Flash@TMB

I take it you are the same person that approached me on this subject after the Pills gig... To address your points 1 at a time: Assholes block the toilets with those. Occasionally they attempt to set fire to them. Hence we have hot air dryers. Soap dispensers get kicked off the wall. Therefore we provide little bars of soap. Obviously you haven't travelled very far. Tell you what... how about we invite 200 randoms round to your house next Friday for a 13 hour party. Let's see what condition your toilet is in afterwards? Now to address your verbal point on the presumed lack of toilet seats. Our toilet bowls are one piece stainless models. The seat is incorporated into the design. The reason for this is that it's more hygenic, ask the EH about this when you call them. It's also easier for the punter to wipe clean with toilet paper before using if so desired. The downside is that they feel cold for the first second when your arse touches down. Anything else?

Anything I type may be used against me should they ever dredge the harbour and find Lisa.

This worked beautifully. MTA and myself ran the spectrum analyser seven times and each time it came out showing the frequency response curve of our mic. In other words the spectrum is flat and the system is tonally perfect. The reason we ran it seven times was that MTA couldn't believe the result - not because it doesn't sound perfect, but because it's extremely impressive for a PA system to deliver a uniform frerquency response. This Friday Nick Taylor and I are scheduled to install a second set of delay speakers (plus the corresponding amp) further back on the last ceiling beamto provide better downfill to the rear of the house. These speakers (and their amp) are exactly the same as the existing delay speakers so there should be no impact on the sonic performance. The existing delays will be angled down slightly more to provide better downfill to their immediate area. The purpose of this is to reduce the overall volume required to drive sound clarity to the rear of house. This means that gigs will be at a lower volume but the sound should be much clearer at the back. I've also raised the guitar cabs higher up, as this makes it easier for the players to hear their amp, and reduces the volume required to produce distortion, leaving the sound engineer with better control over the sound. It's safe to say that we are now achieveing the sound that we were originally aiming for. I just didn't expect it to take this long to get there! Phew. Signing off.

This problem has been 'solved'... or should that be desolved.

I have a dress code: 1 black sock and 1 white sock = out drinking last night. All stag night issues are cleared up since we now have door staff on Saturdays and they will not admit: stag nights / hen nights / head wettings neds people wearing burb groups of guys with short sleeved shirts not tucked in and shoes

Draught beers: Tennents, Budvar, Belhaven Best, Guiness, McEwens Export, Weihenstephen Hefe Weisbier, and at least 1 real ale although that maybe set to increase. A pint a Tennents costs 2.30, but we discount this down to 2.10 between noon and 6pm, and all day on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays. During happy hour which is Monday-Friday between 6pm and 7pm it drops to 1.80. A 10% student discount is available at all times on the production of a valid student card. Sudents may pay as little as 1.62 for a pint of Tennents during happy hour. The Hex Pens still play on Sundays from around 6pm, but exams etc have disrupted this recently. Now for the more detailed version: In addition to the above listed beers we sell Strongbow Cider and Addlestones Cider on Draught. Addlestones is a cider for people that drink lager. The most cost effective way to get pissed is by drinking the Addlestones, Weihenstephen, Budvar, or the real ale. These will each do the trick for under 15. In fact depending on your metabolism the 10 stupor is not unachievable! These may also reduce your chances of a hangover. We also stock an extensive selection of genuine imported bottled beers. The only 'brewed under license' beer we stock is bottled Budweiser. In addition to the house spirits which are all the usual name brands like Smirnoff, we stock a large number of speciality imported spirits. Again although the good stuff is more expensive, it costs less to get pissed on it, and gives you less of a hangover. A good place to start is either the Jaegermeister or the Russky Standart Russian Vodka. Another tip is to buy the tins of coke etc for mixers as you get 3 goes out of the can making the good Coke cheaper than the not so good scoosh cola. On Wednesdays all the specialist drinks are heavily discounted, making the bulk of them less expensive than the regular stuff. So a student visiting the bar on a Wednesday can reach a state of total inebriation with enough change from a tenner for a small donner OR a taxi to Torry. Hope this answers your questions. Flash

Last Night I thought all 3 bands were of the highest quality. MINE have played the bar 2 or 3 times before but this was the first time I've seen the new line up. Turning 13 were first class the vocal was awesome and they gave a really energetic performance. I probably achieved my best sound of the night here. I really enjoyed TGF, their songs were great, and one in particular had beautifuol harmonies. Mistakes wise I made a couple of oops to which I will now confess. We were running 3 vocal channels last night, but the previous Sunday we had the AKA The Fox in with the drum machine and I'd borrowed the centre vocal channel for that purpose. Unfortunately I'd also assigned it to the drums master bus, therefore it's level was linked to the drums and it was running some drums EQ. I fixed the for TGF during the sound check, but had already checked MINE and saved their settings prior to this fix. When MINE came on stage they switched to the centre mic for lead vocal and were into their second song before I twigged why the vocal was so quiet and picking up so much kick drum bleed. Sorry MINE! Apart from that I was very happy with how things went. I'd really like to see TGF and Turning 13 back at the bar for another gig.

