UPDATE: SIGN THE PETITION
The City of Westminster has its thumb on the windpipe of live music, and seems to have it in for bassists, keyboard players and drummers in particular.
A proposal, for a trial period of 18 months, to extend residents' parking hours until midnight from Monday to Saturday across large parts of the borough, is THE talked-about issue among musicians at the moment.
It was passed at a meeting at Westminster City Hall last Monday.The Musicians Union were not allowed to attend or be reprsented the meeting. Here's the MU's story. The meeting was chaired by Colin Barrow CBE, who has been a board member at Rambert Dance Company. He said in 2003: "Politics demands an impatience with the status quo. Politics is about getting something done, about effecting change, about making the world a different place."
After this impatiently-applied ruling, Westminster will indeed be a different place. Simon Little has just posted this on his blog:
"Many London gigs would simply be wiped out as musicians and patrons are priced out of the West End by the sheer expense of the visit. I have no choice but to drive to gigs with all the large and heavy equipment I need to carry, plus the fact that I live out of town and have no easy access to public transport. I’m sure the last thing Westminster Council wants is for me to rock up at tube stations with a double bass and an amp. Not to mention the drummers… And at the end of the night when the tube and train services have stopped running, how are we meant to get home safely?"
simonlittlebass.com 
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