Gig Reports - How did your gig go?

[Paul K]

"In The Red" or "In The Black"?

 

Happy to report that I'm in the black ink regarding my PA and headphone mic purchase for the solo adventure I'm on.

 

Black ink is good. It's not bass, but it's music that I'm enjoying. And it ain't red ink anymore.

[Richard W]

Did an outdoor gig this week at a local park. Always dicey thinking about the weather, it had been overcast pretty much all day but about 3pm the sun came out and it turned into a beautiful warm summer evening (in southeastern PA). The biggest thing about this gig is that we had a new sound guy--and he turned out to be fantastic. Managed his time well, ie, showed up at 3:00 to set up for a 6:30 start. Calm, thorough, and we actually had time for an honest-to-god sound check (as opposed to our earlier sound guy, for whom set up was often like a fire drill and ended up testing everything on the first song.)

 

The sound guy also brings a really nice Hartke cabinet for me to play through. Love the tone.

 

We probably had a couple of hundred in the audience, lots of families and lots of kids. It's a blast watching the little kids gyrate and dance around to the music. They are definitely into it and have no inhibitions. Got very nice feedback from the event organizers, who were really happy with everything.

 

All in all, a super gig.

[Cthulhu Fhtagn]

See and Be Seen? Or a Complete Waste of Time?

 

This weekend was "Boat Race Weekend"!! Ok, without a real cultural life of its own, we make the annual trek to the Columbia river to watch the hydrofoils race around, drink way too much, pay way too much for the drink, eat free french fries until we vomit (isn't that marketing??? Free French Fries and a $6.00 for a bottle of Evian? And no, you're not bring your own water, either)

 

The local rib and burger franchise has decided to cash in on this annual nonsense by staging a big outdoor concert in their parking lot. The same corporate sponsors who reserve tents (no, you ain't bringing you're own shade with you, either) along the riverfront with their brat and beer gardens can now reserve X number of tables at the concert. The outdoor concert. In the parking lot. With no shade (except for the very professional sound guy). In the middle of summer in eastern Washington. With 97 degrees F in the shade!

 

Starting at 3:00, each band was to play an hour. Our band had the dubious honor of playing on the patio (in the shade) for 30 minutes while Band A broke down and Band B set up. So it was Band A, us (30 minutes) Band B, us (30 minutes - but we took 40 because we're old and cranky), Band C, the band that replaced us for the whole 30 minute nonsense, Band D, you get the picutre.

 

Considering how small and inbred the music community is here, not a lot of people know that we picked up "Large Parent and the Earthworms" lead guitar player, an old friend of our frontman. Now, this guy is stupid good, knows when to play lead and when to lay back, and can sing four sets himself. He makes us "one hell of a band" from "a pretty damned good one". The bigger local bands wanted to land this guy; we landed him.

 

Spend a lot of time between set up and playing talking to the local acts of some gravity and importance - the ones that won't give us the time of day otherwise (the same ones that would call me to schedule an audition and then inexplicably cancel). Since we use my PA, I got some really valuable sound engineering advice from these guys and some spoken contracts about doing some openers in the fall.

 

So here's the breakdown - I got to haul my PA to the other side of town, set up, wait an hour, play for 30 minutes for people who were there to see the other bands, wait an hour, play for 30 minutes for more people there to see the other bands, tear down and go home, in 97 degree weather and hang with a bunch of guys that were too good to hang with me three years ago. Got some good advice on my tone, some good advice on my PA, had a spirted disscustion on the bass progressions on "Margaritaville" and "A Kind of Hush" and I'm betting that the drummer gives me $50 for my trouble.

 

Side note - there was dancing and embarassing behavior on the patio while WE played. Didn't see much going on in the parking lot.

[Ross Brown]

Nice..... actually sounds like an ok day.... something to do....

[Cthulhu Fhtagn]

Beats working in the yard, I guess. I am NOT a warm-weather guy.

