Cass, I'll tell you what. Next time I visit the in-laws at their lake front home in Farwell, I'll pass through and bring my 800

Hi cassp...Remember My FRIEND, Your Health is the Most Important Fact Here...I know You sold Your E-60 to Me, to purchase The G-70 which You Love to play...and it's works well for your Home playing...But please don't take any risk moving it about to gigs...Most People have a problem with that situation...It's just not worth it cassp...Unless You have someone to handle it for You Ok?...Just Share Your Great TALENTS My Friend.....And HAVE FUN...Harold

Cassp... have you considered the possibility of getting yourself a musical partner, a guitarist, a sax player, something like that? On the one hand, you gain a different musical perspective on the material (hopefully a good thing ), and an influx of new material that perhaps you might not have considered, you gain an instrument that, no matter HOW hard they try, arrangers have great difficulty emulating well, and you hopefully gain a second singing voice, better than artificial harmonies, and maybe perhaps even a better singing lead voice than your own, but also, on the other hand, you also gain a partner that can assist you in lifting some of the heavier items you carry...

A burden shared is a burden halved...

Personally, I have little trouble moving my own equipment, but the addition of a MUSICAL partner has that additional benefit, and I certainly don't mind the help! But primarily, having an additional musical input helps me enjoy my gigs, adds an element of surprise (you never know EXACTLY what they are going to play, unlike an arranger) and challenge.

I know it's a BIT harder to find gigs for two as it is for one, but OTOH, in today's economy, smaller outfits (but larger than OMB) are a growth area.

Before you commit lots of money to simply making moving easier (and lose out on the sound and OS you prefer), consider the ADDITION of something to your act, rather than the removal....

Diki - I've played with my own trio for years. I'd love to continue playing with my guitarist, but he has a day job as does the sax man. Anyway, I'd prefer to let the sax go as he is no longer able to keep up, so to speak. I'm always open to playing with others; right now OMB is the focus of my efforts. Thanks for the concern and guidance.

It is the reverse for me with the trio...My job is not easier..My mixing and running the show is 3 fold..dealing with personalities that change throughout the month.. ..And waving off songs that I call..because it is "too early in the night" vocally..

And comments that the song sounds different..and it is the same MP3..they sang with for 7 years...

Then they think.."no problem" for a guest singer to come up on stage...and leave it up to me..to back them..while they step off stage..

At the end of the night..after I pack my own gear...I have to pitch in and load their gear..because they decided to chat with someone...knowing I will be there ..still..to get paid..

I disagree...Bands are not always as enjoyable ..and a heck of a lot more work..

Now working with just one of my "cute girls"..is another story..

But who says it's SUPPOSED to be easy..? It's about making art, isn't it? I am sorry, but I refuse to delude myself into thinking that simply sitting down and either running rote through a bunch of MP3's or just LH chording the large percentage of one's accompaniment and playing a simple RH melody is anything other than commerce at it's crassest. I know this is not going to be a popular opinion here (and don't forget, that is all that it is ), but on the one hand we have a lot of people superficially concerned with making music, but then we get attitudes like this, and I'm sorry, but I am sure there is another side to this coin. What do you think those dead weights you seem to think you are carrying are saying about YOU on some other forum (if they had the poor taste to actually voice them?). Only the most egotistical amongst us could possibly think that they don't have issues with US, as well

So far, I have yet to hear anything on this forum that I could comfortably say could NOT be improved by the addition of good live musicians. No matter HOW good we are, a machine is NOT the ideal accompaniment. In fact, the better we are, the WORSE playing with machines makes us. The machines keep getting better, but are still poor imitations of really good musicians (if you aren't playing with those, then that is YOUR problem, not theirs ). If you ARE a great musician, you have to ask yourself why you are playing with such lesser ones. Is it them, is it you, is it something you don't want to think about? Or maybe it is just that we are no better than they, we merely have a machine that disguises our inabilities (to the less discerning listener, at least)...

But maybe it IS simply about money... what is the value of music compared to that, in our material world?

Well, I sure can attest that playing along with the style designers of the PA800 is a very fulfilling journey. I've been in many bands with many great (Berkley grad) musicians and NO ONE, I SAY NO ONE can hold a candle to who plays along with me in that little plastic work of art. Hell, I'm pretty trained myself and it takes me forever to figure out the chords in endings and intros - what a great teaching tool. I disagree that a machine dumbs down a musician.

Harold, I thank you for all the concern for my health. Actually, one time up and down the stairs would be an event but not a catastrophe. MY strength is pretty good, but the stamina is not there as it used to be, so if I had to go up and down stairs to load all my heavy equipment into the van like I used to I'd be pretty winded and exhausted by the end. Right now, I usually enlist my daughter to help me carry it up the steps. Once it's on the main floor I can pretty much handle it with a little effort.

I will keep your good advice close to heart and only try using the G-70 in good weather. Thanks so much for your concern.

That would be me, Diki...guilty as charged.

I play LH chords, and a melody in the RH.

To me, it is not about making "art", but rather, playing instrumental music that I love, making a decent living, and being happy, the last one being the by-product of achieving the first two.

So far, it been very successful.

Ian the Most Crass

Well, I've heard you play... And I don't think that this DOES describe you at all, Ian! You spend a lot of time customizing styles to get around the very thing I describe. Hardly our typical member...

And Zuki, perhaps a less kind Diki than the current one might have quoted the "I'm pretty trained myself and it takes me forever to figure out the chords in endings and intros" and said something glib like "I rest my case" but I'm trying not to be that guy any more...

It's the rote repetition that gets me... mechanically, those 'arranger musicians' can seem superficially competent, but they'll NEVER surprise you, they'll never push the arrangement into a place that you wouldn't have taken it yourself. Heck, every single time YOU play a major chord, they are going to play the EXACT SAME THING. Forever...

If that's your idea of the perfect musician, you have my condolences. Just stay away from those Berklee grads (few of whom I've worked with had an ounce of musical common sense and taste, they are often just bitter frustrated bebop wannabes ) and hire yourself some musicians with heart and taste.