General Music Chat

George, you are one of the RICHEST MEN I KNOW!
Just BE YOU MAN and everything else WILL FALL INTO PLACE!

Two memories stand out for me off the top of my head. The first was playing in front of 35,000 people at the Winnipeg Folk Festival mainstage. We played right before Joan Baez. Being in front of that many people and watching yourself on giant video screens at the same time was awe inspiring.

The second was at The Black mountain Festival in NC in the early '90's. Doc Watson was scheduled to close the festival on Saturday night. We had done our mainstage performance earlier in the day and were already packed up to head to Boston. The promoter comes up and tells us Doc cut his hand fixing a radio and might not make it. He puts us up in front of an already restless crowd and when we start setting up the crowd realizes something is going on and we figure, this is going to be rough. Just as we're about to start they tell us doc just arrived and to go ahead and play a 30 minute set while he gets settled in. Needless to say the crowd was pleased with the news and a lot more receptive to our set. During our second to last song I look over and see Doc Watson smiling and nodding along so I call for the guys to do 16 Tons for our last song. (written by his late brother, the great Merle Watson) As we're tearing down he made a point of telling us how much he enjoyed us and spoke warmly of our set to the audience during his show. What an 80 year old, blind guitar legend was doing fixing a radio I still don't understand

Music has always been a big part of my life,
my folks weren't in to playing music, but they'd
take me to thr bar with them pretty regular when I
was a kid, I'll never forget that good old country and
western blaring out of the jukebox, this was a space
in time in the 1960s.

When I played the bars hard and heavy (3 to 4 nights/week)
in the late 70s early 80s it seemed like the third or fourth
set was always kinda magical. On break the band would head
out into the parking lot and the doobies would be passed
around. When we'd come back off that break, after drinking
beer thru the 1st couple of sets, the weed would put us
on another plane. Some of those third and fourth sets were
magical and just couldn't be recreated any other way. I know
people put down the weed, but it's musical juice in the right
hands.

Lynard

Re Weed - didn't do it for showcase gigs (usually) since they are mostly one long set.

For club gigs - the last was usually pretty well lit!

You all made me remember the absolute coolest thing that happened to me in music.

My father was pleased that I gotten a good job and 'settled down.' Little did he know. I showed up on his doorstep and his first question was "how's that job going?" "I quit - we're going on the road." answered Mike.

Then I handed him a copy of our album. He looked at me hard (he remains the hardest man I've ever known) and then said simply, "you got more of these with you?" I did.

By the weekend my father had three local radio stations playing our album. Don't know how he did it to this day, but he did it.

Talbot

Talbot,

It's a much cooler world today, I just drive
to Colorado to get my weed prescription filled,
about every two monthes, it should be medically
available worldwide.

Man did we ever rock on some weed and beer,
those are great memories, we were more than
a band we were friends and still are today. The
drum player still with me, the bass players dead,
and our singer drinks and party's as hard as he
did in 1977, but I still love him and give him booze
money, whenever he can get the nerve up to ask.

I've had many nice music experiences. The one that comes to mind is my band in Ohio. We were very versatile. I had booked a wedding where we played the pre-wedding music as well as wedding music. We played for the cocktail hour AND the reception. We were well loved and well paid. We were good friends and good musicians. As a matter of fact these guys made me sound good.

Having the opportunity to stand next to a Bandmixer has also be amazing to me. I sat in with Ted Beaver's band Haleamano ( sp? ) when they came to Long Beach California. Hpefully I will get the opportunity again when I attend next year's Flute Convention which will be in Las Vegas where this band 'lives".

OMG, how could I forget. The guy in my profile picture is Billy Mclaughlin. I met him about 20 years ago, in concert, at Kent State. I asked him if it would be possible to sit-in with him the next time he would perform in the area, and he immediately said yes. I have atended at least 12 of his performances and each performance allows me the chance to rub elbows with him. Ten years ago he developed focal dystonia and had to quit playing guitar for a while. With a little determination he re-learned his guitar as a lefty as you can see in the profile pic. THis picture was taken about 2 1/2 years ago. I accompanied him on his composition "Fingerdance" which was featured in a Purina One commercial.

I think one of the best shows my previous band played was at The Erotic Poetry Festival in Hamtramck.

We had an S&M group from Noir Leather performing in front of us while we played.

We thought we were doing the show for free. But, we probably made the most money of all from that show.

wow,hardy seems appropriate to follow mike with this but , 1966-67 3 pc band that played for $15 , $5 ea we played almost every weekend . I thought we had it made ! private parties ,store openings , parades , school dances, ice cream sociels. I was about 13 & it couldnt have been more fun .

wow,hardy seems appropriate to follow mike with this but , 1966-67 3 pc band that played for $15 , $5 ea we played almost every weekend . I thought we had it made ! private parties ,store openings , parades , school dances, ice cream sociels. I was about 13 & it couldnt have been more fun .