[Nicklab]

Got to play a pretty awesome NYC venue last night called Rockwood Music Hall. They started with one small room but have steadily expanded and gained the reputation as one of the better clubs on New York's lower east side. We've been trying to get Starnes & Shah booked in there for close to a year. And when the opportunity arose for us to play a sunday night there, we leapt at the opportunity.

 

Thankfully, we got an 8 PM slot. Early enough that people could get there and still get home early enough to get ready for their work week. But it was a little worriesome since there are floor to ceiling windows out to the street. It was still daylight outside when we took to the stage, and the staff had opened the heavy velvet curtains that had been drawn during the earlier sets. Funny enough, they actually run music from 3 pm - midnight on the weekends! I had heard of punk clubs running matinees from 1 - 7 on a sunday, but this struck me as a little odd. Still, to get that 8 PM slot was pretty good.

 

The stage is pretty tight. It's set catty-corner in the room, and most of the space is taken up by a baby grand piano. The top of the piano was pretty "road worn", but otherwise it's in great shape. There was room for three of us onstage, but our drummer was relegated to playing at floor level. I don't think he minded all that much though, since the house kit was a 1960's Rogers kit. And it sounded sweet! The house bass amp was an Ampeg B-100R. And frankly, I'm glad to brought my Roscoe Beck V with roundwounds (FB friends will know what that's about). It sounded nice and round, but the high end was lacking a little bit. On the tunes where I needed that high end I definitely missed some of the definition that would help with.

 

The crowd? They were awesome. It was some of our people, but a bunch of others were hanging out, too. I'm pretty sure we got some walk-in traffic from the street since people could see us playing. And mind you, this room is not that big. The most people you could get in there are perhaps 40 or so. And the energy? It was palpable!

 

We played one of the best sets we've played in some time. I think part of the reason why is because this may have been our last gig with our current drummer. He's off to Korea soon for a 4 month gig playing in the pit band for a musical. We've had tremendous personal and music chemistry with him, and there was something of a bittersweet feeling to last night's show. I know that I didn't want to let him down, so I was intent on locking in with him as tight as possible. And the post show reactions we got were all extremely positive. I hope that we get to play at Rockwood again some time soon. But more importantly I hope that we're able to play more gigs with our drummer when he returns from Asia.

[_Sweet Willie_]

I'm sorry to have missed this. I had hoped to go, but had already committed to checking out another gig that night in Brooklyn, and couldn't convince my fellow attendee otherwise. (Guitarist Stephane Wrembel at Barbes doing his gypsy jazz thing -- and he was phenomenal.)

 

Glad the show went well. I guess I'll have to catch the next one.

 

Peace.

--SW

 

[Nicklab]

The thought is most appreciated, Dr. S-Dubs! I hope we'll be out gigging again soon. We've already auditioned another drummer so that we can maintain some of the momentum we have going.

 

And speaking of gig reports, a fellow Lowdowner was playing down in Philly this weekend. I'd definitely like to hear his report on what Kung Fu Necktie was like. We've been looking to get down there, and Kung Fu Necktie is reportedly one of the cooler rooms in Philadelphia.

[Cthulhu Fhtagn]

The blues spin-off played yesteday. In an effort to reduce our footprint, the venue owner suggested ... congas.

 

Well, we've made a nice amount of coin off this venue and the drummer has some conga experiece, so he went on line and bought a pair.

 

So, here's the line up: Singer/guitar with two different acoustics and a dobro (through the PA). Drummer with congas (micked with a 57 and through the PA). Me with backing vocals and the EUB with the reissue as a backup (basses through the TKO - the mains are 12" monitors. Enough horsepower for the venue, but my lows - especially the EUB - will drop dead fast without the 15"). Mostly old blues standards with some classic rock and a couple of reggae numbers thrown in for good measure.

