• Welcome to this forum . We are a worldwide group with a common interest in Birmingham and its history. While here, please follow a few simple rules. We ask that you respect other members, thank those who have helped you and please keep your contributions on-topic with the thread.

    We do hope you enjoy your visit. BHF Admin Team
  • HI folks the server that hosts the site completely died including the Hdd's and backups.
    Luckily i create an offsite backup once a week! this has now been restored so we have lost a few days posts.
    im still fixing things at the moment so bear with me and im still working on all images 90% are fine the others im working on now
    we are now using a backup solution

Hobbies 2021

Status
Not open for further replies.
Very good, Mort, but I see also a mix of two styles, the caricature style of towers, gantries, etc., and a more serious landscape style. But I enjoy both.

Maurice :cool:
I was given some acrylics and water colours 2 years ago by my cousin a Brummieartist. She is superb. She had an exhibition in Poland. She never takes a penny for her commissions and she restored a painted hanging for a Birmingham church. I think the lead paint got to her too. My poor efforts look like a five year old but I used to paint at school So I will keep trying.
My guitar is coming along I keep saying I can and I do, sort of.I bought a new one I know they say a bad workman blames his tools but I do play better on the new one. The action is not as firm. My fingers are weak. I have a bent one now and I get an unexpcted trill sometimes. I am trying the harmonica too. Like a piano in your mouth. Suck and blow, notes and flats.
 
Very good, Mort, but I see also a mix of two styles, the caricature style of towers, gantries, etc., and a more serious landscape style. But I enjoy both.

Maurice :cool:
I was given some acrylics and water colours 2 years ago by my cousin a Brummie artist. She is superb. She had an exhibition in Europe. She never takes a penny for her commissions and she restored a painted hanging for a Birmingham church. I think the lead paint got to her too. My poor efforts look like a five year old but I used to paint at school So I will keep trying.
My guitar is coming along I keep saying I can and I do, sort of. I bought a new huitar/ I know they say a bad workman blames his tools but I do play better on the new one. The action is not as firm. My fingers are weak. I have a bent middle finger now and I get an unexpected trill often. I am trying the harmonica too. It was my step daughter's. Like a piano in your mouth. So blow, for the natural notes and suck for sharps and flats. I posted this before somewhere. But I was given a Hohner in it's original box with mauve flock lining. I treasure it as it was my birth great uncle's, but it was like sucking pennies and I ended up with purple lips.
 
Another of my interests going right back to the 1960's is pinball machines, I used to play on them everywhere I went and in the 1980's I had a number of ex arcade machines in my garage. These days I have only two here in my 'mancave' :D

This one is an all time classic 'Star Trek the next generation' an extra wide body machine made in USA by Williams in 1993. It has all the voices of the original cast and is in full working orderView attachment 151541
My half brother collects or collected juke boxes. Small ones!
 
You're a very talented man Izzy .
I heard of Gauche paint somewhere deep in my memory. The cousin maybe. Is it like very textured you can feel it.? Another cousin was a collector of fine art, not just paintings, anything. He purchased an ashetiere, to lay down he said. To keep. Parter said it's just an ashtray. I remember him on about ladies in Gauche hats. I used to get the dictionary out after a visit. He always wrote to me in parchment, with a calligraphy pen, the pages numbered in Roman numerals, never abbreviated my name, and the letter sealed in red wax. People said he was an eccentric, a Walter Mitty, I would say he was very interesting. Broadens the mind though all this.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Nico,

The bent finger sounds like Dupuytrens Syndrome and if you want to continue playing, you should ask your doctor to get a referral to a specialist. It's caused by a growth on the guide and can often be fixed by a simple injection. My little finger left hand is bent double and third finger right hand is almost as bad. But as I stopped playing in the 1980s and also have arthritis in both hands, I've never bothered. It has a tendency to return after a few years, but not always. My eldest son had the injection three times and was told that if it came back again, it would probably be best to remove the finger, but it never has. He plays bass guitar. But good luck with your playing!

Maurice :cool:
 
Is it Gouache paint?
Yes, I sometimes used it on my portraits, it has the thick texture of oil paint but doesn't take a long time to dry as does oil. The advantage is that you can continue to overpaint within a few hours without disturbing the under layers, unlike water paint it does not soften with water once dried. Many of the worlds most famous oil paintings show fine cracks all over, this is caused by layers of oil paint left to half dry and then continued to be painted on and off for weeks or months. This then results in the layers all drying and pulling at different levels which cause fine cracks to appear.

