Love for my Parrot, a confession.

[jozz]

So I went busking with my Parrot and I loved it

it got rained on, beer, and chucked in corners of bars, picked up for another round

played not half bad, actually it was kind of nice

it sounds like a real street accordion

[video=youtube]

 

[Tom]

Big fun!!!!

 

[Stephen Hawkins]

Hi Jozz,

Be proud ....... make this a statement, rather than a confession. Your Parrot sounds fine, and is the perfect instrument for the rough & tumble you are subjecting it to.

Not everybody needs (or particularly wants) a top of the range instrument, which is precisely why cheaper imports fulfil a useful role. I would hate to take a very expensive Italian instrument to some of the places I play in, and I seriously doubt that most people who hear me play would know the difference.

Would you buy a Ford or a Ferrari to do your weekly supermarket shop and run the kids to school?

Kind Regards,

Stephen.

 

[maugein96]

Hi Jozz,

Be proud ....... make this a statement, rather than a confession.  Your Parrot sounds fine, and is the perfect instrument for the rough & tumble you are subjecting it to.  

Not everybody needs (or particularly wants) a top of the range instrument, which is precisely why cheaper imports fulfil a useful role.  I would hate to take a very expensive Italian instrument to some of the places I play in, and I seriously doubt that most people who hear me play would know the difference.

Would you buy a Ford or a Ferrari to do your weekly supermarket shop and run the kids to school?  

Kind Regards,

Stephen.

Stephen,

Ferrari every time for me, as the sooner the kids are dropped off and the shopping done the better! 

It's not so much the make of the accordion as the quality of the player. 

As a bonus, Jozz shouldn't need shoulder straps with a Parrot!

 

[losthobos]

Good day out....

 

[Stephen Hawkins]

Hi John,

Speaking only for myself, I would hate to have the worry of leaving my Ferrari on a supermarket car park. In the same way, I would not be comfortable leaving a top-end accordion under the table in a folk club while I nipped out for a cigarette.

Kind Regards,

Stephen.

 

[maugein96]

Hi John,

Speaking only for myself, I would hate to have the worry of leaving my Ferrari on a supermarket car park.  In the same way, I would not be comfortable leaving a top-end accordion under the table in a folk club while I nipped out for a cigarette.

Kind Regards,

Stephen.

Stephen,

If I was rich enough to actually "afford" a Ferrari, not just own one, I'd simply buy another one if somebody hit it with a shopping trolley. I've had many cars over the years and none of them was without a dent or scrape for very long, regardless of the make. In Birmingham, where our car insurance is one of the dearest in the country, I've reached the conclusion that you are best to buy an older but reliable tank like car and just drive like the rest of the maniacs on the road. If you arrive home with your car the same shape it was when you left then that's a bonus. 

Cannot for the life of me work out why anybody in the UK would want a prestige car of any make. I regularly overtake them all on the M5,M6, and M42, when we're all restricted to 50mph (if you manage to get to that speed) by the roadworks that have been there in one form or another for the last 30 years. I just Googled Ferrari to see what they looked like. Another pile of (admittedly stylish) useless junk metal stuck in nose to tail traffic for ever the same as the rest of us. Might be great at 0300 in the morning, though, but I'm too old to care.

It's enough to make your parrot fall off your shoulder!

 

[jozz]

At the time I was mainly concerned with rain during the walks from bar to bar. Everybody else: banjo, guitar, bass guitar and a small battery powered speaker was subjected to rain. I had my box in my backpack. Preventing denting it was secondary.

I have a mixed feeling about it. I see world-class guitarists walking around with trashed Stratocasters (they even dent and bleach new ones on purpose), but still sound awesome regardless.

I like the idea of having only one instrument, which is THE instrument. And what happens to it, adds to the story. Only maintaining the insides and play-ability. But I'm not quite there yet with my Bugari.

 

[Stephen Hawkins]

Hi Jozz,

You are probably good enough to warrant the expense of a top of the range instrument, but many are not. At least some of your income is reliant on satisfying the expectations of your audience, which is a reasonable justification for buying better instruments.

A friend of mine is a professional musician and singer/songwriter. Nowadays he plays a beautiful Bugari, but he used to go on stage with a Chanson. I bought the Chanson from him when he traded up, though I don't use it much these days.

The point of the matter is really simple .......... Your Parrot and my Chanson are good enough for certain venues and types of music. If ever I am invited to play at The Royal Albert Hall, I will go out and buy a better instrument. My Arietta and my Galotta are also okay for what I need them for.

Kind Regards,

Stephen.

 

[maugein96]

Hi Jozz,

You are probably good enough to warrant the expense of a top of the range instrument, but many are not.  At least some of your income is reliant on satisfying the expectations of your audience, which is a reasonable justification for buying better instruments.

