General Music Chat

All right since I'm new in this forum thing I just wanted tyo share this....The bands name was (no probably need not to say)------------Other names will be ommitted. The band manager was the violinist as well. he played harmonica and 5 string fiddle.....we would leave on thurs days and return sundays..........we would load up the gear in the trailor and jump in the 15 passanger RENTED van.......the manager would not let anyone drive.................Ok here we go . we are getting into atlanta an several doobies later (cough cough cough) He's driving in atlanta stop and goI65 traffic(i think 65) he's doing 55 doobie in on hand cigarette in an other while he is facing us in the back talking......................slams brakes cause we all screamed at him......this went on for what seemed to be an eternity.......i thought i was going to die........he refused to look at the road in front of him..............

..followed by the sound of breaking glass and a huge BAM! LOL

His fiddle was sticking out of his ass, which was perfect for him. We did the gig and everyone loved his music, cause it was a space odditity. lol

For an encore he smoked a doobie out of his ass while he played the star spangled banner.

What the f*ck? Lmao.

one can dream.LOL

Lmao. This dream has a guy with a fiddle sticking out of his ass!

Hey gang,

I never did smoke dope but drank like fish...The effect is somewhat simliar...(Ive heard.. ).I always felt safe with high people driving becuase everything is in a percieved slow mo...Yeah, their reflexes are slower BUT 55 is like 30 to them ...I was chasing a girl in NM doing 120 or so on 25 S pretty waisted and everything was kinda in slow mo...I felt like I was in complete control..Takin curves just right etc...In HIS world , he had everthing under control...Most of my road miles from 78-94 were traveled with everyone waisted and I remember only 3 accidents...


KIDD

One of my old guitar playing buddys, who also owned a bar, was fond of saying, "God protects drunks and babies".

When I was 18, I was in a van loaded with equipment and we rolled it on an interstate doing around 70mph. There were 4 of us in there and amazingly noone was hurt, just banged up real bad. I can still remember this vividly, it was like being in a clothes dryer with an SVT Cab, a couple of 4x12 Cabs and loose drums, thinking back Im glad the cymbals were in a bag. The van was totally destroyed. That band broke up not long after that, it seemed like bad luck followed us everywhere. Fights, ODs, DWIs, you name it, it happened. If we had stayed together we might have been Guns N Roses or dead. Thinking back that group was pretty good for our ages.

^JW, that is a crazy story, man. Had the cymbals been in there you would have been beheaded. I am not driving with my drummers equipment, he can get his own car and get his own head severed.

Peace, GuitarAnatomy.

Scary story J.W.,
Once My wife Cin (bass) and I were toolin' down the highway, fully loaded with the p.a., bass and keyboard equipment, in our looong ol' Dodge window van. That bus had a 400 c.i. mill and a slushbucket transmission. We just wrapped up a gig and it was about 2.30 A.M, when (being half asleep) I thought I bumped the shift lever in neutral. Without putting to much thought in it, I grabbed the shifter and "jammed her in reverse",at 70 MPH! All I recall is coming to a very abrupt screeching halt. Lucky for us, the van started back up and no apparent damage was done. Beware brothers and sisters, gigin' can be risky business!

Hey HJ,

I always wondered what would happen if THAT happened ...Now I know...Thanks... ..Was the wife shakin up? I bet she was ready to KILL you...


KIDD

Hell no Kidd,
She wasn't to pissed, just happy to be alive I guess! Besides, she wouldn't kill me, keyboard players such as myself are hard to come by in my neck of the woods!
John

Living on the road is always full of close calls and scary moments, when you are on the road full time.

When I was around 14 and had been travelling on the road in my mother's band for 2 years already, we hit a patch of no work that went on longer than normal. We slept in our van, on top of the equiptment for almost 2 months, in winter, during which a blizzard came through. Someone had to wake up every 20 minutes or so, and put the heat on for 10 then go back to sleep, and repeat the process through the night. I learned to find the best hotels, which had handicapped bathrooms (a rarity at the time) which had sinks in the stall. I could "bathe" by bringing a rag in my pocket, locking the stall, and washing off, putting my clothes back on and going back out into the snow. Many days we ate only once per day, and sometimes skipped a day altogether here and there. Those two months were as bad as the road ever got, but that was a scary lifestyle for a while.


Addendum....


Come to think of it, I can trace my inability in adulthood to save money, back to this time. My step-father (and my mother's band manager) would sometimes give everyone in the band $5.00 to go get lunch somewhere. Everyone would go to McDonald's or something. I saved my money. One day, he found out that I had saved $40.00 doing this 8 times. He took the money of course, and used it for gas or cigarettes or something. So then I embarked on another strategy. They went to McDonald's and I went to the food store with a calculator. Even at 14, I realized that with $5.00 and some saavy shopping, I could have snacks for days, even a week, with the same $5.00 they were "wasting" in one shot. Well, before long, he found my food stash and split it up amongst the band.

Next time they went to McDonald's, guess what I did?

You got it.... "Give me a quarter pounder meal please."

wow tough story..............I got some advice from a road warrior one day. he said i could eat for 99 cents. this is it.... go to a 7/11 or what ever convinience stor.. wipe them out of ketchup packets....get some pepper packets and some salt.......... then buy a pack of 99 cent peanuts. throw it all in a pan add alittle water feat and serve tomato soup.......

wow tough story..............I got some advice from a road warrior one day. he said i could eat for 99 cents. this is it.... go to a 7/11 or what ever convinience stor.. wipe them out of ketchup packets....get some pepper packets and some salt.......... then buy a pack of 99 cent peanuts. throw it all in a pan add alittle water feat and serve tomato soup.......

I hear ya.

I think I could write a recipee book, on how to make a full dinner for 5 to 7 people, using only a portable electric burner. Our hotel room, was also a kitchen, dressing room, practice room, you name it.

Life on the road could be difficult, but also fun and exciting. The best was when the gig was in a 4 or 5 star hotel and rooms and meals were included. I ate poor on the road at times, but I also enjoyed some of the finest restaurants the country has to offer too.

It was nice to play a gig that night, and wake up, go down to an expensive restaurant and order whatever I wanted, go enjoy the pool, and hot tubs and play music again that night.

Not to mention all the honeys. LOL

I had hot 22 year olds all over me, since I was 16.

Looking back, it was well worth skipping a meal here and there.