Sure

Re: Work? Meaning that despite working in IT for over 15 years I still can't burn a CD. Inlay cards I don't mind so much but I can't stand new fangled technology. The 20 year old plastic on the inlay selector had rotted away. Abbey came by with a new box of inlay holders and we are fitting them as the old ones rot off. I also fixed the wrongly numbered Motely Crue Dr Feelgood album.

I'll check into this.

Unfortunately we are currently unable to host live music Monday-Thursday. This is something that onlt came to light recently but we are working to address the situation and hope to have a resolution later this year. Also... from now on live music will cease 1 hour prior to closing time, so on Saturdays the bands will finish at midnight although the bar remains open till 1am, and on Sundays the open mic jam session will finish at 11pm although the bar remains open until midnight. Although there is scope to host live music on Fridays we prefer to keep these clear for the Wrecking Ball which will continue through till 1am. Sorry for any inconvenience.

Flash's take This could turn out pretty long winded... Firstly that was some fuckin line up!!! The running order may have seemed a little unorthadox but we wanted to be sure that there were plenty of people still around to see The Pills, because A) they came all the way from Boston, B) it was the last night of their tour, C) This was their only Scottish date, and D) they are fuckin phenominal. But first to Real Shocks. It was almost a year since Real Shocks last played The Moorings. That was just after Lester joined when they had 2 synths, but she didn't make that gig. I always liked Real Shocks, but the band I witnessed on Saturday just blew me away. This was a band absolutely on top of their game. The dual call & response vocals are great, the playing was far more agressive, they've gone from being Bugs Bunny to Tom & Jerry if you follow my drift. The performance was incredibly tight, you couldn't slip a baa hair between any of the players. The sound is absolutely unique now, even more so than before. The drumming had a lot more attack, and I loved the little rolls and fills they added a lot. This semi pro stint and tour seems to have done wonders for Real Shocks. The confidence really shone through. Under normal circumstances this would have been an awesome headline act. The sooner they play The Moorings again the better. To anyone that missed them on Sat then be sure and catch this band soon! The downside was that they were an extremely tough act to follow. I didn't envy the Cuts job - to go on after that performance took guts. In fact for a relatively new band like the Cuts to agree to appear in a line up of pro bands was very brave. In a less exhalted line up the Cuts would have really shone. They are one of those bands that have that 11pm vibe about them. Hard to pigeon hole, the closest I can come up with is Patti Smith on her slower tracks. The crowd responded really well, and their material was exceptionally good. There's a lot of promise here. The Cuts deserve more gigs and we'd be only too happy yo supply some of those. Then came the Pills. Fucken hell they were brilliant. If punk rock had existed in the 60s this is what it would have sounded like. Sort of a cross between Wheezer and The Beach Boys. The attacked their set list like the Ramones barely pausing to draw breath between the numbers. I only hope they heard the clapping and cheering because it was well earned. The structure of their tunes, almost any of them could be classed as stand out, with 3 lead vocals etc necessitated extremely tight playing. The live performance is not a million miles from how they sound on CD either. I think they sold a lot of CDs on Sat... coming to our jukebox soon, unfortunately they had sold out of 1 album by the time we reached the front of the queue!!! If you can find a Pills album in the shops then buy it! Josephine really had their work cut out for them after the ampetamine pop of the Pills. On any normal night Josephine would have blown us away, but coming on fourth AND after the Pills was an extremely tall order. Once again this is a VERY tight and professional outfit. They did carry it off, and I was getting right into them once I managed to comne down of my Pills trip. In my opinion the last tune in particular was a masterpiece. The lead vocal on Josephine is a little reminisant of the B52s, but the music itself is more rocky/punky. I'd really like to see Josephine back soon as the headline act in a smaller line up where we can get them on stage a little earlier. Josephine supported by the Cuts would be an interesting prospect. I've got a copy of their album too so we'll stick it in the jukebox so I can get a proper listen. All in all this was a great night, if anything there was too much of a good thing.

