Who's the dummy?

I always wanted to be a ventriloquist and in my teens spent a few weeks of my hard-earned apprentice's pay to buy a superb figure. I never really worked hard enough to master the art so Humphrey has spent most of his existence in the case. Dummy.

Click here to see my page.

Vodaphone visit? Take a bed with you.

Or at least a chair. It seems company policy prohibits sales kiosks from providing anything for a customer to sit on and since it takes at least twenty minutes to service each customer and there are usually three times as many waiting as there are sales people... It's tough on us old geezers who can't stand much more than fifteen minutes.

This is the law:

As a provider of services to the public:
• You cannot refuse either directly or indirectly to serve people based on age.
• You are responsible for meeting the particular needs of older persons. For example, some may require more of your time be it in a doctor's office, a store, or in using public transit services.

This is the new flagship Vodaphone store in London, England. Okay if we sit on the display stands?

Bob

Time traveller from the last century.

Band-in-a-Box, but which box? Not a Mac.

BIAB for MAC

I have been buying Band-in-a-Box since the Atari version, back in the last century. The last version I bought for Windows was around 2004, it did everything I wanted. Then I switched to Mac and I found I had to keep my old PC laptop going to use the program.

I worked the piano bar on cruise ships and I had my laptop on the piano, BIAB running, earphone port plugged into an amp, and the display where the music stand would be. As it played the backing instruments the notation was presented to me with lyric and chord symbols close by the melody line. It was so easy to read and play that I could play anything! All the standards, Sinatra, Elton, Croce, Billy Joel, bossanovas, anything. (I turned so many passengers on to BIAB that I seriously considered becoming a rep and signed with PGmusic to do that. However, the ship frowned on it so that didn't go anywhere.)

The fly in the ointment was that I was using a PC, subject to annoying interruptions in service. So I switched to Mac and bought BIAB for Mac. The computer was steady as a rock but the program was rubbish compared to the PC version so I struggled on with the PC until I retired.

Yesterday I blew $89.27 usd and upgraded to the latest Mac version, highly touted on PGmusic's website. I thought surely in the last few years they must have fixed some of the most glaring deficiencies, and the price is the same as the full-featured Windows version. What a disappointment. The interface is still clunky, the lyrics still come up in a little box in the control area, hard to read and nowhere near the melody line, impossible to sight-read during a live performance. Basic conveniences that every other program now has, like "Open Recent" in the drop-down file menu, are missing. Yes, the RealTracks sound great but the old midi sounds were quite adequate for the piano-bar environment.

Apple is a major player in the sphere of music and so is BIAB. I am surprised and disappointed to find Mac marginalization at PGmusic.

London Bobby

Time traveller from the last century

Marks and Sparks Wines - who'da thunk it?

This is not a grumble, it's an unsolicited testimonial. Well, perhaps influenced by having just drunk a bottle of good French Chardonnay, I have to say that the wines at Marks and Sparks are surprisingly good - and cheap. Also, there is a good selection in screwtop bottles and to old geezers like me that is definitely a plus. Corkscrews haven't been that difficult in the past but with the recent trend to rubber 'corks' it is a tussle which we don't need. So three cheers for Marks and Sparks and their excellent wines with screw tops. So there.

London Bobby, time traveller from the 20th century.

Can't be everywhere.

I'm missing a regular weekly treat, the Corktown Ukulele Jam at the Dominion Hotel, 500 Queen Street E., Toronto. This week the theme is Gordon Lightfoot and I love his music. It's a hoot, this jam, close to a hundred ukulele fanatics turn up with instruments. It starts at 8PM, be early or sit at the back.

They have a quiz on their web page identifying ancient pictures, last week it was this one, from 1954:

First thing I did when I got to Canada was to have the jacket made, I wanted one that would look good on TV which was black and white at the time. I never did land a TV gig wearing it but finally got thirteen weeks with CITY-TV wearing my pearly suit, in black and white, in 1972 just as colour came in. They used a little b&w remote system in a van, sold the van and cameras etc. to Venezuela right after my series finished.

London Bobby, time traveller from the last century.

Search for Eddie Cevasco's love child.

The boy would be about forty now. His dad was a musician, record producer and a good guy from the US who produced my first album, "Booze, Birds and Ballads" and also, while here in Toronto, a son.. Eddie fell for a girl who wanted no strings, just a baby. Eddie is no longer with us but his son has a sister in the US who would love to meet him. Here's a picture taken at the Barmaid's Arms, Toronto, in 1971. Eddie's the guy with the long hair at the end of the table. Anybody...?

Sears Cares - but only in the US.

Sep 30 Blog (machine life 18 months?) emailed to Sears Canada

Sep 30 Auto reply from Sears Canada, we'll get back to you in 3 days.

Oct 1 from James at Sears Cares (US) - we saw your blog,  send us the details and we'll look into it.

Oct 2 owner has repair done and pays $400 +tax (ya gotta wash)

Oct 4 From Stephanie at Sears Cares (US) ( paraphrased) Oh, you're in Canada. Tough.

Oct 6 from Sears Canada, so far, nothing.