You know, not many kids have gigs like that. As-a-matter-of-fact most kids at that age aren't even working. That's a great story, Blues.

Back in Cleveland they have a showcase event every year called Undercurrents. It's basically 4 days of local bands showcasing 20 minutes on stage of what they have to offer.
My band at the time, wasn't selected to showcase, but we decided to spend the 50 bucks get a pass and go to the seminars.
One that interested me was a listening and judging seminar. Basically you submitted a cassette of your best song and if they picked your tape out of this box (with all the other entries) they would play and critique your song.
So we made our way to this darkly lit auditorium with round tables set up all around the front of the stage. The room was crowded... lots of bands wanted to get their song heard. (Probaly about 50-60 bands)There were judges on this stage that would comment after your song was finished and critique (rip) it. The judges were mostly A&R folks from major labels to Indies.


Anyway about a half hour goes by song after song and then finally... they pulled our tape.
The guy announced us and the song title and pushed play.
The song was blasted throughout the auditorium as I sat there with the singer and drummer from the band. The song played to the end which surprised me. No one else’s song made it that far before it was cut off. Seemed like there was a long pause after the last note faded out… then the place seem to erupt with applause. We received a lot of praise from the panel and made some real connections with a label (Asylum). I was shocked but the best feeling from it was sitting in a room full of musicians and feeling like we were good enough to them.

Back in Cleveland they have a showcase event every year called Undercurrents. It's basically 4 days of local bands showcasing 20 minutes on stage of what they have to offer.
My band at the time, wasn't selected to showcase, but we decided to spend the 50 bucks get a pass and go to the seminars.
One that interested me was a listening and judging seminar. Basically you submitted a cassette of your best song and if they picked your tape out of this box (with all the other entries) they would play and critique your song.
So we made our way to this darkly lit auditorium with round tables set up all around the front of the stage. The room was crowded... lots of bands wanted to get their song heard. (Probaly about 50-60 bands)There were judges on this stage that would comment after your song was finished and critique (rip) it. The judges were mostly A&R folks from major labels to Indies.


Anyway about a half hour goes by song after song and then finally... they pulled our tape.
The guy announced us and the song title and pushed play.
The song was blasted throughout the auditorium as I sat there with the singer and drummer from the band. The song played to the end which surprised me. No one else’s song made it that far before it was cut off. Seemed like there was a long pause after the last note faded out… then the place seem to erupt with applause. We received a lot of praise from the panel and made some real connections with a label (Asylum). I was shocked but the best feeling from it was sitting in a room full of musicians and feeling like we were good enough to them.

Now that would be cool ... and a little intimidating as well.
Great story.

Back in Cleveland they have a showcase event every year called Undercurrents. It's basically 4 days of local bands showcasing 20 minutes on stage of what they have to offer.
My band at the time, wasn't selected to showcase, but we decided to spend the 50 bucks get a pass and go to the seminars.
One that interested me was a listening and judging seminar. Basically you submitted a cassette of your best song and if they picked your tape out of this box (with all the other entries) they would play and critique your song.
So we made our way to this darkly lit auditorium with round tables set up all around the front of the stage. The room was crowded... lots of bands wanted to get their song heard. (Probaly about 50-60 bands)There were judges on this stage that would comment after your song was finished and critique (rip) it. The judges were mostly A&R folks from major labels to Indies.


Anyway about a half hour goes by song after song and then finally... they pulled our tape.
The guy announced us and the song title and pushed play.
The song was blasted throughout the auditorium as I sat there with the singer and drummer from the band. The song played to the end which surprised me. No one else’s song made it that far before it was cut off. Seemed like there was a long pause after the last note faded out… then the place seem to erupt with applause. We received a lot of praise from the panel and made some real connections with a label (Asylum). I was shocked but the best feeling from it was sitting in a room full of musicians and feeling like we were good enough to them.

THat is commendable.I remember Undercurrants. I submitted a tape as a matter of fact. I didn't get picked but it is a shame that I didn't go to the seminars. Are they still doing Undecurrants?

[quote="Black57THat is commendable.I remember Undercurrants. I submitted a tape as a matter of fact. I didn't get picked but it is a shame that I didn't go to the seminars. Are they still doing Undecurrants?[/quote]

B,
They do still have the showcases and seminars. Back in the late 80's and 90's Cleveland had a very vibrant Local Music scene. Rock Blues even some jazz. You could go to a club on a Thursday night and Robert Lockwood jr might be playing.
Don't know what it's like today.

http://www.undercurrents.com/music.html

bump