Being watched

[Josh Paxton]

I love this!! That is absolutely what he'd say I bet. How cool to meet Dr. John, and to mix it up with him.

 

I actually had a much funnier run-in with him just recently. I stopped in a restaurant near the club where I have a regular gig, and sitting at the bar was a group of women in town for a bachelorette party, who had been at my gig the night before and chatted a bit. And standing there talking to them... was Dr. John.

 

The women spotted me and waved me over. So I walked over and said hello, to them and to Mac. I couldn't tell if he remembered me or not, but he said to the bride, "Is this guy the lucky groom?" She said, "No, this is a piano player we saw last night! Oh my god, you have to hear him, he's incredible! He's like, the best piano player in New Orleans!"

 

I could feel the blood draining from my face as I replied with the obligatory, "Thank you, but please, that's not true, don't say that..." only this time I really meant it, and was wishing she would just shut up. She didn't, and kept going on about it over my protestations, as I started hoping that the earth would just open up and swallow me on the spot to get me out of this awkward situation. I transitioned out of it by asking Mac if he was playing there that evening, and he said yes, he was doing some private event. He then wished the bride the best of luck and said his goodbyes.

 

As he walked away, the women said to me, "Wait, you know that guy? Is he a musician too or something?" So I had to explain to them that yes, he was the actual best piano player in New Orleans, and is one of the people I want to be when I grow up.

[Eric Jx]

Well, I'm pretty sure I've told my Stevie Wonder and my Bill Payne stories already.

 

I haven't heard them. Would you mind repeating them, or providing a link?

[MAJUSCULE]

FunkKeyStuff. I felt the blood draining from my own face just reading your second story! At least you knew your place! I guess it can't hurt to be boasted about in front of such a giant!

[SK]

I was playing an outside cafe quartet gig once in Va. Beach, and there was a table of guys sitting next to me for a couple of sets. When I took a break, the manager came up smiling, pointed to them and said "Hey, they're really enjoying it... they're the Yellowjackets."

 

I'd never heard of them at that point and figured they were some obscure sports team. So I just said, "well, that's good" and walked off.

[MAJUSCULE]

LOL SK!

[Jon May]

I lived on Eleuthera, Bahamas, for a year and used to be a regular at Friday jam nights at Elvina's Bar. So often I heard people say "Lenny sometimes drops by",that I just discounted it, until one night Mr Kravitz did mosey in and sat in on drums. I can't remember what we played, just that the energy level went up a big notch!

[Pale]

Speaking of Lenny, I did an opening for Lenny last year and I felt like a little mouse. To clarify, I wasn't my band, I just did a keyboard part for another band, and I only brought xk1 to the gig.

 

This was the stage:

 

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs191.snc1/6415_112532335994_559450994_2731208_6422871_n.jpg

 

I think I wrote about this already, but Lenny's keyboard player had a wurlitzer, hammond B3, rhodes, a stack of unidentifed synths, clav and a few other midi boards. Huge rig. To add salt to the wound, on the left side of the stage they had a Schimmel plexi piano.

I never felt so tiny with my single board sharing the stage with such a cool rig. Knife at a gun fight. It really looked lame, so I took one flight case to beef it up a bit

 

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs191.snc1/6415_112523985994_559450994_2731008_7729604_n.jpg

 

 

I was still lame though

 

 

[tucktronix]

About a few months ago, I was playing at blues/BBQ joint here in town with my blues band. I was getting into one of my frantic solos when I saw what appeared to be 2 guys, dressed to the nines wearing cool hats. Didn't think anything of it and kept on soloing. These guys seemed to be into what I was playing. They left shortly afterward. After the gig was over, the guitarist came up to me and mentioned that those guys were Neal and Alan Evans from Soulive. I almost fainted

[Cygnus64]

I was playing an outside cafe quartet gig once in Va. Beach,

I was also doing a gig in Va Beach at an auditorium (Pavillion?), and I looked out into the audience................ Pat Robertson.

