ABMF 2009 - Phil Manning

[gstark]

I can remember seeing the band Chain back in the late 1960s, and I am sure others here may have similar memories. I've already posted some images of one of Chain's members, Matt Taylor, from this year's festival. Phil Manning was another member of Chain, and truly has legendary status amongst blues musicians here in Oz.

I was both thrilled and privileged to have been able to MC, and thus, introduce each of these brilliant musicians at some of their performances this year. Here's some images of Phil at the Lieder Theatre. The first two of these are crops ...









More images of Phil at the Lieder here.

[DaveB]

Damn, Gary! Does Phil know he's got a microphone growing out of his eyebrow?

[gstark]

Dave,

Given the stature of the artists at this year's festival, I needed to be mindful of those who had paid to come and see these people, and thus restricted my shooting positions (and times) in most of the venues I was at.

Each performer, of course, has their own preferences as to how they want things set up, and this is even more the case when they're working in an acoustic mode - Phil and Matt also put in an appearance in Chain, as well as sitting in on the All Star Pro Jam, much to the delight of a couple of youngish ( 23yo or thereabouts) players. That ranges from mike placement through to guitar and stompbox setup.

Both Matt and Phil had their own DI boxes, but Matt's seemed to be multi-input, perhaps with a preamp. Brian Fraser had an aluminium case sitting on a chair (or stand) just to his right, and that seemed to contain a multi-input DI with preamp too: as he changed guitars during his performance, he was using different controls within the case to adjust his intruments' volumes.

[DaveB]

Yeah, I figured you were restricted in your choice of positions.

[gstark]

Yeah, I figured you were restricted in your choice of positions.

missionary was a specific no-no

I actually had the run of the house for all venues ("Access All Areas" even) but I self-imposed these restrictions, figuring that the paying public probably wanted to see and hear Phil et al rather than me.