A friend of mine is a professional musician and singer/songwriter.  Nowadays he plays a beautiful Bugari, but he used to go on stage with a Chanson.  I bought the Chanson from him when he traded up, though I don't use it much these days.

The point of the matter is really simple .......... Your Parrot and my Chanson are good enough for certain venues and types of music.  If ever I am invited to play at The Royal Albert Hall, I will go out and buy a better instrument.  My Arietta and my Galotta are also okay for what I need them for.

Kind Regards,

Stephen.

Jozz,

Even a cheap €100 Euro Squier can sound like a top notch Strat in the right hands, and it's a shame there isn't a €500 version of your Bugari. 

Stephen,

I was invited to play at the Royal Albert Hall on Sunday, but can't make it due to a more important booking in Birmingham. I didn't want to let my agent down so I've given him your name, and you should be able to find a decent box by then. 

I'm pretty nervous about the big Birmingham gig. The cat has made a couple of friends since we moved here, and I've never played in front of any more than two cats before!

 

[Stephen Hawkins]

Hi John,

I'm afraid that I am unable to accept the booking at the Royal Albert Hall, as I may be playing for the Sheep & Horses at a local beauty spot.

They all seem to like my Arietta, though their tastes in music are very different. The Horses enjoy "Wild Mountain Thyme" played in a faux musette, whilst the Sheep are very fond of anything by Elvis.

Cats are beyond my experience, though Dogs always wag along to "Daddy Wouldn't Buy Me A Bow-Wow" and "The Wild Rover." Cattle are quite enigmatic, as they give no clue to their musical preferences. I imagine that I have seen them smiling whenever I have played "The Wayward Wind", but that could have been .......wind!!!

Good luck with the Cats ..... I hope they are an appreciative audience.

Kind Regards,

Stephen.

 

[maugein96]

Hi John,

I'm afraid that I am unable to accept the booking at the Royal Albert Hall, as I may be playing for the Sheep & Horses at a local beauty spot.  

They all seem to like my Arietta, though their tastes in music are very different.  The Horses enjoy "Wild Mountain Thyme" played in a faux musette, whilst the Sheep are very fond of anything by Elvis.  

Cats are beyond my experience, though Dogs always wag along to "Daddy Wouldn't Buy Me A Bow-Wow"  and "The Wild Rover."  Cattle are quite enigmatic, as they give no clue to their musical preferences.  I imagine that I have seen them smiling whenever I have played "The Wayward Wind", but that could have been .......wind!!!

Good luck with the Cats ..... I hope they are an appreciative audience.

Kind Regards,

Stephen.

Hi Stephen,

No problem, the gig at Royal Albert Hall is off now anyway due to the current health scare. 

The cats will be kept behind the bedroom door, as if ours gets into the room he'll be on my shoulder (like a parrot!) and he's just short of 7kg. He hits the treble buttons with his paw and in a couple of weeks he'll probably be better than I am. He's already quite good for a 3 year old, but tells me he's looking for a better teacher!

 

[Stephen Hawkins]

Hi John,

I have never quite got the hang of metric measurements, though I understand that a KG is about 2.2 lbs.

Kind Regards,

Stephen.

 

[maugein96]

Hi John,

I have never quite got the hang of metric measurements, though I understand that a KG is about 2.2 lbs.  

Kind Regards,

Stephen.

Hi Stephen,

Same here, but we're the only generation left who still use the old Imperial units of weights and measure. 

Incidentally, what's 2.2 lbs? Should that not be 2lbs, 3 and 1/5th ounces? (approximately) 

Cracked me up when they told us that a kilo was 2.2 lbs (approximately), and a new 10 pence piece was "roughly" the same amount as an old Florin. 

We ended up with a mixture that nobody our age can be bothered to work out. 

Teacher:- "Children, on the continent of Europe they use the metre as a unit of measurement, and that approximates to 3 feet 3 and a quarter inches long."

Star Pupil:- "Excuse me sir, we use meters in our house to tell us how much gas and electricity we use, and they're nowhere near as long as that!"

Here endeth today's lesson! 

It was scary on the building sites. On the very odd occasion we encountered metric sizes in the 60s and 70s, a metre was referred to as "a yard and the width of a small woman's hand extra". Bet you're glad we weren't building tower blocks!

It hasn't gone away yet, either. I'm about to buy a garden shed and the company lists them in imperial. So my shed is "approximately" 8 feet by 6 feet, but the windows are given as 457mm x 510mm, and not an inch less!

