Nick Bidmade.

[Malcolm]

Nick heard from my good friend Jim Hornsby that you were going to be playing at a Jam session in Tynemouth ? with him.You will love his guitar and Dobro playing, enjoy, and give him my best regards. Nick may have mixed it up I think Jim might just be attending , not playing, anyway have great night..

[Malcolm]

Nice Guitar Nick.

[Nick Bidmade]

Hello Malcolm. I feel rather in exalted company! I did indeed make my first ever public appearance on pedal steel last night at the 'Head of Steam', Tynemouth. I met up recently with Liam Fender who organises and sings at the weekly 'open mike' sessions held there. I asked Liam if he'd be up for duetting with a novice steel player and he jumped at the chance to play with psg - so, we swapped sound files and YouTube tunes and finally settled on 'These Days' - Jackson Browne, 'Tomorrow is a Long Time' - the Rod Steward version, 'Thirst for Romance' by the Cherry Bombs and 'What if I Fall in Love With You' - Tom Waites, and one of Liam's originals, called 'Still Here'. We had a quick run-through last week, and were ready!
I was very nervous on the night, having never played in public on psg before (not counting the South London Steelies) but it is a very informal setting, (and not a huge crowd, by any means), so - we got through the tunes, it sounded ok and the pedal steel seemed to garner some interest from the audience.
Another singer ( but not the person you mention, Malcolm) asked me to sit in on three more tunes - 'My Old Friend the Blues', by Steve Earle, 'Good Day for the Roses' - not sure who did the original - I vaguely remembered an Elvis Costello version, and 'Old '55' - Tom Waites again. I seemed to get through these reasonably ok as well, considering it was completely unrehearsed. The person you mentioned was not there, as far as I know - certainly not as a player. It would have been great to listen to a good dobro player! There was another duo - female singer plus guitarist who did a few quite bluesy numbers, including a very passable version of 'Take Another Piece of my Heart' by Janis Joplin - she did a great job on what must be a difficult song for women to sing with any 'authenticity'.
I had a great time - nervous, yes, and some tuning problems, despite a Peterson tuner!! No idea how many 'bum notes' but I'd be a rich man, no doubt if I got £1 for every one. Got a free pint for playing, which was reward indeed. I'm thinking up songs to cover next time and will try to introduce Liam to Hank Williams. We're also going to have a crack at 'Wichita Lineman', 'Georgia' and 'Tracks of my Tears'. Not sure quite when we'll do this - maybe in three or four weeks.
I was very impressed with the 'quality' of the other players on the night. Newcastle seems to have a very thriving music scene and I'm looking forward to having another 'go'. I know you have played here pretty regularly, although your 'retirement' coincided with my move up to the North-East, so I missed the chance of hearing a genuine 'steeler'. However, there does not seem to be much of a 'steel'community up here. Tom Fletcher gets mentioned, but that's about it - and he's in the States at the moment. If there are any 'Geordie' steelers reading this, drop me a pm, please. It would be great to meet up!
What I have to do is get more familiar with the psg fretboard and 'pockets' of chords and notes for single-string runs. I was a guitarist for the thick end of 40 years (not to any great standard, but quite a good knowledge of chords etc) and it has been difficult trying to translate my guitarist's 'ear' to psg - I've been 'thinking' guitar and 'translating' to psg until quite recently. I'm now starting to 'think' psg but am not yet 'fluent' so am making lots of mistakes 'on the fly' - but, for all of the 'bedroom players' out there reading this - get out and find some way of playing live. I am no great shakes on steel guitar but I have no doubt this experience will help to make me a better player -and it will you, too. Best fun you can have with your trousers on!!!
Thanks again Malcolm - I'll feel a bit of a fraud, but I'll post on this Forum when I'm playing next at the 'Head of Steam'.
Sorry if this has been a bit of a bore for readers - but I just had to tell someone!

[JohnDavisStringsHere]

Well done Nick!! you passed the test.....onward and upward......

[Malcolm]

Hi Nick, glad it went well, I noticed it on Jim Hornsby's face book page, I have worked with Jim on several occasions with Martin Stepenson, he is a superb guitar and dobro player, I misread it and thought he was playing, but it turns out he was just commenting on Leo's announcement that he would have steel player at gig.If you get a chance try and catch Jim playing, his brother played bass with Derek Thurlby's old band.

[Dave Nutt]

Nick it sounds like you had a great gig and enjoyed yourself, keep us posted on your progress, interesting posts can never be too long.
Dave.

[Nick Bidmade]

Hi Malcolm - the photo of my guitar you posted is, however, from last night. Someone with a contact with the BSS must have posted it - it wasn't me! Maybe Jim was there!?!?

[Malcolm]

It was on Leo Fender's Facebook Page, he posted it to prove to Mr Hornsby he actually had a Steelie there.

[Nick Bidmade]

Ahh, the power of FaceBook - something I have not yet succumbed to!

[Nick Bidmade]

PS - I'm not in such exalted company as Leo Fender - I think he tried his hand at making guitars once upon a time ... Liam Fender is no relation, as far as I know, unless Leo was a secretGeordie?