 

Lots of positive feedback on the set list and sound. Has a nice, mellow, sit back and be able to talk if you want or dance if you have an inclination. Raked in about 3 times the normal amount in tips. From my vantage point in front of the main and my amp, we sounded pretty damned good.

 

Funny, Ed was asking if I was playing the WAV much. Last night, 3 1/2 out of 4 sets. Mark G. sez my Estel Loius 3/4 is due to arrive sometime next week. I'd love to have that out for the gig next Friday.

[EddiePlaysBass]

Funny, Ed was asking if I was playing the WAV much. Last night, 3 1/2 out of 4 sets.

 

Excellent! Do you put any effects on it or run a clean signal? I intend to start incorporating it with the blues band soon. Perhaps not every gig, but now and then. Make it so I can switch between the 5 and the URB, the 4 and the URB or the 5 and the 4. Never all three at one gig, though

[Paul K]

OK, so I played the Univox Coily for the whole three hours last night. Sounded good, looked good. The tuning down a half step thing really, really,really helped my voice. It was more in the sweet spot, less strain for the high notes. So when I needed to kill a high note (think Pretzel Logic "Hey Hey" after the first verse), I had it solid. And tuning down a half step also makes the guitar sound ballsier.

 

The old girl will probably need new wires. My Univox Hi Flyer needed new wires as the insulation on the wires got all crappy and flaked off, and this one needs to have no strain on the input jack or else I get that "bad cord" noise. With it being hollow body, it'll be a pain in the ass to fish out and put back the electronics. On the up side, the Coily did a much better job of staying in tune than I thought it would. I'm thinking of replacing the whammy with a regular trapeze tailpiece; it's just bolt off- bolt on, so it's a modification I can reverse with no extra holes in the guitar.

[Wally Malone]

Had a great gig today playing at the VA Medical Center in Livermore. It's always a pleasure performing for our Veterans. Couldn't have asked for better weather, not too hot or too cool. This particular location can be very hot in the summer. This was my first gig in a year since I had to take time off before my shoulder surgery and some time after as well. Played two sets and no shoulder pain and with the walking and running I've been doing lately the legs and feet felt fine as well. The loading of the car, setting up, tearing down and unloading the car after getting home was all done without pain. I'm back!

 

Wally

[Tom Capasso]

Glad to hear you are back !!!

Tom

[EddiePlaysBass]

After our debut gig last June we were asked to play a blues pub in Antwerp. Usually they only book international acts, as they are very demanding in terms of musical / vocal quality. Or so I am told. What it came down to is: getting asked there as a local band is quite an honour, apparently.

 

I arranged to pick up one of the guitar players, since he lives on my route to the venue and I prefer carpooling to driving alone. We arrived about 2 hours too early and found out there was not only a bass amp set up (a Peavy T-Max) but also a fully set-up drum set. Called the drummer but he was already halfway there. The venue was real nice, the way you would expect a proper blues venue to look. Stage was not too big but not too small, and hey I have seen them a LOT smaller

 

We sound checked with a song we dropped off the regular set list, and found the on stage sound to be quite okay. Mind you, this was after I spent a good deal working (or rather struggling) with the amp to make both the Fender Jazz and the Squier Precision sound halfway decent. Kept getting a very clanky sound which probably sounds great in certain settings (Fi3ldy Rul3Z) but not here :grin:

 

All in all, we played well. There was a pretty decent crowd, considering the fact that it's a Sunday and we started at 4.30 PM. Plus apparently there isn't much in the way of a blues crowd in those parts (venue owner's words) and it turns out that our one prior gig has brought us a small fan base! Always nice

 

We added one song from set 2 to the first set because it felt so short and we were on a roll. Good move. Repeated one song from set 2 because the singer invited a lady friend to sit in with us. In itself not a bad move, and she sure can sing, but it was about the only near-train wreck we had, since we really did not know where this was headed We are not that in-sync with one another yet, but with experience it will come, I am sure.

