Last weekend The Night Owls decided to busk as a band. The idea was to hand out lots of cards, make some beer money and have some fun. I have been busking many times but almost always alone and always without amplification; the ukulele is not a very loud instrument and in our noisy modern world we decided we would need small battery amps to increase our sound. Being keen roadster riders Jim and I decided to travel to the busk by bicycle. Jim strapped his amp, stand and ukes to his rack; I on the other hand, having a bigger ukulele and microphone stand decided to travel in style and use my trailer.
The day before the busk I tried to fit everything in the trailer and found the microphone stand to be just a little too long to neatly fit in. Twenty minutes with a hacksaw and I had adapted it it fit. Packed neatly in were an sm58 microphone and stand, Night Owls Mic Façade, Vox DA5 battery powered amp, various leads, spare batteries and of course my trusty LB baritone ukulele in hard case.
So dressed in full Night Owls black 3 piece suit and correspondent shoes I trundled into town to meet up with the boys. The bicycles made a good backdrop to the band and as usual drew a few comments.
The busking went well and we have resolved to busk some more. Rob has bought himself a battery powered bass amp and I (with some help form Yorkshire Pete) have pole mounted my Vox amp. I may even try some solo bicycle busking, I could easily carry the equipment in my panniers and perhaps using a train/bicycle combination visit some interesting busking towns.
And so dear readers in a break from the usual 78s I leave you with The Night Owls and a rather cracking rendition of The Sheik of Araby / Caravan.
Best
Nipper
Greetings Mr Nipper,
What a marvelous post and so much space in your Avenir Mule trailer for all of your ukulele paraphernalia!
We were unable to see you busking but the Sheik of Araby gave us a wonderful insight the delights The Owls must have showcased to the people of Taunton.
Mrs Day and I at The Great British Tea Party also use a trailer to gather in our cake making provisions. It too is an Avenir Mule although we are about to start using our new Carry Freedom Y-Frame trailer resplendent with wicker basket. Watch out for a new blog update.
Toodle Pip!
Sounds rather lovely, I do like a wicker basket!
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