Sir Joshua Reynolds experimented with varnishes and drying mediums to try and stop this happening, unfortunately it made things worse and many of his paintings show evidence of his failed experiments
 
Nico,

The bent finger sounds like Dupuytrens Syndrome and if you want to continue playing, you should ask your doctor to get a referral to a specialist. It's caused by a growth on the guide and can often be fixed by a simple injection. My little finger left hand is bent double and third finger right hand is almost as bad. But as I stopped playing in the 1980s and also have arthritis in both hands, I've never bothered. It has a tendency to return after a few years, but not always. My eldest son had the injection three times and was told that if it came back again, it would probably be best to remove the finger, but it never has. He plays bass guitar. But good luck with your playing!

Maurice :cool:
My finger is mallet finger, my nasty neighbour's fault. Indirectly, My stories are a bit like There's A Hole IN My Bucket, so sorry, but, he broke our roof tiles, told us but not admitting it was him, refused to let our roofer go up on his side, his lack of a gutter caused our flat roof to be a moss green skating rink, roofer asked me to wash it, to make it safe, I bought a water jet thing which didn't work, was bitter cold, I couldn't feel my finger going, the weight of the sprayer bent my finger, resorted to a yard broom and water, almost fell off the roof, at one point my partner is screaming 'you are falling off the roof!" (I know this I am thinking) as I am in the missionary postion limbs splayed wide trying to grip the rubbery surface slowly spinning round in a circle. Partner splinted my finger with lolly sticks, went to emergency, consultant was stressed, the finger stall she put on was too big, finger set bent, but moveable, saw specialist eventually, she said she could re set it straight but I wouldn't be able to play and I would get arthritis in it,so I left it. But thank you Maurice. I am transposing songs and trying to sing ones I never would have before. Learning to play 2 Ave Marias .That was the finger story so what shall I do about my cracking voice!!!!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
My finger is mallet finger, my nasty neighbour's fault. Indirectly, My stories are a bit like There's A Hole IN My Bucket, so sorry, but, he broke our roof tiles, told us but not admitting it was him, refused to let our roofer go up on his side, his lack of a gutter caused our flat roof to be a moss green skating rink, roofer asked me to wash it, to make it safe, I bought a water jet thing which didn't work, was bitter cold, I couldn't feel my finger going, the weight of the sprayer bent my finger, resorted to a yard broom and water, almost fell off the roof, at one point my partner is screaming 'you are falling off the roof!" (I know this I am thinking) as I am in the missionary postion limbs splayed wide trying to grip the rubbery surface slowly spinning round in a circle. Partner splinted my finger with lolly sticks, went to emergency, consultant was stressed, the finger stall she put on was too big, finger set bent, but moveable, saw specialist eventually, she said she could re set it straight but I wouldn't be able to play and I would get arthritis in it,so I left it. But thank you Maurice. I am transposing songs and trying to sing ones I never would have before. Learning to play 2 Ave Marias .That was the finger story so what shall I do about my cracking voice!!!!
It's normal in teenagers for their voice to change as they proceed through their teenage years, the next thing you will notice is a fine down moustache but you needn't worry about either of them.

Bob
 
Last edited:
My finger is mallet finger, my nasty neighbour's fault. Indirectly, My stories are a bit like There's A Hole IN My Bucket, so sorry, but, he broke our roof tiles, told us but not admitting it was him, refused to let our roofer go up on his side, his lack of a gutter caused our flat roof to be a moss green skating rink, roofer asked me to wash it, to make it safe, I bought a water jet thing which didn't work, was bitter cold, I couldn't feel my finger going, the weight of the sprayer bent my finger, resorted to a yard broom and water, almost fell off the roof, at one point my partner is screaming 'you are falling off the roof!" (I know this I am thinking) as I am in the missionary postion limbs splayed wide trying to grip the rubbery surface slowly spinning round in a circle. Partner splinted my finger with lolly sticks, went to emergency, consultant was stressed, the finger stall she put on was too big, finger set bent, but moveable, saw specialist eventually, she said she could re set it straight but I wouldn't be able to play and I would get arthritis in it,so I left it. But thank you Maurice. I am transposing songs and trying to sing ones I never would have before. Learning to play 2 Ave Marias .That was the finger story so what shall I do about my cracking voice!!!!
I read that as croaking voice

 
Nico,

I think if I lived next to your grumpy neighbour, I would have "accidentally" [of course] shot him by now :)

OK, glad to know that you got your finger checked out. Arthritis frequently comes anyway - a gift of old age - and many of the great keyboard and guitar players suffer[ed] from it including Oscar Peterson & Herbie Hancock.