 

I switched between the Fender J and the Squier P, but the Squier seems to have a higher output so I had to put the Fender on active to get more boost. Lesson learned: soundcheck both basses next time and get the sound levels somewhat equal. Or get a boost pedal or something :grin:

 

Oh yeah, kudos to the venue: we got a great meal afterwards. Felt like we was actual rock stars I heard we have 2 to 3 new potential bookings thanks to this gig, and something tells me we will be going back to this particular venue at some point too. One booking is set for November, the other is for a birthday party in 2012 for a guy who is terminally ill and not sure he will live long enough. Morbid!

[J. Dan]

Felt like posting here. There's a thread on the KC regarding my issues fri night for those interested.

 

Ok, o had fri, sat, sun gig at casino - nice, set up fri, tear down sun, 3 days pay.

 

Side note: St. Louis weather always sux. If it's bearable, people want to be outside. It's been over 100 and humid most days for months.

 

K, fri night, a little slow, and my main outs (both) and headphone outs all crap out on my main board. I limp through the night. Sat I bring out the ultimate Rube Goldburg adapter cable: SPDIF ou of my kb, through audio interface, USB into my work laptop, back through the interface, analog out into my DI. Yes, a laptop and audio interface (and ableton live), just to get signal from my synth,.... BUT! 3-4 bachelorette parties, hot chicks coming out of the woodwork, great night!

 

So tonight (Sunday)... 2 people when we were supposed to start. Started 40 min late by direction of the casino. Ended up with a bachelorette party and prob 250 people. Kept it going all night, good night for a nice sun.

[TimR]

Outdoor mini festival type gig with 8 other bands each with a 30min slot. We were opening band starting at 2pm.

 

At 1:55 It started raining. Heavily. Too heavy for us to play and too heavy for an audience to turn up. At 2:45 the rain eased off and enough people had turned up for us to do our set.

 

We played the full 30mins and there was enough slack in the program to make up enough time for the event to finish on time with everyone playing their allotted time.

 

My one finger playing held up see the Mallet Finger thread.

 

The sound crew were excellent. Took a di out the back of my amp and my 2x10" kept up with the rest of the band as usual. Sound checked us only. The other bands just got tweaked during the first song of their set.

 

The band mentioned in the first post of this thread played. Their bass player bought a 4x10" and a 15" and two power amps. His sound bled into all the stage mics and their FOH sound was horrendous. The singer complained 3/4 of the way through their set about the amount of bass. Nothing the sound-man could do short of going up onto stage and turning the guy down.

[Ross Brown]

The singer complained 3/4 of the way through their set about the amount of bass. Nothing the sound-man could do short of going up onto stage and turning the guy down.

 

B B gun....

[JBFLA]

Wire cutters.

[Danzilla]

I had a fill-in gig on Saturday night.

I've been friends with Lisa Fenstermacher for several years. We've played at sevearl of the same festivals, and were part of a local music support group; mutual admiration society, I guess. Anyway, she emailed me a few weeks ago that her bass player, Kevin, had damaged his hand and wouldn't be able to do a show; could I fill in? We had 2 rehearsals, I learned 14 songs (originals, and 2 Ashley Cleveland covers). I've enjoyed Lisa's solo material, and was glad to be learning & playing it, plus the other band members are quite good. Always helps you step up your game.

 

The gig went well, in spite of some vocal monitor issues. I only made on e major screw up, which the drummer noticed and we had a laugh at it. I thought the Lakland DJ 5 would be the most appropriate, but the rest of the band liked the Epi Les Paul 5, so it saw most of the action. Their bass player, Kevin, showed up and helped run sound. He didn't have any complaints about how I played. Unfortunately, a very low attendance. Those who were there, really enjoyed it.

 

She has another show at a bigger venue, on the 17th. I'm on call for it if Kevin's not fully recovered. I don't wish the guy ill, but I'd love to play with them all again. Only time will tell. (No, we didn't do an Asia cover.)

