Hi there !
I wonder if there will be a National or two in the auction ?
He told me he had one or two, after I told him I had quite a few Nationals (which surprised him, as I was the piano player in the band, when he did a guest spot in the band I was playing with, back at the Edinburgh J&B fest, in 2018).
I had a briedf nightmare scenario that evening, when I thought I had lost Bernie Marsden's guitar !!!!!!
On the Friday night of the festival, both bands I'm in were to be on, for the first hour of the evening's show.
My trio, Mud In Your Ear (with young Thomas Lucas, and Prof Scratchy) were playing with US harp player, Brandon Santini - for a short 20min set
Then, the band I play piano in, the Jensen Intercepters, were to have a 40min set immediately after.
I was dead excited about the prospects of playing in BOTH bands that night.
I was also doing playing piano on two gigs with John Primer that weekend (last guitar-playing sideman for Muddy Waters).
A week or so before the gigs, the Jensen Intercepters were asked if Bernie Marsden could guest with us for two songs.
(Bernie had done other gigs with some of the guys in the band before, notably John Bruce, from Scotland's Blues'n'Trouble band).
So, the band were happy to have him for a few numbers - and the whole weekend was turning into the most awesome thing I had ever been involved in.
As the final week progressed towards the Friday gig, we got told (by the festival organisers) to just play two numbers of the 40min set ourselves, then Bernie Marsden was to be brought on for the rest.
It began to become clear that our 40min band gig was being turning into a Bernie Marsden gig.
Next we heard, Bernie wanted to do an acoustic guitar tune, on his own, in the middle of our 40min set.
Having never met Bernie before-hand, and not knowing all that much about him (yes, I know, it seems silly now !), I wasn't in the mood for OUR gig being severely side-lined by him.
We had a couple of hours booked on the morning of the gig, in a local rehearsal studio, to meet him and sort out a set.
Nearly everyone was there when Bernie asked "is everyone here ? Shall we get started ?".
I replied that Gary, our frontman / singer / harmonica player would just be a few minutes - to which Bernie replied "Oh, I don't have any need for a harmonica player" !!!!
I couldn't believe it ! I was just about seething by this point !
However, the rehearsal went well - we started playing some tunes, and all was good, AND Bernie Marsden actually turned out to be a lovely guy, very humble, and very easy to chat to. He was very complimentary about my blues piano playing, when I expressed concern I didn't understand the chord progression for one tune - and I suggested it might be better if I sat that tune out. I'm clearly not in the same league as the top guys he plays with - and he could have just lost it with me, but no, he put my mind at rest with compliments. So, that completely changed my mind about him, ha ha !!
We all had good banter with him - and he said he wanted to come up to Edinburgh some time and get me to whiten his teeth, ha ha ha !!!
We also discussed my love of National guitars - and I'm pretty sure he said he had a few himself.
Anyway, AFTER the rehearsal, he wanted to go back to his hotel for a nap & a shower, and he asked me if I could take care of his guitar until we got to the gig venue. It was a fancy-looking PRS electric, in a bland, black padded gig bag. I stuck it in my car with all my own gear & went home for lunch.
Load-in to this Edinburgh venue (Assembly Halls) that evening was a nightmare for heavy, bulky items like my keyboards etc. (multiple outdoor stone staircases & no roadies !).
It took a while - so I brought in Bernie Marsden's guitar first, so it wouldn't be left unattended in my car as I went back & forth to load in more of my gear. I propped his gig bag up against the side of the stage, against the black stage curtains.
Parked my car after all the unloading, and went back to the stage to set up all my gear - 2 guitars for my trio gig, and my e.piano for the Jensens/Marsden gig.
I had just finished setting up all my gear onstage - and they had turned the lights down quite a bit by this point.
Bernie arrived, walked up to me and asked me for his guitar - I couldn't quite remember where I put it, and in the darkness, it took what felt like an agonising eternity, desperately trying to find his guitar - which turned out to be exactly where I'd left it, the black gig-bag, camouflaged against black, stage curtains.
OMG - I nearly died !!!!
The whole evening went well, thankfully.
We will have to wait and see.