Posts Tagged ‘sunday assembly’

Sunday Assembly Leeds has been on hiatus since last summer. However, given the current crisis, we decided to stage a virtual assembly.

The theme was “how do I stay positive?” during the current crisis. We had talks, songs from The Assembly Line (in the form of videos of our previous gigs), a moment of reflection and a section called positive news in which we looked at the good things coming out of the current situation.

I’ve been playing around with the setup. The camera on my iPhone is much better than the one in my Mac, so I got a phone adapter for my tripod and used my phone as the main camera. I used my Aftershokz has headphones slash microphone. This freed up my laptop to control the webinar. The final thing you need to sort out is lighting, and angling myself between the window and a studio light seemed to work well.

Sunday Assembly Leeds took a break at the start of the year, with December being our last event while we changed around the format. After many long planning meetings we decided to relaunch in May with a theme of “why do we need other people?” and hosted by me.

We’ve moved to the city centre, now located in the Cosmopolitan Hotel, and we’ve played around with the format and the message. So, although our meetings look pretty similar, I think the core content of them is a lot different.

The feedback forms have so far been very positive, but we’ll see how it goes next month.

The July event of Sunday Assembly Leeds was on the theme of Yorkshire (it being Yorkshire Day the following day). Our speaker for the month, Mary from City of Sanctuary, spoke about the efforts to make Leeds a more inclusive and more welcoming place. The cake selection was also excellent, having had much left overs from the Humanist picnic the day before.

The Assembly Line performed as usual, just as a three piece this month. This left me as the only guitarist, but it could have sounded a bit worse.

The Housemartins – Happy Hour

Kaiser Chiefs – I Predict A Riot

The May 2016 Sunday Assembly Leeds had a theme of “friendship”. The Assembly Line performed two songs, I’ll Be There For You by The Rembrandts and With a Little Help From My Friends by The Beatles.

I’ll Be There For You

With a Little Help Frm My Friends

The February 2016 event for Sunday Assembly Leeds had a theme of “leaps”. The band played two songs, Jumpin’ Jack Flash by The Rolling Stones and Jump, Jive an’ Wail by The Brian Setzer Orchestra.

Jumpin’ Jack Flash

Jump, Jive an’ Wail

For the December event at Sunday Assembly Leeds, Dermot led an assembly on “traditions”.

At November’s Sunday Assembly Leeds we did two songs, Echo Beach and Stuck in the Middle With You. I also did a solo cover of Closing Time, but my camera died before we got to that. The camera was using a huge aperture, so half the band are out of focus.

Echo Beach

Stuck in the Middle With You

For the July 2015 Sunday Assembly Leeds we performed two songs. They sounds really good on the day though listening back, I’m less convinced.

I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)

Weather With You

The Assembly Line is our new name for the in-house Sunday Assembly Leeds band. Our June event was on the theme of technology so we had some very vaguely related technology songs.

The Beatles – Drive My Car

This went pretty well, until the end, where I lost it. Listen out for Rich shredding the lead guitar.

Oasis – She’s Electric

Notable for my short guitar solo after the first chorus. It didn’t feel great at the time but on listening back it actually sounds pretty good.

R.E.M. – Man on the Moon

This also features a short guitar solo for myself. I also spent my Christmas vouchers on an analogue delay pedal which I used throughout the song, regardless of whether it was justifiable or not.

In March we totally rocked it with the first performance of the house band at Sunday Assembly Leeds. In April we strutted our stuff once again with an expanded line-up.

Bad Moon Rising was probably the most exciting for me as I was leading the vocals on that one. The other songs worked really well as well, though due to unfortunate camera placement, I’m mostly invisible in the other two.

Bad Moon Rising

The Monster Mash

The Time Warp