Contact
There is no manager and no agent. Everything goes to Bettina Croll, who also plays tenor saxophone.
Weddings, functions, wakes and anything with chairs.
Two sets of fourteen songs with twenty minutes between them, and whatever is asked for at the end. Six weeks’ notice is preferred; less has been managed. Fees are quoted for the room rather than the hour, and are divided equally on the night.
Requests are taken. The band would rather know a song in advance, and will attempt it either way.
For a wedding, the first dance is usually the only thing the band needs to learn, and it would like about a month to do so.
mail@frankievelvet.com.au
(03) 5550 0191
P.O. Box 91
Preston, Victoria 3072
Australia
Bettina answers on Thursdays, which is rehearsal, and usually comes back within a fortnight.
What the band needs.
The band brings its own backline and, where the room is small, its own patience. Nothing below is unusual, but the organ is heavier than it looks and the stairs are always mentioned afterwards.
| Stage | Four metres preferred. Three accepted, with the Velvettes on the floor. |
|---|---|
| Power | Two circuits, one of them for the organ alone. |
| Access | Ground level if possible. Say in advance if there are stairs. |
| Sound | Vocal PA and four monitors. The band brings the rest. |
| Lighting | Warm, and less of it than you were planning. |
| Set times | Two of fifty minutes, twenty minutes between. |
| Load-in | Ninety minutes before doors. |
| Also | A card table, stage left, for records. |
Photographs
Photographs, negatives, programmes, tickets and posters from any engagement since 1991 are welcome. Anything sent is copied and returned within a fortnight.
Particularly wanted: the interior of the Chandelier Room, of which two photographs exist and neither negative survives; and the 1998 New Zealand dates, of which there is nothing at all.
Records
Physical copies are sold at engagements, cash, from a card table to the left of the stage. Anything still in print can also be posted; write and ask what is left.
The Vellum cassettes are long gone. The Berlin reissues turn up second-hand more often than you would expect.
Dates by post
A card goes out four times a year with the coming season on it. It is a card, not an email, and has been since 1997.
Send an address. That is the whole of the arrangement.
Fridays, the Emerald Room, Coburg.
From 8.30. Two drinks minimum. The card table is on the left.