[SK]

I was playing an outside cafe quartet gig once in Va. Beach,

I was also doing a gig in Va Beach at an auditorium (Pavillion?), and I looked out into the audience................ Pat Robertson.

I'll see your Pat Robertson and raise you one Alexander Haig. Haig sat in front of me for the whole night while I did a piano/bass duo at the Greenbrier years ago, and never once even glanced at us, which made me decide to play as weird as possible. So I guess it doesn't apply to "being watched."

[mate stubb]

I'll see your Al "I'm in charge" Haig and raise you a Liberace. He sat at our sound board for several sets and chatted with my wife.

 

I would raise you a Lawrence Welk, but he didn't actually come into the club, just had his bodyguards kick us out of the elevator when going up to our hotel rooms on the break.

[SK]

Moe, I've played in front of a lot of people, but with that Liberace ace you just played, I'm "gonna have to fold."

[Cygnus64]

I'll see your Al "I'm in charge" Haig and raise you a Liberace. He sat at our sound board for several sets and hit on my wife.

 

 

He hit on your wife? Wow!

[Jeff Klopmeyer]

[she said, "No, this is a piano player we saw last night! Oh my god, you have to hear him, he's incredible! He's like, the best piano player in New Orleans!"

 

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

 

I would have fainted away on the spot, or dug a hole in the ground and buried myself, or the like.

[mate stubb]

I'll see your Al "I'm in charge" Haig and raise you a Liberace. He sat at our sound board for several sets and hit on my wife.

 

 

He hit on your wife? Wow!

 

No, he was a total gentleman. Not to mention that his er, "prodigy" was travelling with him.

 

Lou Ferrigno, on the other hand, DEFINITELY was hitting on my wife. HARD.

[JeffLearman]

That is what the social psychologists refer to as "evaluation apprehension." Definitely a performance-inhibiting phenomena, although IIRC, variables including (1.) practice, and (2.) the extent to which the person being watched contributes uniquely-identifiable output can moderate the effect.

But, she told me, "Oh, that's natural, it happens to everyone, and it's no big deal."

[cnegrad]

I was playing a black tie event in a huge tent outside Lincoln Center when Bobby McFerrin comes out of nowhere and says, "nice substitutions, man!" Very sweet guy.

[Moonglow]

That is what the social psychologists refer to as "evaluation apprehension." Definitely a performance-inhibiting phenomena, although IIRC, variables including (1.) practice, and (2.) the extent to which the person being watched contributes uniquely-identifiable output can moderate the effect.

But, she told me, "Oh, that's natural, it happens to everyone, and it's no big deal."

[drawback]

I was playing a black tie event in a huge tent outside Lincoln Center when Bobby McFerrin comes out of nowhere and says, "nice substitutions, man!" Very sweet guy.

 

 

I believe that's code for "You don't know the real chords, do you?"

 

 

 

[AUSSIEKEYS]

man some classic stuff here...love it..incredible stories and some funny things..thanks for sharin..but think of the reverse..how many times has someone seen you and thought..oh shit a muso?

 

Man I'd freak out if one of you guys were watching one of my gigs...[just incase guys by some weird coincidence you do...I consider myself a Singer /songwriter player guy..just so you dont judge me on my lessor [than you] playing ability..phew talk about paronoia]

 

man I dont have any exiting stories I can think off in keys but maybe some to a lessor extent in singing, but aint it funny when you see someone in the audience that you think looks like a muso [not recognised] you are constantly looking at them to see their reactions...infact if you are not careful it can make you paronoid.

 

ironically we must look like musos even when we dont know it..I recently am constantly having people coming up to me saying "are you a muso" ..it floored me first time [i have more hats than only a muso and didnt think this one was only poking thru..weird].. ...but this leads me to ask... does this mean when I go to see a band its now working in opposite where I am now putting a player off simply by sitting there..?

 

is it simply a paronia all muso get...how high up the ladder do you get before you loose this paranoia , I guess when you reach the top..its the fall on the other side that makes you paranoid about the necomers...see I bet even your idols suffer it..

 

hee hee

[Joe Muscara]

Do people actually say the word "muso" to you? If so, is that an Aussie thing?

