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You haven't lived until....


Ross Brown

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... you play a Saturday afternoon fundraiser at a flea market on a flat bed truck and the sound guy turns out to just be someone who owns a sound system.... no clue how to use it. Still was fun... not doing it again though.

 

Anyone else have a "You haven't lived until..."?

"When I take a stroll down Jackass Lane it is usually to see someone that is already there" Mrs. Brown
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Hey, I drove 200 miles to play at a parade where they said we were going to play on a float and then play in the parking lot at the end of the parade.

 

We got there and they said, "do you have a portable sound system?"

We said, "yeah, we're setting up in the parking lot for when we get back here....what are we supposed to use on the float?"

 

They said, "no, you need something battery powered for the float. we zoomed off to a music store and borrowed a few battery powered amps.

 

Then we got back and saw the float. It was a little trailer pulled by a VW. The drummer and I walked along behind it playing tambourines and the two guitarists sat on folding chairs in the trailer.

 

But on the positive side, they put us up in a fantastic hotel where we were treated like gods, "wow, we saw you on the news tonight!"

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Ok, you haven't lived until...

 

You show up for an outdoor gig in April before a college football team scrimmage, and some freak weather event happens overnight and it's 30 degrees outside. The other bands go longer than they were supposed to, so by the time we got on stage and (attempted, my fingers were already numb) started playing, the scrimmage was starting, so everyone left.

 

When we finished, the sun came out, and it warmed up about 25 degrees.

 

We packed up and left.

 

Unfortunately, there was still another band after us.

A stiffy somewhere in the city sewer system...
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I'm playing in about 5 hours at a fete. Just been to set up, because we won't get cars near the stage later.

 

I've loaned them the PA for a small bit extra.

 

Event organiser:

I've forgotten the power supply to the radio mike receiver, have you got a mic we can use?

Where can we plug the CD player in?

Where can we plug the iPod in?

Drummer- We'll need to mic the drums.

Guitarist - We'll need to mic the guitar.

DJ- Is that as loud as it will go?

 

????

 

All of a sudden a 16 track mixer is looking a bit small, and I'm glad I bought my box of "every lead and adaptor known to man"

 

I tell the Dj to go and stand out in the field out in front of

the speakers.

He returns and asks if we can turn it down a bit.

Feel the groove internally within your own creativity. - fingertalkin

 

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. . . you've played in an actual parade on an actual moving truck.

 

The first time the generator was so loud you could barely hear the band and there was a horrible hum in the mains.

 

The second time it was in the 20 degree range but we played on the Jagermeister float - with the Jagermeister girls.

 

 

"He is to music what Stevie Wonder is to photography." getz76

 

I have nothing nice to say so . . .

 

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.... You get ready to rip into Shook Me All Night Long and the guitarist decides to make it a country tune. Yeee-HAWW!!

 

Don't have a job you don't enjoy. If you're happy in what you're doing, you'll like yourself, you'll have inner peace. ~ Johnny Carson
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.... until you've traveled an hour and a half to a new venue and find out there's not enough room in the bar to set up a band. Think Lake of The Ozarks. The bar owner has set up a (decent) tent outside for you to play under and rain is emminent.

We played most of a set and it started to rain. After a bit we took a break because water was running under the tent into where we were playing. During the break it started pouring down and the owner wanted us to go back out and play. When we mentioned the possibility of electrocution the man says "That's why I rented the tent, to keep you dry".

Discussion followed and we barely got enough money out of the guy for gas. The rain kept us from playing any more. To this day I will not take an outdoor gig during rainy season unless there is a 'rain clause' in the contract. We used to call it having our 'rain claws' on.

Visit my band's new web site.

 

www.themojoroots.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

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You haven't lived until you've travelled about 8,000 miles, to live in a rat-infested, flea bitten closet of a room, then schlepped your gear through 1 mile of nearly knee deep muck, to play in some leaky tent, where the electrical work was so shady that you had to wear gloves to keep from getting shocked while playing.

 

(No, I am not describing an attempt at being a musician in LA or NYC.)

"Call me what instrument you will, though you can fret me, yet you cannot play upon me.'-Hamlet

 

Guitar solos last 30 seconds, the bass line lasts for the whole song.

 

 

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Years ago we played in a town in Northern Michigan and they were having a winter festival. We were in their parade. Our "float" consisted of the bar owner's car where we sat with our guitar and bass necks hanging out the window as we waved to the crowd.

Classic!

Lydian mode? The only mode I know has the words "pie ala" in front of it.

http://www.myspace.com/theeldoradosband

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You haven't lived till you're playing a gig in a bar that caters almost exclusively to the hygienically challenged, and you are treated to the barbaric spectacle of one guy biting off a piece of another guy's ear for putting the moves on his woman, who looks so bad that no one but a major alkie with bad eyesight would put the moves on her.

 

Good times, man, that's what makes playing music worth it all...

Always remember that you are unique. Just like everyone else.

 

 

 

 

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You haven't lived until you are on tour in another country, the gig gets cancelled, the bandleader says, "I only have enough money to pay for the hotel or the plane, which one do you want?,", you say, "the plane", and then climb four floors down the fire escape in the hotel carrying all your gear at 3 am (so you don't have to pass the desk), take a cab to the airport, wait for the first flight in the morning, and go through customs hoping you won't be arrested.
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The second time it was in the 20 degree range but we played on the Jagermeister float - with the Jagermeister girls.

Please, continue... :D

 

It was the Nevada Day Parade and the girls made it their mission to get us blitzed. To this day I can't even smell the stuff without gagging. :sick:

At least we were warm.

 

The drummer did get a date with one of them - only because she also worked at a local brothel.

"He is to music what Stevie Wonder is to photography." getz76

 

I have nothing nice to say so . . .

 

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played for a strippers birthday party! :D

 

It's not a party without pics....

 

I wish!

 

I was 17, that was a Looooong time ago!

Nothing is as it seems but everything is exactly what it is - B. Banzai

 

Life is what happens while you are busy playing in bands.

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played for a strippers birthday party! :D

 

It's not a party without pics....

 

I wish!

 

I was 17, that was a Looooong time ago!

 

Just thought I would try... Memories are usually better than picts anyway.

"When I take a stroll down Jackass Lane it is usually to see someone that is already there" Mrs. Brown
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You haven't lived until you've played in the pit band for a musical and had a sliding riser hook the G tuning key on your bass and threaten to guillotine your headstock clean off between the riser and a wall, then unsnagging it at the last possible moment, missing your cue, and playing the first two choruses of the first tune of the second act out of tune while trying to retune your G string and lower your heart rate at the same time. Man, that's livin'.

 

You haven't lived until the spring-loaded cap that holds the fuse in on the back of your amp pops off while changing a fuse and shoots under the stage, five minutes before the downbeat.

 

You feel most alive when the gig is imminent and the only thought running through your mind is, "OhshitohshitohshitohshitohshitohSHIT!!!!"

 

"I had to have something, and it wasn't there. I couldn't go down the street and buy it, so I built it."

 

Les Paul

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You haven't lived until you have fired a band mate and he then has to come to your house to collect his drums.... a bit awkward I must say... He was not happy...

 

 

"When I take a stroll down Jackass Lane it is usually to see someone that is already there" Mrs. Brown
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Picts are wonderful; especially if they are grooving in a cave with several species of small fury creatures. Just don't cross them.

Or Roger for that matter.

Don't have a job you don't enjoy. If you're happy in what you're doing, you'll like yourself, you'll have inner peace. ~ Johnny Carson
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