Do eggs have a place in a band?

Subject: Do eggs have a place in a band?
From: Mo the caller
Date: 26 Feb 08 - 07:00 AM

I was calling last night at our club and we had a band. When I asked for a 48 bar jeel or rig the band played a normal one AABBAB and the egg player shook for the last 16 bars, so the other players kept track.
I know lots of people here are scathing about eggs, but this seemed a good idea.

Subject: RE: Do eggs have a place in a band?
From: Ernest
Date: 26 Feb 08 - 07:23 AM

They have if they bring the chicks....

Getting my coat
Ernest

Subject: RE: Do eggs have a place in a band?
From: George Papavgeris
Date: 26 Feb 08 - 07:26 AM

Percussion is percussion. Good for some things, not for others. Nothing wrong with eggs, tambourines, bodhrans, sppons, bones etc, in the right place and played well.

Subject: RE: Do eggs have a place in a band?
From: Leadfingers
Date: 26 Feb 08 - 07:38 AM

As with MOST things , fine in moderation !

Subject: RE: Do eggs have a place in a band?
From: MMario
Date: 26 Feb 08 - 08:01 AM

they have a place; when appropriate.

Subject: RE: Do eggs have a place in a band?
From: RTim
Date: 26 Feb 08 - 08:07 AM

Wild Willie Barrett used to play his guitar with an egg (a REAL egg), and then throw it at the audience!

Tim Radford

Subject: RE: Do eggs have a place in a band?
From: George Papavgeris
Date: 26 Feb 08 - 08:09 AM

That must have been his little yolk.
I'll get me coat...

Subject: RE: Do eggs have a place in a band?
From: Charley Noble
Date: 26 Feb 08 - 08:19 AM

I'll have mine over easy, with fries and sausage on the side.

Charley EggNoble

Subject: RE: Do eggs have a place in a band?
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 26 Feb 08 - 08:19 AM

If they can have a shaky egg in the quintet that was playing in St Marks' Square, Venice, a couple of years ago, they can have 'em anywhere!

Most expensive place in the world, mobbed by pigeons and serenaded by the shaky egg.... how romantic was that supposed to be?!

LTS

Subject: RE: Do eggs have a place in a band?
From: Roger the Skiffler
Date: 26 Feb 08 - 09:46 AM

...we went to see Elkie Brooks on Sunday- her 2nd keyboardplayer/songwriter/backing singer/extra percussion guy played eggs on a couple of songs...OK not folk but a bit bluesy (Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters both featured). I prefer her blues work, we saw her first with Humph way back when... Herself prefers the "Pearls" era EB!

RtS

Subject: RE: Do eggs have a place in a band?
From: GUEST,martin ellison
Date: 26 Feb 08 - 10:45 AM

Well there's Ashley Hatchings "Albumen Band"; The Gloworms CD "Runny Yolk".
I'm sure there's more.
Ova to you.

Subject: RE: Do eggs have a place in a band?
From: LesB
Date: 26 Feb 08 - 10:56 AM

In a sandwich.
Cheers
Les

Subject: RE: Do eggs have a place in a band?
From: Geoff the Duck
Date: 26 Feb 08 - 10:57 AM

In general, a percussion instrument played properly by someone who understands rhythm in music is fine.
Played by someone without a sense of rhythm or timing is usually a disaster.
Said advice goes for drums, tambourines, bodhrans, shaky eggs, sticks with bottle tops nailed on, cow bells, triangles, washboards etc...

Unfortunately, too many people in the folk scene think above instruments are something you give to the "spouse" so they can feel part of the session despite the fact they have absolutely no musical talent.

Quack!
Geoff the Duck. (we know about eggs)

Subject: RE: Do eggs have a place in a band?
From: GUEST,The Mole Catcher's unplugged Apprentice
Date: 26 Feb 08 - 12:01 PM

Is there an Albumen Easter Band?

Charlotte (looks in the piano stool for some sheet music)

Subject: RE: Do eggs have a place in a band?
From: GUEST,Chicken Charlie
Date: 26 Feb 08 - 01:33 PM

In his cookbook (yes, he wrote one), Alexandre Dumas began by saying, "To the uninitiated, an egg is an egg."

I had an eggist in my group for a while; the egg was simply an alternative to the spoons or bones, since we were doing "minstrel" stuff.

The open mic I frequent now has a "rule"--no poetry recitations, the reason being that there are musicians galore hoping for a chance to play, and it is about music, so, sorry, bards; try next door. A couple shows ago, a lady circumvented that by reciting her poetry to her own egg accompaniment. My opinion of this dodge: "Don't fire until you see the whites of their eggs."

Chicken Charlie

Subject: RE: Do eggs have a place in a band?
From: GUEST,martin ellison
Date: 26 Feb 08 - 01:49 PM

Chicken Charlie - are you sure that Dumas didn't say "an oeuf is an oeuf".
And that's an oeuf from me.