[AUSSIEKEYS]

Do people actually say the word "muso" to you? If so, is that an Aussie thing?

 

hi joe

 

yea must be? seems to be common usage a least here in Sydney?

 

is that not used in that way in your location?

[Joe Muscara]

I've only seen it written, and only here (by some Americans too).

[Ian Benhamou]

I've only seen it written, and only here (by some Americans too).

 

Me too! No one up here in Canada uses the term either.

[AUSSIEKEYS]

thought it was common usage worldwide..basically we are branded musos...nothing else..[maybe no hopers in the old days hee hee...but even that has changed due to Idol etc]

 

man thats what I love about this forum...so m,any differences between likeminded people its truley weird.

[Joe Muscara]

As far as I know, most of us just use "musician." The only other alternate I know of is, "do you play?"

[AUSSIEKEYS]

yea..interesting

 

It must be our culture of nicknaming every bloody thing

 

gotta admit it shites me no end when our own TV drama series has given every one a nick name...sure we do use nicknames a lot [but usually derivatives of our last name]...but not like the dramas depict ...

 

but maybe we use it more than I realise..as "muso" is the common terminology, Is it because we are lazy?

[Joe Muscara]

Yeah, you guys come up with some of the wildest slang. The only thing odder is Cockney, where they come up with a term, and then shorten *that,* making it doubly obscure.

[Steve Nathan]

Well, I'm pretty sure I've told my Stevie Wonder and my Bill Payne stories already. deadhorse

 

 

I haven't heard them. Would you mind repeating them, or providing a link?

 

There's no link that I can immediately recall, but I'm sure both tales are somewhere to be found in old threads.

 

The short versions are:

 

Late 70s, playing in a band at the Michigan Inn in Detroit. Stevie Wonder is in town to bury his father, and staying in the hotel. Day of the funeral, he has spent all day mourning with friends and family, drags back to the hotel to eat and crash, when on the way to the elevator he hears us playing "Isn't She Lovely" from the lounge. He comes in, and after listening to a few more songs, asks to sit in. I have a Rhodes with a clav literally sitting on top and that's it. I start to leave the stage but he wont let me go. Insists that I stay and play with him. For nearly 2 hours, sitting on the same bench, I get to play with and watch Stevie Wonder. I played Rhodes while he played Superstition on the Clav right in front of my eyes.

Not bad.

 

Mid 80s, playing with Mac Mcanally as opener to James Taylor. 1st night, 1st show in Milwaukee, I'm on rhodes at the edge of the stage when 8-10 bars into the 1st song Bill Payne walks out to the side of the stage, stands not 3 feet away and stares at my hands. He doesn't move for the entire set! We finish the last song, and when I get up to leave, he makes eye contact, says "nice feel" and walks away.

I reminded him of that story last year when we both were booked on the same record, and he said he remembers it well.

Not bad either

 

As this thread has shown, this sort of thing happens, particularly if you play in cities large enough to be major tour stops. Back in the days before my session career, when I was playing in dives, all kinds of people would show up and sit in, Ronnie Hawkins, Bonnie Raitt, The Grease Band, Frank Zappa, and many more. But the Stevie Wonder and Bill Payne events just stuck out.

 

BTW: Maybe this is the place to admit that I "jammed" with Mike Huckabee for NAMM last month

[marino]

Sorry for the latecoming...

I guess my biggest moment of intimidation were when I played with a contemporary music ensemble many years ago. We got to play in front of a few heavyweights of 'serious' (ha ha) music... I mean, play their music in front of them. I remember once at the Conservatory in Firenze (Florence), we played three pieces, and all three composers were in the audience! The atmosphere was *very* concentrated... you could hear people breath. I think that cured me from star fright forever!

 

On a side note, there *is* something that still bothers me quite a bit onstage, and it's when I see someone with a tv camera or something at two inches from me, trying to shoot the hair inside my nose probably, or to make my fingernails giant screen-size.

I always want to yell, "They've invented the zoom many years ago, I seem to remember - so STAY AWAY, ok?!"