 

[Phil W]

 

The kids are funny!

 

[video:youtube]

[Paul K]

Well, the mojo has been in short supply the past two weeks. My hips are cooked enough that I'm scheduling bilateral replacement; first in January, second in February. That'll eat up some time. That, and I found some more dry rot in my log home; I dealt with that before the snow flies. The day job is sucking because the staff is, uh, not very well seasoned; and I'm only as good as my staff. Booking gigs has been, as usual, hard; I've got a couple places where I'm in the rotation (hooray!), but am finding -as usual- it's tough to just get the other places to answer the damn phone or return an e-mail. I am considering offering one free evening to a couple places that are short commutes. But only one; then the usual-and-customary kicks in. I'm out of other ideas to get my foot in the door at those venues. The weird part is that those venues are totally shithole crappy places that the owner has heard me kill at Karaoke night.

 

Ah, but enough bellyaching. I had a great solo gig last night. It's one of the places I'm in the rotation; everything was easy, and everything was high-end. The crowd was receptive, and the new tunes went over real well (One is "This Love" by Marron 5, other is "Billie Jean") Even a few weak spots were well received (Tiny Dancer-Elton John). My voice was strong for the whole three hours--I've taken to tuning down a half step. Even though I've arranged all the tunes in the book for my vocal range, that extra half step just makes a great difference. Good inflections, good dynamics, good tempos, great feedback from the staff and patrons.

 

So. I got some of my mojo back. Feels good.

[Wally Malone]

Had a great gig in New Orleans on Saturday. The highlight for me was seeing and hearing Eddie Floyd. He looks great and still has it going on. He and others including Otis Clay followed our set and were backed up by the Bo-Keys with former members of the Bar-Kays. Also got to talk to and see Gigi Shinn perform on Friday night. We hadn't seen each other since 1969 when we used to play in two bands that shared billing at the Bamboo Hut in Galveston every Sunday that summer. This was before he sang and played with Chase. He can still sing those high notes.

 

Wally

[Groove Mama]

My hips are cooked enough that I'm scheduling bilateral replacement.

I've known several people who have had this done, and they are all satisfied customers. Just remember to use only genuine GM-certified parts.

[Groove Mama]

Had a great gig in New Orleans on Saturday. The highlight for me was seeing and hearing Eddie Floyd. He looks great and still has it going on. He and others including Otis Clay followed our set and were backed up by the Bo-Keys with former members of the Bar-Kays. Also got to talk to and see Gigi Shinn perform on Friday night. We hadn't seen each other since 1969 when we used to play in two bands that shared billing at the Bamboo Hut in Galveston every Sunday that summer. This was before he sang and played with Chase. He can still sing those high notes.

[Cthulhu Fhtagn]

I guess it all depends on what motivates you:

 

Two weeks ago, the Missus and I were in Alaska taking in the sites. While on vaycay, the drummer from LC booked us for the local rodeo as a classic rock/country band (we AREN'T country).

 

I had a benefit gig booked with the jazz band to raise money for breast cancer awareness. All the "jazz guys" are taking part in this and it is being held at one of the upper-end, shee-shee wineries. Now I find myslef double booked for today.

 

We had the bassist for a "sister band" fill in for the rock project, as I was threatened with bodily harm if I flaked the jazz gig (lots of survivors in my aquaintences). The "sister band" has a lead guitar that has been friends with our guitars for decades. Our drummer fills in for their drummer who misses about 1/4 of the bookings and won't get out of bed for less than $125. Everyone has a "one for one" replacement except me. My counter-part is a reasonably attractive, chick lead vocals that has pretty impressive chops on the bass. She's also in a relationship with the lead guitar. My band has, well, me.

 

The bass and the guitar arrived at the restuarnt gig last night to check out our sound and set list. I'm not sure why, but I played way more aggressively than normal last night. More volume, more bottom, more fills and runs (without going spaceman on the band). Not that anyone has a bad opinon of me, nor am I in danger of losing my chair, but I guess I wanted to demonstrate that she wasn't filling in for a punk.

