General Music Chat

Never expected it, but we were onstage last night at 6PM. Randy got a call about 3, one of the local venues had a glitch of some sort or someone pulled a last minute cancellation I'm not sure, asked if we wanted to play. He called me, of course I said "we haven't left yet?" OK not really, I didn't say exactly that, I said sure so we had to be ready at 6.

Changed some strings real quick, black telecaster broke a chip off the nut at the low E, piled everything in the Jeep and cruised, already late and minus a guitar.

Did it go well? Very well but not without the obligatory equipment malfunctions that go along with last minute gigs. One of Randy's cords was flaky and my pedalboard decided it would be a perfect time to develop a bad contact at the power plug. I unplugged everything and ran just an overdrive pedal with a wall wart for the 1st set. Then dug out a couple of batteries and added the phase shifter later on. NO other issues, and nothing really serious.

1st break the owner/manager wanted to make sure he had a good contact number so he could book us later. By the end of the night we were pre booked for every Thursday night for the foreseeable future. Except this coming one, of course.

Small crowd, 15-20 people, rainy night and only one couple left, everyone else stayed the whole night, 6-10PM. And apparently thoroughly enjoyed it. I've heard crowds of 100-150 that were lots quieter. Two patrons said we were the best band in town and were really surprised we had only been working together a couple of months. Manager liked it really well and was listening the whole time. He probably joked around with us most while we were onstage, and we managed to pull of a song he requested, that we had never even thought about trying before. I think we did 2 we had never tried.

Should have a couple of pics in a day or three, a friend got some shots but I wasn't able to get them today. Overall, Randy and I were pleased, we did notice a few things to fine tune of course, that was expected especially for a last minute gig with virtually no notice. We had talked about getting cords and so forth sorted and fixed just 2 days ago, but hadn't started digging through everything yet. It's definitely on the short list now...

So it looks like I'll be posting some pics before long, even if I didn't get any good shots this time. I haven't seen them yet. Should have copies in a few days.

Glad it went so well Bill!

Keep On Rockin!

That's good, man. I know you've been wanting to play for a long time!

You'd been wanting to get back in the saddle and a bucking bronco is a good way to get up to speed again.
I know you will have those little problems well in hand.
A gig Q Thursday? You and Randy must have made an impression.
Good job bro!

Waiting for the pictures.

Thanks guys, yeah we should have all the little glitches fixed well before the next gig.

You and Randy must have made an impression

I think so...I'm pretty happy with it. should get more gigs from it too.

That's absolutely awesome. One of the first gigs I ever did was exactly the same scenario. It's GREAT to have a regular place to gig. That gets people motivated to rehearse more (and get their equipment ready to go too!)

Some of the best times I've had over the years are those last minute deals where you try to throw something together in a flash. Sounds like you nailed it !

Another day in Paradise !!!

Me too, I love playing under pressure, Randy does too, that was the best thing about playing 3 years of fill in gigs in the 80's. We're getting together real soon to sort out equipment, solder cable ends and so forth, and I Just got the transformer in so I can fix my Champ, still have to go pick up a tube socket but should have the tranny soldered in by tomorrow night.

We talked it over yesterday, we both can't wait to do it again, we're getting ready to put together a specific song list, still writing down ideas for more songs, it won't be lond till we will be able to pull off 2 nights without repeating more than a half dozen or so really popular songs.

I love it...

NOTHING pisses me off more than a disorganized tangle of wires, unless you ALSO mix the good with the bad (or don't tune your frikken axe!). Dddonnie's hell for that.

Ont time we were setting up & I just lost it. I started cutting the ends off every broken wire with my penknife. I think it was one of the best things I ever did for the band, cuz then it was easy to see what needed to get fixed.

I still run into a cut off wire every now & again, & it makes me smile...

I've done that too, but with wire cutters, which I usuallyl have with me. I also like to bring my soldering kit for emergencies. I once had to solder a guitar cable 10 minutes before a gig. we made it, but I was not happy...everything worked perfect the night before, I think the cord got yanked by someone's foot tearing down the previous night.

Anyway, like I said we're planning to get together and spend a day fixing cables very soon. We have at least a half dozen we know of. Also going to reorganize my - no our - wire bags. Both of us had a mess when we got ready to set up Saturday night, that won't happen again...I'm getting some more velcro wire straps today.

Well, in the ever continuing saga of my weird musical life, things are apparently happening...

Randy got a call yesterday just as I got there to fix cables and so forth, we're booked at another place for Dec 18 and 19. Good chance at regular gigs there too.

Got all the equipment fixed up. my pedal board is working again, all we have to do now is go through Randy's cables and we're set up for nest week. Got the PA sounding great, it was less than optimal Saturday night, and he reset his drums (electronic) and they sound awesome now. One more monitor and some lights and we'll be jammin.

I don't know what's going on but it looks like this can only get better...

you musta really blown em away

No, this is a different place, completely unconnected. I guess I didn't explain...this place wanted us to do their grand opening, and kept getting one setback after another, and finally got everything lined out recently. So he called us to get started on the entertainment. But it had nothing to do with last weekend's gig, that went quite well and we did get future bookings from it, and yeah I think we did "blow them away" as you put it, but it had nothing to do with the second venue.

Congrats Pete, I am glad things are going great for you and I hope it continues for a long time!

Thanks man, I appreciate it. I'm heading for Texas probably tonight, wish I was going to be closer to Houston, but I'll still be 3 hours away in Lufkin...