A day not-on-the-green ends well, despite a cluster of potential calamities
29.8.22 - When Casey Radio's John Broughton (pic) sent me the invitation to play on this episode of Casey Radio's Storytellers at the Station, I initially hesitated. To my mind, my truly solo, solo gigs have not all been a conspicuous success, as documented in this column on more than one occasion, but once I'd redefined the meaning of 'solo' to include another player and the possibility of working with George Butrumlis became an option, my disposition changed utterly and I accepted the offer, albeit with muted relish - it's been a while since George and I have played together and dratted rehearsals would be necessary evil.
As we got closer to the date, the reality of this impending gig compelled me to formulate and actually begin working on the repertoire before finally joining George in his Werribee mansion last Thursday and Friday to rehearse together, after what has been a significant enforced break.
To increase the degree of difficulty I'd also decided that I should experiment with an electric guitar rather than my usual nylon-string guitar. For two reasons, the first being that I'd always written songs with an electric band (like Spectrum) in mind and the second being that, even with the lighter set of nylon strings on the Morris, I find the action too tiring for a ninety minute show. In that vein, the reason I decided to use my pretty Kelly Patriot guitar rather than the Strat was because the action is easier than on the Strat and the Kelly's humbuckers are less peaky than the Strat's single-pole pick-ups and so more suitable for the two-man line-up.
My only concern then was, which amplifier was I going to use? My Fender Hot Rod is too big and over-powered, but my tiny Roland Micro-CUBE, which sounds passable at a low level, is grossly underpowered for most live situations.
Rather desperately I was rather hoping that Accordion George might have the solution lurking at his place.
It so happened that, O joy! George had a larger version of my CUBE in his studio-cum-rehearsal room, so after our Friday session I packed George's CUBE into the van and popped it into my studio when I got home with the intention of finding the best settings for the show the following morning.
To my dismay I discovered that the amp's quite suitable voice from the previous day had been reduced to an inaudible whisper and I was going to bite it and cope with my quite unsatisfactory Micro-CUBE.
So, there I was at the gig with my tiny CUBE sitting on a tall stool beside me, having to deal with a succession of faulty guitar leads and an insubordinate loop pedal - and in the meantime I still haven't located my missing wah pedal! Absolute amateur hour!
All the above technical issues were eventually sorted and George and I were introduced to the one short of a full-house audience - and the first set was under way. It sounded pretty nice too, despite my odd guitar fumbles. I had time to enjoy singing and enjoy the spontaneous interplay with George, both musically and banter-wise.
It was a Storytellers show, but I actually chatted so much about the songs that I found we'd almost played our allotted forty-five minute set with four songs on the list still to play!
After concluding the first set with a deliriously wayward version of Esmeralda, we all adjourned to the back of the room where a dining table laden with comestibles beckoned, scrummy home-made food presumably brought by various committee members and patrons in attendance.
I was approached by various people, all of a similar vintage to mine, who had followed Spectrum etc. since their various inceptions and was told how delighted everybody was to see this newish combo rendering popular to obscure to darnright raunchy Rudd-tunes like it was fifty years ago.
So, being in an even better space in the second set I was able to scan the audience as I sang (I was trialling my Buddy Holly specs and so could actually see my guitar strings as well as individual audience members) and I could positively feel the affection as well as see the rapt attention on their faces. All in all a very rewarding response to my unknown and ocasionally unknowable song list.
I'd only brought a couple of my books along to sell, which I regretted somewhat, (I'm not big on merch), especially seeing the glazed response when trying to steer potential CD customers to the website.
All in all though, it was a fun afternoon. Actually, that just sounds trite. It was a glorious, it was a heart-warming, it was a life-affirming afternoon.That's closer to the mark I reckon.

Next solo gig:
Wed. 28.9.22 - Mike Rudd with George Butrumlis @ The Lomond Hotel (The Lomond Acoustica) 225 Nicholson St East Brunswick 9380 1752 TBA