Subject: RE: Do eggs have a place in a band?
From: Ross Campbell
Date: 26 Feb 08 - 01:57 PM

Martin, as far as le grand fromage is concerned, there can never be an oeuf.

Ross

Subject: RE: Do eggs have a place in a band?
From: GUEST,The Mole Catcher's le frommage grandes Appr
Date: 26 Feb 08 - 02:09 PM

an all singing, all dancing, albumen variety show...

Charlotte (an oeuf is an ouef)

Subject: RE: Do eggs have a place in a band?
From: Mo the caller
Date: 26 Feb 08 - 02:23 PM

You can over-egg the pudding, certainly.

Subject: RE: Do eggs have a place in a band?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 26 Feb 08 - 02:23 PM

Who's throwing eggs at which band??

Subject: RE: Do eggs have a place in a band?
From: Ernest
Date: 26 Feb 08 - 02:55 PM

...waiting for someone to raise the question....










































...what is yolk music?

Subject: RE: Do eggs have a place in a band?
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 26 Feb 08 - 02:55 PM

"Do eggs have a place in a band?"
Only is you're hoping for an ovation
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: Do eggs have a place in a band?
From: GUEST,The Mole Catcher's unplugged Apprentice
Date: 26 Feb 08 - 03:01 PM

"You can over-egg the pudding, certainly."

an eggsageration surely?

Charlotte (Th-Th-Th-Th-Th-That's all, yolks)

Subject: RE: Do eggs have a place in a band?
From: Artful Codger
Date: 26 Feb 08 - 03:07 PM

Isn't there an egg solo in "Au glair de la lune"?

Subject: RE: Do eggs have a place in a band?
From: Ernest
Date: 26 Feb 08 - 03:10 PM

...if you can blow them out of the oval office...

(where`s your piano stool, Charlotte?)

Subject: RE: Do eggs have a place in a band?
From: GUEST,The Mole Catcher's unplugged Apprentice
Date: 26 Feb 08 - 03:12 PM

Cream may have used an egg in

Desserted Cities of the Heart......

Charlotte (cooking again)

Subject: RE: Do eggs have a place in a band?
From: gnomad
Date: 26 Feb 08 - 03:47 PM

Ovations are for the sheepish, and Ernest...





















Nicely done, that was unexpected, I actually did LOL.

I don't mind eggs when whelp-laid, they can addle something to the mix. Eggs just as eggs (whether hens- or musical-) are not generally to my taste, I find they need to be part of something bigger.

Subject: RE: Do eggs have a place in a band?
From: Charley Noble
Date: 26 Feb 08 - 03:58 PM

The answer would be "yes" if the band were an omlette.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Do eggs have a place in a band?
From: greg stephens
Date: 26 Feb 08 - 04:15 PM

I think they used one in the Average White Band.

Subject: RE: Do eggs have a place in a band?
From: greg stephens
Date: 26 Feb 08 - 04:17 PM

We always use one in "When Gamekeepers Lie Sleeping". They seem somehow appropriate for poaching songs.

Subject: RE: Do eggs have a place in a band?
From: Sorcha
Date: 26 Feb 08 - 04:31 PM

I was in a pick up session one night....The Goon was 'on the egg'. He finally dropped it...we were quite pleased, but lordy what a mess! LOL

Subject: RE: Do eggs have a place in a band?
From: GUEST,The Mole Catcher's unplugged Apprentice
Date: 26 Feb 08 - 04:34 PM

now there's a name for a cooking show, The Bold Poacher (very specialised)

Charlotte (looking at the family photograph albumen)

Subject: RE: Do eggs have a place in a band?
From: GUEST,Chicken Charlie, Redux
Date: 26 Feb 08 - 06:20 PM

Well, yes, there is another problem. This open mic has a five minute time limit, and if you let an egg go for more than three, ....

Gnomad--what do you get when you take one of those fiberglass bodied, plugged-unplugged guitars and put it in a vertical instrument holder?



A standing Ovation.


CC

Subject: RE: Do eggs have a place in a band?
From: Surreysinger
Date: 26 Feb 08 - 06:31 PM

That was rather eggscruciating Charlie ... should have been ovoid - ed I think!

Subject: RE: Do eggs have a place in a band?
From: Folkiedave
Date: 26 Feb 08 - 06:37 PM

Nobody's mentioned "Scrambleaway".

Yes doctor I am coming...........

Subject: RE: Do eggs have a place in a band?
From: Ross Campbell
Date: 26 Feb 08 - 10:53 PM

An oeuf's as good as a feast.

Ross

Subject: RE: Do eggs have a place in a band?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 26 Feb 08 - 11:13 PM

So, Mo, are you sorry you asked?

Subject: RE: Do eggs have a place in a band?
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 26 Feb 08 - 11:50 PM

"Unfortunately, too many people in the folk scene think above instruments are something you give to the "spouse" so they can feel part of the session despite the fact they have absolutely no musical talent."

Actually, I have usually found that in most cases it is these very non-musical types who are the first to howl when a competent trained muso picks these items up...

