Waiting for Godot

I’ve just bought a new keyboard and am sitting here waiting, hoping that it will be delivered today. They said it would, but what they say and what happens aren’t always the same. I’m on tenterhooks, as it’s a major purchase, one of the most expensive pieces of equipment I’ve ever bought. Oh god…

My main keyboard that I use live had been playing up slightly. It still worked but had a sticky button which was causing the display screen to flash madly and sometimes interfered with my being able to change sounds. It also had something rattling about inside it. I’ve often had to open up keyboards to fix such niggley little problems, but never this one, my most recent and loveliest addition to my sound-making arsenal. So I thought I’d have a go, how hard can it be…?

I put it upside-down on a chair and got all the screws out except one on the side which was stuck fast. So I turned it over to get a better grip, not realising that I had detached the actual keyboard from the casing (on all my other keyboards those screws are inside). The rather heavy block of keys swiftly fell out and landed on my foot, bits of plastic flying everywhere. One key had got a bit smashed (I know that feeling) and jumped out altogether, another was sticking up and looking quite poorly. It’s a terrible feeling to see your main keyboard in pieces on the floor. For virtually everything else I use onstage I have a spare, but not this. Gulp.

I really shouldn’t attempt this sort of thing at 2 in the morning. Anyway I found some old Araldite and managed to glue some of the broken bits back onto the keys, and went to bed leaving it to set fast overnight. Couldn’t sleep, worried about having to cancel the next gig the day after tomorrow, and my head spinning trying to work out how or if I could manage without the keyboard if I couldn’t get the broken keys to work again, or if indeed it would make any sound at all.

I don’t think I could have done the gig, this being my "mother" keyboard which controls everything else. Fortunately I managed to get the keys back in with the help of some cardboard and strong tape. It was only in the morning I realised how badly I’d hurt my foot; the shock of seeing the keys come apart stopped me from feeling any pain when they hit me. But today, it was bloody sore and badly bruised.

I’ve since received brand new keys from the spares department and managed to get the stuck screw out so I could access the circuit board and squirt some switch cleaner on the sticky button. It all seems to be as good as new again, but it gave me quite a fright.

I’d been thinking about a new keyboard anyway and this made me realise that I really did need some sort of contingency plan. In theory, the new one will replace not only the mother keyboard, but also the second keyboard, 2 sound modules, a sampler and Zip drive, and a piano module. I can also manage without a mixing desk for this gaggle of gear, as I’ll only have one thing to plug in! That’ll be a hell of a lot less to carry! Let’s hope the theory can be put into practice, I won’t really know until I start programming sounds for the band, which is going to take me ages…

This is probably the least interesting blog I have ever written, but I had to do something, as I’m just sitting here waiting, waiting…

Oh well. I’m off to London for my 3^rd Charing Cross appointment a week today, but I have more exciting things on my mind at the moment. (It IS exciting, honest). CX feels like no big deal now anyway, I know the drill, but it has to be done. I do hope they give me something more positive to go on this time, especially regarding the trach shave, but they’ve been ok so far I guess, and I have no major complaints.

What time is it now…? Groan. It’s like waiting for Godot, but he’s probably not going to come today…

xx