 

Drummer looked at me after the encore and told me it was my best set. Ever. The band leader wasn't flashing his fretboard or yelling chord changes at me. The lead layed back on a couple of songs and let me and the drums groove when the dance floor was packed.

 

I guess it's all about what motivates you.

[Tom Capasso]

I can't tell if your set that night was what the band wants every night, but clearly they are ready to take more if you put it out there.

 

Your story made me think of something - this is just an observation based just on your post, and limited by never having heard or seen you play.

There is a balance between playing and performing.

There are times when I don't have that balance right, and times when it all comes together.

 

Tom

[Cthulhu Fhtagn]

Oddly enough, being predisposed to be supremely over-confident, I think the issue was confidence.

 

I picked up a small-venue acousic blues projecte with the new lead guitar and the current drummer. The guitar can do four sets by himself, so he's a huge pick up for the rock project. Since the the rock project wasn't playing for a while, I got to know this guys set list well. When we folded his blues into the larger rock project, the singer would tell him to play something, he'd pick something from the blues project, and the I would have it nailed and have the extra special benefit of watching the band leader being lost in the progressions for a change.

 

The band leader has finally started to relax. Most of his life he's been a professional gigging musican who now finds himnself having to pull a full time job and gig on the side. The rest of us aren't pros. Pretty damned good, but not pros. Now that he's not projecting these past professional bands on us, we all have a chance to lighten up.

[Cthulhu Fhtagn]

Jazz Gig - Breast Cancer Benefit - Local Winery/Event Center.

 

1. While boosting the mains on the poles, one slips and smacks me in the face, cutting my cheek open. All this while standing in a sea of middle-aged ladies wearing pink.

 

2. During the head shots, the photographer asks that I remove my glasses. They trot us out to the vineyard. On the way back, my glasses have lept out of my pocket and disaapeared.

 

3. The auction goes 30 minutes late.

 

4. The keyboard wanders off. 300 Middle-aged ladies wearing pink and hanging around the winery, looking for one middle-aged ladie in a bastardized version of "Where's Waldo" (Google if you hav to ask).

 

5. The Vox and Keys changed the key of two songs without telling me. Not like I can read the lead sheets anyway.

 

6. Keys and her instructor changed two of the songs. Since her instructor was the opener, we played the changes. Unrehearsed.

 

7. The wind came up and blew sheet music all over.

 

Overall, we didn't sound bad and it was the first night the "URB with no name." The crowed loved the music (mostly old jazz standards) and the bass sounded incredible (you need an endorsement, Bob?). Played the URB thorugh the PA with a Shure 52They raised a bunch of money and everyone had a good time.

 

 

[jeremy c]

I'm in still another band now.

It's called the Bob Parlocha Octet.

If you listen to late night jazz radio, either FM or internet, you might have heard him, he's a very good dj, and it turns out he plays tenor sax.

 

So the band is trumpet, trombone, tenor sax, baritone sax, guitar, bass, drums, piano and we are playing very interesting arrangements written for that combination.

 

We actually got a gig two nights a month (if you can call something that pays almost nothing a gig) and we are playing at a place in and industrial area called Rooster's Road House which actually has people who are lovers of jazz as regular customers.

 

So it was actually a good experience. The whole audience sits facing the band and listening and applauding and on breaks they want to talk with us and they make knowledgeable comments.

 

I could get used to this.

[butcherNburn]

My gig today, and probably the best I could hope for or even want these days. Playing along to CD's while watching sports while my wife and daughter are out. It's not that I'm such a sports nut but I do like to watch sometimes and almost anything good will come up on replay. I'll probably play along with one of the CD's I compiled of favorite songs I can play, then hit shuffle and see what comes up on my now old 301 CD player. You kids still remember CD's right?