Last Night's Gig

[bitflipper]

So last night we played a winery.

This place has a very nice outdoor stage nestled in an orchard. Probably the ultimate stage, because it's not only large, you can drive right up to it for load-in. If only this gig had happened just one week ago, when we had temperatures in the 80's. But fall has arrived in the Pacific Northwest, and yesterday was cold and rainy (actually good news, as we really needed the air cleaned from wildfires) so we played indoors.

The indoor stage was small for a six-piece band. So small that I had to literally crawl under my keyboards to get to my station. Backed against the wall, my amps were way too close to me, such that all I could hear was myself. I'm cranking away, trying to balance the keys with the rest of the band and blowing out my ears in the process. Then the singer turns around and says "we can't hear you, Dave. Turn up!".

On the bright side, the audience was enthusiastic and the owners were very friendly. They brought in street tacos. Anybody who feeds the band is always gonna be OK in my book. We gave them an extra half-hour of music gratis. 

[Bapu]

@bitflipper wrong forum?

[edit] not any longer...

Edited October 23, 2022 by Bapu

[Bapu]

Well, maybe not. You did give away 30 minutes of music free.

[Grem]

That sounded like a good gig. How did you get out of your station?!!!

[kitekrazy]

2 hours ago, Bapu said:

@bitflipper wrong forum?

I vote yes. 

[bitflipper]

Picture Professor Farnsworth: waa? Where am I? This isn't the cat fancier forum?

[craigb]

Maybe if you posted on the Hamster Grooming forum, Daryl would see it? ?

[kennywtelejazz]

Some of the stuff you had to endure with the small stage and uneven stage sound  is what they call paying dues ...

On the bright side of things it must be nice to be back out playing again ...

Kenny

Edited October 24, 2022 by kennywtelejazz

[bitflipper]

It was good.

This was our first time out after a three-week hiatus due to our drummer experiencing sudden extreme pain in his knee. We've had to cancel multiple gigs and haven't booked anything for November, not knowing if maybe we were just - done. Fortunately, his issue was worked out and the places we'd cancelled were gracious enough to re-book us for January.

That means we finally have time to learn some new material. That's the downside of playing out constantly - you get tight but the setlist starts to become tedious. A few weeks' worth of woodshedding will be reinvigorating. The guitarist is lobbying to add some Rush tunes to the list. As long as I don't have to sing them, I'm fine with that, given that learning the keyboard parts should take about ten minutes.

[craigb]

Heh, yeah, Rush keyboard parts had to be easy enough for Geddy to play in-between or while playing bass parts.  I know he definitely used a Moog Taurus pedal a lot (I certainly wanted one when I young and stupid! LOL.).  

[bitflipper]

Yes, Geddy was quite the talented gymnast, playing the Taurus pedals, synthesizer, and singing all at once. At least nobody's gonna expect that from me.

I do, however, often have to perform my own ambidextrous gymnastics, working swell and sustain pedals, switching patches and adjusting the vocal mix and fx, all while standing on one foot.

When we use our own stage lights, I've assigned that duty to our bass player because I just didn't have any more hands left. I just told him "red for fast songs, blue for slow songs, red + blue for mid-tempo, add some yellow for the set closer". So naturally we played the whole night with blue lights on, one of them pointed at the floor. Oh well, he'll figure it out eventually. Good thing he's an awesome bass player.

[Sheens]

On 10/23/2022 at 11:28 PM, craigb said:

Maybe if you posted on the Hamster Grooming forum, Daryl would see it? ?

Or the Poodle forum ya ?

[craigb]

@Sheens - If you like my guitar that much, it's back up for sale again! ?

(I need rent and I will still have one custom left. ?)

[Sheens]

25 minutes ago, craigb said:

@Sheens - If you like my guitar that much, it's back up for sale again! ?

(I need rent and I will still have one custom left. ?)

thanks but no more guitars for me....still working on a bunch so I can sell them....will only keep 3 or 4.

(bought about 25 over the years and liked most of them, better spent money than my analog home mastering/mixing gear 25k down the toilet).

 

 

[Doc H]

21 hours ago, bitflipper said:

Yes, Geddy was quite the talented gymnast, playing the Taurus pedals, synthesizer, and singing all at once. At least nobody's gonna expect that from me.

Alex had a set of Taurus pedals on his side of the stage too. (I worked several of their shows when I was with Bill Graham Presents). Crafty little devils, weren't they?

[craigb]

19 minutes ago, Doc H said:

Alex had a set of Taurus pedals on his side of the stage too. (I worked several of their shows when I was with Bill Graham Presents). Crafty little devils, weren't they?

It's what you do when you don't want to split the gig pay more than three ways! ?

[bitflipper]

7 hours ago, craigb said:

It's what you do when you don't want to split the gig pay more than three ways! ?

Exactly. Those poor guys must have been eating cold beans out of a can to make ends meet.