My partner tells me I have a good voice (and I thought I was the one who was deaf!) - she probably meant "as in barrow boy"! Keep practising.

Maurice :cool:
 
So did I Mike but I felt that it might be a cheery off theme comment, as is my wont.

Bob
I have dropped an octave. I have to change the song keys. Even with a capo I can't get it right. But I find I can sing better standing up now and take a deep breath for holding a note but I really need to invest in a guitar strap though I put my leg up. Partner says I sound better when she is upstairs:blush:
 
Nico,

I think if I lived next to your grumpy neighbour, I would have "accidentally" [of course] shot him by now :)

OK, glad to know that you got your finger checked out. Arthritis frequently comes anyway - a gift of old age - and many of the great keyboard and guitar players suffer[ed] from it including Oscar Peterson & Herbie Hancock.

My partner tells me I have a good voice (and I thought I was the one who was deaf!) - she probably meant "as in barrow boy"! Keep practising.

Maurice :cool:
I say that every day Maurice that I will, but my partner says he is to be pitied.
Neighbour is not musical at all we have never heard a radio or anything. So I could always sing at him like Mrs Bucket.
I think Phil Collins is sadly suffering.
My step daughter's partner plays with four bent fingers but he has been playing for years. Jimmy Hendrix style. I miss having a jam with him. Or just listening to him.
I now receive guitar accessory gifts, I was given a speaker. Mrs Bucket will strike!
 
Pedro,

I notice that the overtones more or less disappear in the lower half of her range and I wasn't particularly enamoured with the result and can't think of many occasion when you would want to use that sort of effect.

Mort,

A bit more appealing, to my ears at any rate. At times it was a similar sort of effect to a pop or jazz musician using a vocoder in which the voice modulates the instrumental sound, generally a synth. Taken to extremes the vocoder sounds like a musical Dalek, of course, but the Mongolian sounds quite musical.

Maurice :cool:
 
My example is an extreme, but Morturn’s is better. The Hu, Mongolian Rock Band, are gaining a enormous following in the West, and looking at the reactions they appeal to old rockers and Metal fans.

I haven’t got the hang of it yet !

 
Last edited:
Needed some brain exercise yesterday so I made a pic finder/index for SteveBhx's thread. It's a pdf file and can be downloaded and saved and runs on anything .... :)

Runs well on my iPad.
Apologies just came across your post thanks for that - I am sure it will help me check I have not double posted !!
 
Apologies just came across your post thanks for that - I am sure it will help me check I have not double posted !!
I did think of posting it in your thread but I don't usually post these sort of files in other members threads. I really enjoyed browsing and looking at your photos .. :)
I notice I first posted a similar pdf in 2013 .... eight years ago !! ....:rolleyes:
 
I did think of posting it in your thread but I don't usually post these sort of files in other members threads. I really enjoyed browsing and looking at your photos .. :)
I notice I first posted a similar pdf in 2013 .... eight years ago !! ....:rolleyes:
Thats fine - surprised how many photos I had uploaded - trouble is you look at the forum and think " I have so photos of that somewhere" when I first started at the council I found an old bloke who was interested in railways - same as me and he gave me a box of b & w slides of steam in the midlands - I am trying to think where they are, same as I saw a pack of photos of canals which were heading for the bin - they are somewhere too - one day you will know I have found them !!
 
I have been trying to yodel since I was little can any of you? And tap dance. Can't do either.
I am losing the ability to whistle because of a denture!
But I am able to sing up to a note (for a laugh) where my voice sort of breaks and I get a half a yodel. Beatles and Rod Stuart are all to high and a lot of opera.
I am very quietly spoken no one can hear me ( only animals and babies appreciate that) I am told I sing very loud, but I don't think I do.
 
I have been trying to yodel since I was little can any of you? And tap dance. Can't do either.
I am losing the ability to whistle because of a denture!
But I am able to sing up to a note (for a laugh) where my voice sort of breaks and I get a half a yodel. Beatles and Rod Stuart are all to high and a lot of opera.
I am very quietly spoken no one can hear me ( only animals and babies appreciate that) I am told I sing very loud, but I don't think I do.
Used to tap dance, but kept falling in the sink

Bob
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top