 

[Dingo40]

John,
Well said!
We underwent  "decimalisation" in Australia also, but many of us still adhere to the old imperial measurements.
I still can't envisage the height of a suspect 1.8 metres tall and weighing  90 kg .
And who's the brainiac who decided all building dimensions should be given in millimeters?
How can anyone envisage a door 1,025 mm ( is that 1m 25 cm, or 1 m 2.5 cm?) wide and 2,003 mm long?
What about a bridge 800,000 mm long?
Of course, everyone just mentally chops off two or three decimal places and converts to centimetres or metres, but wouldn't it have been more sensible to give the dimensions in metres and centimetres in the first place? :huh:

 

[maugein96]

John,
Well said!
We underwent  "decimalisation" in Australia also, but many of us still adhere to the old imperial measurements.
I still can't envisage the height of a suspect 1.8 metres tall and weighing  90 kg .
And who's the brainiac who decided all building dimensions should be given in millimeters?
How can anyone envisage a door 1,025 mm ( is that 1m 25 cm, or 1 m 2.5 cm?) wide and 2,003 mm long?
What about a bridge 800,000 mm long?
Of course, everyone just mentally chops off two or three decimal places and converts to centimetres or metres, but wouldn't it have been more sensible to give the dimensions in metres and centimetres in the first place? :huh:

Hi Dingo,

Doesn't matter what you call the units. A US gallon is less than a UK gallon, for some reason, and when I told my cousin in the US that I'd lost a stone she said she hoped I found it again, and was I insured? 

For North Americans a "stone" is 14 lbs. We have extreme difficulty in working out what somebody who weighs 250lbs would look like,  I would guess that most of them would be members of the F.B.I., like myself.  (That's Fat B******s International, and has nothing to do with law enforcement). 

At the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic, they have notices to advise drivers that the speed limits in the Republic are in kilometres, and the ones in N.I. are in MPH. 

Gardaí (Republic cop) :-" Do you know what speed you were doing, sir?"

N.I. motorist :- "It said 60 (mph) on my car speedo."

Gardaí:- "You were doing well over 100 (kph)."

N.I. motorist:- "This car can only do 95 max."

Gardaí:- "Sorry I stopped you, my speed gun must be faulty."

Don't know what we'll end up using when we're finally out of the EU. 

In Roman days they were already at it, as Agrippa rounded 280 feet off a mile and made it 5000 feet, instead of 5280 feet. That was in 29 B.C. and you'd have thought they'd have it all worked out by now. 

If the EU object to us continuing to use their units, looks like all the newborn kids will need to have 6 fingers on each hand if we go back to the old currency and feet and inches, as it will take a long time to change over again.

 

[Dingo40]

John,
The primary school students of my generation and before spent many busy hours in school working out bills involving items such as:

Three ells of material at £12/16/11 three farthings per yard.
2 gals, 3pints, 1 gill Olive oil at £1/13/6 per quart.
Etc...

Get one item wrong, and it was back to the drawing board!
No calculators then 
And... tests in most subjects every Friday! :s

Kids these days don't know they're alive!

(I'm not really an old grouch! , but that's how it was, and we survived!)

 

[maugein96]

John,
The primary school students of my generation and before spent many busy hours in school working out bills involving items such as:

Three ells of material at £12/16/11 three farthings per yard.
2 gals, 3pints, 1 gill Olive oil at £1/13/6 per quart.
Etc...

Get one item wrong, and it was back to the drawing board!
No calculators then 
And... tests in most subjects every Friday! :s

Kids these days don't know they're alive!

(I'm not really an old grouch! , but that's how it was, and we survived!)

Dingo,

Farthings were taken out of currency here in 1948 (I think) before I was born. With 960 of them in an old pound I'm glad I never had to carry many, although I remember them as pretty insignificant little coins with a wren on them. 

FWIW in the west of Scotland we used to call 5 shillings a dollar, and a half crown piece was half a dollar. That stemmed from the time when 4 US dollars were worth £1 GBP, so with 20 shillings in a Pound, 5 shillings were equivalent to a US dollar. Remember Guineas, which were worth 21 shillings here, and probably the same in Australia? In those days Arithmetic was a different subject to maths in Scottish schools, due to everyday calculations being so complicated.

Scottish pubs used to have to tell customers what measures they used for spirits, usually a 5th or a quarter of a gill. Women were not allowed in the public bar, and men were only allowed in the lounge bar if they were accompanied by a female, and not in working clothes. 

The Romans tried to bring civilisation to Britain with them, but it never really caught on.

Sorry, forgot this topic was about Parrots. You could get an African Grey for 30 bob in the Barras market in Glasgow!

 

[Tom]

And I thought it was crazy to measure your accordion tuning in cents. Seems my old Hohner's musette was at least a Euro, if not a farthing.

 

[Dingo40]

John,

Those were the days!