the time of year 24c but we have summer to look forward to.

Kind regards to you & your family Barry plus a big hi to members old & new.

Simmo

[Tommydee]

Comming over to your part of the world in march visiting one granddaughter in Perth then on to Melbourne to see the other one
Tommy

[simmo123]

Hi Tommy, thanks for your great news about your visit to our part of the world to catch up with family, I'm sure that you are getting excited about it, I bet all of the family over here are looking forward to it, have you got any dates as yet??, Patricia & I have got a holiday booked for the last week in march but otherwise we are pretty clear. It would be great to have a catch up with you all, I hope the good lady is coming as well. Weather wise here will be great for you after you coming out of your winter.
Keep in touch with dates etc.
best wishes to you all...The Simmo's

[Tommydee]

Don't know the exact date yet Terry will let you know
Tommy

[maverick]

hi Terry great to see you back I myself has had a terrible few years lost my brother and sister and had a few ops on the way but back again gigging like yourself im doing the care homes and housing complexs talk soon all the best to you all maverick(Jim)

[simmo123]

Hi Jim sorry to hear your sad news, thanks for keeping in touch will talk soon its 7.45 pm our time & Patricia has a few things for me to sort out plus I have got to go out for a while..best wishes ..Terry ( simmo)

[mark]

Hi Terry

Great to here you are still singing and playing your guitar.+ 24 sounds great to me it was -3 when I left for work this morning. Still that is pretty mild weather up here in the North of Canada. My little town of Lac la Biche made International news back in March. We were housing 1000's of refugees from the fire in Fort Macmurray. I put on two concerts with local musicians to take their minds of all their troubles. One In Plamondon and one at the Bold center. I, like you are still singing I have two Christmas gigs and am booked for new Years Eve but apart from that not much else.
I work for the Local newspaper selling advertising these days.I enjoy it but it's not the same as full time singing like I did in the UK. I met a German Musician who lives here. he plays piano, guitar, ukele. We formed a duet called "The 2 Euros" and we have been quite busy recently.We sing in different languages I do the English, Spanish and Italian. he does English, French and German. We are pretty unique up here so it is working out well.

Any how I am about to go home.

I just thought I would touch base.

All the Best to you!


Mark

[simmo123]

Hi Mark, great to hear from again with all of the news in your part of the world & yes that was a major disaster up in you part of the world, great to see that you are still involved with the music & that sure was one big gig you did for those unfortunate folks. Weather wise I don't think Patricia & I would survive the extreme cold, even today we may get to around 28c & I am considering it is warm enough to break out the shorts or stay with the jeans.
Our recent trip to the UK was a real test for us weather wise, we would stroll along the promenade in Littlehampton all rugged up in sweaters & coats only to see all of the folks stretched out just about naked on the very stony beach trying to snatch a bit of sun. On the promenade it was so funny to see all of the folks sitting in deck chairs with a hanky with knots in it on there heads, also as the sun moved around so did all of the chairs as well.
All is well over here plus still full on with my oldies gigs.
Best wishes to all the family... Simmo