Ultimately we plan to devote 5 slots to local bands. Right now we have AKA The Fox and an AUBL promo compilation. Inept 303 are to be added in the next few days. I'm hoping to get a copy of Real Shocks album if they ever finish it. Contra are launching their new album at the bar so this will also enter the jukebox for a period. We'll rotate new local band albums in and out on a regulkar basis. What I'd like is permission to combine multiple local band albums and EPs from different acts together on the same CD, thus taking full advatage of the 79min capacity. This way we can store the works of 10-20 local acts in the 5 slots. Alternatively local bands could get together and supply me with CDs combining the works of several acts, these would be VERY attractive since it's less work for me so please get burning!

well regulars don't pay admission to the gigs, so provided we aren't toally snowed in then we'll letyouin for free, otherwise if we are toally snowed then you won't get in at all. Best option would be to make an earlier start of it... like me.

I heard that Venom had them booked on a support slot but bottled it because Vomitus took the whole satanic thing too seriously and wanted to offer Kronos up in a ritual slaughter.

And if we suspect any under 18s have been drinking, like on the bus, then they don't get in.

I'm guessing 8pm.

Yes performers now benefit fromcost price drinks in addition to my bottomless pit of drumsticks and guitar strings...

And where the fuck were THE HARRY DALGARNOS this week?????

For 27 years The Moorings put on bands every Saturday, booked bands directly, operated free admission, and paid the bands out of bar takings. The Saturdays takings were similar to Fridays, and on Friday there were no bands, so less staff to pay. Last year bands cancelled on us 11 weeks in a row (another story). During that time the takings did not drop, so we concluded that putting on bands did not increase takings yet incurred extra costs running upwards of 400. We also discovered that certain bands who were charging us 200 per gig were happily playing competing venues for a fraction of that (sometimes even FOC) through a promoter. Then they'd have the cheek to hassle us for some free drink to boot... So we decided never to pay a band directly again and went off and spent 5 years worth of band payments upgrading the venue. Now we have a really nice setup, both for bands and punters, and the bands have 3 choices: 1) Play for free... any Sunday evening. 2) Promote the gig and charge at the door (but only charge the people that are there to see you and not the regulars). You need to arrange this with me first. You keep the gate money. 3) Go through a promoter - there are 4 to choose from. Each does things differently. We do NOT take a share of the gate money. We do however provide door staff, extra bar staff, and the sound engineer (either MTA or myself) free of charge. We also enable the band members to drink at cost price the entire evening - and this includes open mic nights. In effect we are still covering 200 of expenses out of bar takings. The good news for the punter is that our drinks range is broad, the drink quality is excellent, and our prices are low in the grand scheme of things. You can easily get pissed for 10 if you know what to drink i.e. anything on the specials menus and especially Addlestones. The promoters are empowered to charge whatever the want. The promoter also makes the decision on how much each band gets paid. We are not privvy to this information. The promoter is NOT entitled to charge regular customers that aren't there to see the bands. Typically people are being charged 1 per band. Last Saturday there were 6 bands for 3.50. That's errr less than 60p per band. Put 60p in the jukebox and you get 2 tunes. Pay it at the door and you get 6 tunes out of a band. Not a bad deal when the live music is cheaper than the recorded variety. Hope everyone finds the explanation reasonable. Flash

if you like If you like Pac Man then also try Pepper II, this is a very similar game with some added complexity. Pac Man has a subtle depth to it, but for me Pepper II is the more fun game. It's also installed in our arcade box. http://www.cinemarcade.com/TGTTF/gametime51.html http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=P&game_id=8992

correct - anyone aged 14 or over may attend but they must be identified to the barstaff as underage.

The flip side is were someone remotely neddy (a mouth breather for instance) to enter the bar, then they'd have a 99% chance of modelling some blue circle jeans at the bottom of the harbour. So once you factor in the increased traffic in the Belmont area plus intelligence and the herding instinct the odds for ned survival are slightly worse than they are for most minorities... ...mind you I forgot to adjust for speed of reproduction. Shit, now the figures look scary. The situation is hopeless. We're all doomed. Perhaps if we wander round wearing Burburry, breathing through our mouths and saying "fuckin shut it Kylie" we'd gain 10 years at best - but would theybe worth living. Err nope. Mind you there is always the possiblity of a ned specific form of miximotosis.

I'm not there during the week... PLUS that song will serve to keep out Non Educated unDesirable Zero tolerants. So please play this as often as possible. Sometimes late at night, usually when Simon is behind the bar, a sailor will enter and nervously approach the counter to enquire "Excuse me, but is this place a gay bar?" To which we reply "Sorry mate, the place you are looking for is round the corner."