Other than a local band that (wonderfully) played a cul-de-sac neighborhood gig one street over from my house, the last gig I saw was in Las Vegas in mid-February, 2004!
I had won a trip to Vegas to play in the U.S. Dart Nationals when I find out that two of my friends had been recruited by Poison's touring keyboard player Stu Simone to be the guitarists for a parody band called Hair Guitar (a complete spoof of the Glam bands of the 90's). Turns out they were going to be playing the SAME WEEK as my Nationals, just earlier (Sunday thru Wednesday while my tournament would be Thursday thru Sunday). Unbelievable good luck! So, I was able to go early (for free), be their official roadie and was also included in a few of the on-stage skits. One skit had my friend Jeff doing this multi-tap solo part but in such a way that it was physically impossible. Stu yelled "WTF?" then pulled back a curtain where the crowd could see me playing instead (I'm no star player so it was literally just that one two-hand arpeggio, but it got a good laugh). Below is how they dressed up (I was in complete black so I could sneak around without really being seen). That's Stu at the mic, my friend Jeff on the right and my buddy August (of Dennis DeYoung and Waiting for Monday fame) is out of the frame.
The other main spoof I was involved in used a fake stack I had made for fun. During one part of the show, Stu yelled "Stop!" then claimed that the stack was on the wrong side of the stage. So I jumped into action to move it and, as soon as I did, everyone could see that behind that full stack was only a tiny practice amp. A good poke on all those stage acts that had fake backlines. There was a lot of good music, a lot of laughs and a ton of fun for those nights! Plus staying up all night playing slots and getting wasted was fun too! ? We took over a bank of Wheel of Fortune slot machines and, whenever someone got to spin the wheel, we all stopped and gathered around. Good times. Here's my fake stack. It folds up so it can be carried like luggage.
The bottom line is now I can say I've been on stage in Las Vegas and for two completely different reasons since I also made the stage in one event of the dart tournament that followed the Nationals try-out! It's going to be hard to beat THAT week! ?
He's a regular pundemic!
