Electric Legend

Nancy seriously electrocuted herself on stage the other night. Don't panic - she's okay.

The Negotiators Duo were up at Hamley Bridge gigging at a friend's birthday at the local (for some photos of a previous visit, click here). End of first song, audience settling in, Steve working his gear (I think) and Nancy standing there completing a circuit with full mains power flowing through. For quite a few seconds she stood there, incapable of moving. No-one seemed to notice. And then the power shorts and she's thrown to the ground.

Not knowing if she's still 'live' or not, the girl scout in her comes out and she tells people to not touch her, supine on the floor. The local Country Fire Service Paramedic dude is apparently doing the same thing. In a few minutes she's having a cup of tea. A few minutes more and the show kicks off again. The paramedical dude stayed til stumps. Apparently there was dancing on the bar before the night was done.

Now that's a rock'n'roll legend in my mind! Still, I'm glad I wasn't there. I would have freaked.

Hopefully NOT repeating that performance, Nancy and Steve front for The Negotiators in our hiatus breaking gig this Friday Night at Club 168 in Port Adelaide from about 10 pm.

For a report on our last gig together (in August last year, for heaven's sake!) click here.

PS Nancy's been checked out medically. All systems OK. The doctor's were impressed!

Unintentional Cookie Distribution

Sorry! Sitemeter have been using this blog, and millions of others, to distribute a cookie into viewer's machines - without permission implied or actual to do so. I believe they have now updated their user agreement, but only following a storm of protest. As far as I'm concerned the damage is done, and when I get around to it I'll be removing their stacounter from this site and (perhaps) replacing it with something which only does what it says and doesn't use you unwittingly for someone else's commercial benefit.

Anyway - if you're wondering what a 'cookie' is, it's a little 'program' that sits inside your computer and reports back to its host about what your computer does. They can be very handy things, but there's no benefit to you or me I believe with the one sitemeter have distributed. It is called specificclick. It won't kill either you or your computer, but if you want to know more about it and how to get rid of it, click here.

Oh - and don't forget The Negotiators are playing down at Club 168 at Port Adelaide this coming Friday (June 1) from 10 pm!

Upcoming Gigs - June 1 and 28

The Negotiators will be gracing the public stage twice in June! This is our long awaited and much sought after return to performing.

June 1 - Club 168 Poolhall - upstairs Cnr Vincent/Commercial, Port Adelaide, from 10 pm
June 28 - Finsbury Hotel - Pennington (?)

The Negotiators Duo will also be playing soon, out at Hamley Bridge Hotel on May 25th from 9pm.

We've been kind of in a holding pattern since late last year when Nancy's voice went away for awhile. I think we've gotten better, but aren't as tight as a band as we could be. Therefore, the first Poolhall gig will be a bit of a testing time I suspect, and we will sink or swim. My instinct tells me we'll rise to the occasion.

We've got a couple practices between now and then. I imagine they'll be fairly focused events. Hope to see you there...

Muse on the muse, Negotiators Duo update

The Negotiators finally got together again on Sunday for a 'practice' (more of a jam, really) at Steve and Jackie's. Played quite a few old classics and a handful of originals from the days of Requiem. There's something that clicks when all five are together that isn't quite there when it's just the four of us. Listening to what we were doing, I could hear that we have grown into a unit. Not a polished unit, but one that when it gets it gets it well.

Every unit has its own sound. Even when they play the same songs, in the same style, they will still have uniquely identifiable groove which is theirs alone. When you hear it, you know. Not all bands have it. In fact, over the years I've seen a lot of performers who haven't 'found their sound'. It always eventually comes down to sounds like going through the motions. When you have your sound, your music comes alive.

It's a bit different than simple performance or technical skill. It is a collective inspiration expressed in the sound of the unit. If there are inspired moments occuring on stage, the moment will shine. Across an evening, a band with its own sound will carry both itself and its audience into the altered state which is rock n roll. As long as it holds its own act together aesthetically.

And with every practice session we do, we get better at this last.

The Negotiators Duo (Steve and Nancy) play at the Excelsior Hotel, Hawker Street in Brompton, this Friday (11 May) from about about 7.30pm.

The Status Quo ...

...continues.

Band waiting to get together again. Seem to have lost the flywheel at present.

The Duo plays this Friday night at Excelsior Hotel, Cnr Hawker and Coglin Streets, Brompton. Start around 9. Hamley Bridge Hotel on May25th.