After decades of searching, I have finally found a source of those brightly coloured plastic split eggs, and I have a bag of kitty litter ...

Subject: RE: Do eggs have a place in a band?
From: Geoff the Duck
Date: 27 Feb 08 - 03:31 AM

The main problem with plastic shaky eggs is that they don't make a noise at the start of the arm movement, the noise happens when the egg stopsand the contents suddenly hit the egg wall. Unless you understand this, and adjust the timing appropriately, you get an effect where every noise is at some indeterminate point AFTER the beat of the music.
On very effective use I saw in a concert, I can't recall who though, was to throw the egg from hand to hand, but making sure that the "catch" was exactly on the musical beat.
Quack!
GtD.

Subject: RE: Do eggs have a place in a band?
From: Mo the caller
Date: 27 Feb 08 - 05:14 AM

Not really sorry I asked, Joe. But no-one commented on the thing about using them to tell the other players where they were in the AABBAB sequence.
Are there any other tricks you use, or are you all so good you never get lost?

Subject: RE: Do eggs have a place in a band?
From: GUEST,BobL
Date: 27 Feb 08 - 07:46 AM

"the noise happens when the egg stops"

Arguably also true of drumsticks, though a different part of the chicken.

Subject: RE: Do eggs have a place in a band?
From: deadfrett
Date: 27 Feb 08 - 09:05 AM

Absolutely necessary when doing Napoleon's Chicken Marengo.

Subject: RE: Do eggs have a place in a band?
From: GUEST,Chicken Charlie
Date: 27 Feb 08 - 10:07 AM

Dear Mo the Caller--

Your last comment set off a big "Why didn't I ever think of that?" in my head. I usually don't get lost in the AABA sense, but late last year I met someone with absolutely no sense of it. This is in rehearsals, too, mind you, with words/music on the stand in front of him. No, Bill, you don't do B until you've done A twice. Didn't stick. I printed out lyrics that were color coded. I printed out the entire piece with repeated choruses and no 'repeat' signs, just so he wouldn't get lost. No impact. I suspect some manufacturing defect in the cerebrum. The man plays a helluva fiddle, but cannot count to TWO. Needless to say, Bill doesn't ride with us any more. I didn't think of trying to use another instrument to cue him. I'll have to remember that.

Where I do get lost is re. lyrics, especially as I do a lot of blues & a lot of traditional ballads, both of which are likely to have verses that start out with the same phrase. I can get away with it with the blues, but in a ballad it's a dead give-away--I've either repeated part of the story or skipped some of it, though some of my colleagues don't mind that, as they were raised on 30-sec sound bites and think these songs are way too long anyway.

Anyway, I appreciate the thought. Maybe it's the origin of the phrase, "egging someone on," but I doubt it.

Chicken Charlie

PS. "What came first, the chicken or the egg?" is really of deep, world-altering significance. Creationists must say "the chicken." Darwinists must say "the egg."

Subject: RE: Do eggs have a place in a band?
From: bankley
Date: 27 Feb 08 - 10:35 AM

or as Peace recently told me... " A chicken and an Egg were having sex... the chicken rolled over and lit up a cigarette and said.... 'Well, that answers THAT question' "






also....the world needs more Folkies with 'huevos grandes'

Subject: RE: Do eggs have a place in a band?
From: Mr Happy
Date: 27 Feb 08 - 11:31 AM

Must get one of these http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=wsIHyRyETKg for camping!

Subject: RE: Do eggs have a place in a band?
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 27 Feb 08 - 04:03 PM

Hasn't this has been covered before? (Always wanted to say that - a Mudcat chestnut if ever there was one!)

thread.cfm?threadid=97918

Subject: RE: Do eggs have a place in a band?
From: GUEST,The Mole Catcher's unplugged Apprentice
Date: 27 Feb 08 - 04:24 PM

101 things to do with a shakey egg

Do eggs have a place in a band?

one thread is a list of suggestions, the other a question...there's enough of a difference to merit two threads, IMHO

Charlotte (the view from Ma and Pa's piano stool)

Subject: RE: Do eggs have a place in a band?
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 27 Feb 08 - 04:55 PM

Eggs is eggs, Charlotte - curate's, or otherwise.

Subject: RE: Do eggs have a place in a band?
From: GUEST,The Mole Catcher's unplugged Apprentice
Date: 27 Feb 08 - 05:23 PM

I do wonder, sometimes, I really do....anyway...now where were we?

Charlotte (the view from Ma and Pa's piano stool)

Subject: RE: Do eggs have a place in a band?
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 28 Feb 08 - 04:32 AM

Eggs notwithstanding (personally I prefer those little plastic skulls anyway) there's a choice selection of shaky things to be had at The Works at the moment: natural seed shakers and the like, for a good deal less than you'd pay for them elsewhere. They've also got a lovely carved wooden frog shaped friction whirler, the raucous racket of which would sound great in any session. And they all have a place in my band.