General Music Chat

I guess a lot of you got hit with the snowstorm sat.

We had a gig in Jackson TN and while I was in transit the members of my band decided not to show up. I was already there and I talked to the gal that hired me and asked what do you want me to do.

She said well what can you do? I said Ive got the biggest stereo system in Jackson in the trailer with all kinds of music, so I can just be a DJ for the night. She said lets do it.

So I unloaded the PA system and set it up. I dug thru all the music I had with me and went to work. When ever I see djs they just kind of sit in their booths and take request. But we have a wireless mic so I started working the room and getting everyone involved. I would talk to them ask where they were from and are you ready to party tonight. We had 40-50 people there and they stayed, they started calling their friends and saying this is the party tonight. So more people kept coming in despite 12 inches of snow. Some of you northern people will say no big deal but from where Im from snow more than a couple of inches is major.

Around 10:30 they started requesting that I play some. So I got out a guitar and amp and just basically started messing around. I played a couple of songs that I now thru and thru vocally and guitar wise and came off pretty good. Then I went into party songs Louie Louie, Wild Thing and even You Shook Me All Night Long. I would stop playing and the whole place is singing and rocking their asses off. Talk about add libbing. I wound up doing about and hr and a half of just me and a guitar. These folks loved it. I dont know if I could pull that aff all the time but it was pretty cool.

It was so cool that the gal that runs it wants to hire just me in the future. Maybe I did too good. Anyway you just never know what will happen and always be prepared with some sort of plan B.

Oh yeah I will post some pictures once I get them loaded in my computor.

Im a little out of sorts this morning.

Sounds like you took lemons and made lemonaid JW.

Again, you are my hero. I love your stories AND PICS. Looking forward to meeting you on my tour. I may play Jackson if I don't play Henderson towards the end of april.

Heres some pics.

The one with the guy and gal is Angie and Randy who own the bar.

I think they were happy with the way things turned out. They didnt have to pay a full band and I actually made more than I would have with the band.





I guess its good to think outside the box sometime and do things a little different. I dont know if I have the energy to do many gigs like this cause I basically worked non-stop from 8-2. But I think everyone there had a great time and wont forget me. I also dont think I burned any bridges by just not showing up. I did get offered a solo gig out of the deal, its just that its one of the nights I have my kids and I cant take away from them.

Paul make sure to post if you are in the area. If Im not playing I would love to come see one of your loop deals you do.

Thanks for the props!

Sweet! Will do.

Good going, JW!

I've had to do that a time or two, but I didn't have the DJ stuff, so it was just me & an acoustic, but it worked out just the same.

Now THAT'S the kind of gig that separates the run of the mill players from the TRUE ENTERTAINERS!

I had a smile on my face the whole time I was readin' this topic.

JW ROCKS!

HJ

P.S.
J.W. Don't let any Northern folks fool ya'!10 inches of snow sucks up around here too, especially when ya start to get Spring Fever!

Ok ok so I'm going to be the turd in the well again.

You were a DJ!
Holy crap batman, a freakin DJ

Geez, I cant believe a working guitarist and band leader worked as a DJ.

Good thing you had that music with you John, else youd been screwed.

I have to congradulate you for thinking and acting out of the box, but a freakin DJ.

The sky is falling.

Hell of a way to handle a curve ball. Good sh*t.

Ahhhhh.... great idea... I'll remember to bring my acoustic should I feel a little uneasy that the rest of the band don't show up I'm pretty sure I've got a good amount of acoustic tunes I can throw out there on my own to keep the show going for at least a set!

What can I say...OMG look at those STICKERS! It's GUITAR ABUSE! hehe, couldn't resist...

Good job John, not many people could pull that off. I'm not much of a DJ, just not the talker for it, but I've played lots of solo acoustic gigs, always enjoyed it. Never tried it on electric though.

By the way, where is Jackson? I haven't looked it up yet, but they have one of the open mic nights I've been thinking about hitting sometime. Nothing going on around here so I have to hit the road to play at all and anything I want to go try is at least 75 miles away... Would you be able to make a trip there for an open mic deal? Might be fun if we could both plug in and jam for a bit...show 'em how the old farts still rock out...

Sans, I know being a DJ sounds like blasphemy even coming from me. But it was a lot of fun! I had a blast and so did the crowd. I was snowed in so I couldnt go home anyway, what was I to do sit around and bitch cause the guys didnt want to chance getting hung up in a blizzard. When I got home I measured the snow on my patio and it was 12 inches deep. Now you guys from the north thats no big deal, but where I live thats unheard of. I understand it took people 10-16 hrs to get from Jackson Tn to Memphis 75 miles. If I had tryed to go back home I would have spent the night on the interstate. Besides George being the MC allowed me to play whatever music I wanted to hear. It was a hard rocking night most of the way.

Crip, our pa rack is loaded with a really good cd player. We have put together a bunch of mixed up music cds. We use these between our live sets. I have around 8 hours of mix cds, plus I got out my cd box and dug around. The only problem I had was that some of them like country. The only thing I have is Miranda Lambert cd with that song Crazy X Girlfriend on it so I just threw in a few of her songs her and there to keep them happy. I think I played Long Haired COuntry Boy by Marshall Tucker also, that kind of goes that way. As far as playing I didnt even plan to do that, but they all kept asking so I just pulled it out and went for it. But I have done a lot of stuff thru the years at partys and such so it wasnt that big of a stretch for me. If I had realy thought about it I could have brought my old song book with basic chords and lyrics, I could have done a 4 hr show with that as a prop.

Bill I live around 45 minutes west of Jackson. If you try to come up for something and Im not busy I would love to go up for some kind of open mic deal. Just to do something different. But between kids the band work and some recording projects Ive gotten into Im pretty busy. And hell sometimes I just need a night off to practice guitar.

For 20 yrs I was in a very high stress type job as a manager always having to improvise to get jobs done. Shifting people around, just doing whatever had to be done. I have been a DJ before on a college radio station and also in a night club years ago. I have done solo gigs before, not lately but I have done them. I am very outgoing and can bullshit with the best of them. So actually I was as prepared for a gig like this as anyone I know. Im just going to leave the old songbook in the truck from now on.

As I said, sometimes you have to think out of the box and just make something happen. Thats what I did and had a friggin blast.

Wasn't "Long-Haired Country Boy" a Charlie Daniels tune?

I did that about 20 yrs ago...