h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I live thousands of miles away, but thanks for the offer.

This morning I played the greatest gig ever. Six college students that played organ, sax, clarinet, trumpet, bass, cunga, with me on drums just played funk for two hours straight. It was so amazingly cool that I become overjoyed by just mentioning it...

So I think I'll stop.

But we were on stage playing for an audience of around 300. They loved it and so did I. I'll never forget that feeling of producing that wonderful music and recieving the vibe from the crowd ever...

When they dance and clap and sing along you feel that you live for a reason. And when they smile...

When it's real applause (not merciful applause) that they give you after playing a solo; now that's what being a musician is all about...

There aren't many musos around, are there? Are we in an empty club that only keeps going because the owner refuses to believe he's picked the wrong location? Or are we outside in the gutter?

Have you talked to Abi yet to try and get her to add our link on the community page?

I've tried putting a link on the Guild's main page, Mund, but it doesn't seem to be working. It probably doesn't help that another virtual band was created just before you came along. It seems the folks interested in doing that sort of thing were already committed elsewhere.

By all means, feel free to ask Abi about a link. You could get people responding who aren't part of the Musicians Guild yet. It's worth a try.

Time to relax. Eighteen of us played samba today to a passing crowd in the British drizzle. We felt good, people moved with the music and clapped afterwards, and then a couple asked to join the band. A good day.

That's nice to hear.

I recieved lots of hate mail today from Suz because she didn't think I emailed her saying I was going to be away, even though I did...

And then she ran away when I tried to talk to her because she felt a bit bad about it, which was a real shame because I don't really talk to her enough anyway, seeing as how we live thousands of miles and different times apart.

Anyway...

I'm a clarinettist!... (Who's being drawn to selling his instrument... *sobs*.... even if it is to buy a new one. She (http://www.njan.co.uk/clarinet) is beautiful!) ... and I'm not too bad. ... do you still need one?

This virtual band is not quite off the ground yet, though there are already sounds in my head of Yossarian percussing and myself singing and putting in some rhythm guitar or piano. Radio has the best pictures and virtual bands have the best sounds because they can do anything.

I have a song called "Harley St" which could benefit from a clarinet. I've also written a part for my son on cello, but in a sense he's even more virtual, having not joined h2g2.

Njan, can you improvise? I also play flute (even in a virtual band I have to say that I play nothing brilliantly, but if I admit to an instrument I can be convincing on it). I'm already imagining flute and clarinet lines in a call-and-response over rolling tom-toms.

It took a while to get the inner ear tuned to the virtual possibilities, but now it sounds good.

Can I improvise? Well, everyone can improvise.. suffice to say, I improvise very badly. ... (this is probably because, thus far, I haven't strayed from the lines of orchestral/solo clarinet, and so had little call to). I'm sure if I do lots of bad improvising I'll eventually become better, though.

Sounds to me like you may need a bass player?
I can drive but pefer to hang loose. I do not need to take the lime light, i'm happy sicking with the backbone. I have a jazz,rock and funk back ground. I can do a lot of drinking and can cope with the studio environment ex-sound enginer helper, so if you would like me to audition i would be happy to.

Sounds to me like you may need a bass player?
I can drive but pefer to hang loose. I do not need to take the lime light, i'm happy sicking with the backbone. I have a jazz,rock and funk back ground. I can do a lot of drinking and can cope with the studio environment ex-sound enginer helper, so if you would like me to audition i would be happy to.

sorry guys twice!!

Hi Baggyfish, and welcome. It sounds as if you could fit in nicely with Yossarian. The music I have in mind isn't jazz, but would use some of the jazz skills - sometimes you play the line straight, sometimes you work with someone else to play it and sometimes you play hints to shape it out of the air.

Well, what are we waiting for?

Let's get this thing started...

Improvisation is just harmonising with a tune which might not actually be being played at the time.

We have drums, bass, guitar/keyboards, clarinet and at least one voice. I wonder if we could book a rehearsal room at H2G2?

I have lots of sounds in my head, but can we make it more concrete?

I seem to remember the h2g2 Muses have a couple of rehearsal spaces that have gone largely unused so far...

My brain is on tip-toe.

Where are the rehearsal spaces? What facilities do they offer?

Should we pass ideas around, or circulate MIDI/WAV/MP3 files on a different network?

The most incredibly beautiful moth has just landed on my desk, so for now I fail to care...