Weirdest place you've ever done a gig?

[I-missRichardTee]

Strip club - "My Way Lounge" - Passaic, NJ - 16 years old with an ABC card. Welcome to show biz, kid.

 

That club sounds so familiar. But not Passaic... It's been so long ago. I may have played the Choo Choo lounge once in Garfield though.

My Way lounge is haunting me.

Can you name some of the players you knew of back then? A reminiscing Tee wants to know? -)

[ChiefDanG]

Yes I played the Satellite once (actually on Fort Dix, no?). By 4am I was napping in the booths on breaks. The Choo-Choo Club was home-away-from-home for the Young Rascals before they broke big. When I played there the big draw was a band called Jake and The Family Jewels-LOL

[The Real MC]

I play piano with the company jazz band and we get invited to various company events.

 

One of the most memorable ones was playing St Louis for the annual Society of Black Engineers convention...

 

...we were the only white guys in the room. It was cool, they liked us.

 

When I told people about my St Louis trip, I would tell them I was there for the Society of Black Engineers, then pause for reaction... then finish the story regarding the jazz band.

 

The coolest thing was since it was a company event, the company paid for the flight, the hotel stay, the meals, and the backline. Nice gig if you can get it. The drummer brought his sticks and the trumpet player brought his horn, everything else was hired backline although the Hammond XK2 was horrid.

 

One of the few items on my bucket list is to play a strip club. Just to see if I can handle the challenge of those distractions

[Moonglow]

Whorehouse.

 

'Nuff said.

 

..Joe

Cash gig?

[Pa Gherkin]

There have been many. One that immediately springs to mind is playing right next to the shark tanks in a large aquarium. Why they had us set up there I have no idea. We were emphatically told to play very quietly or the sharks would start attacking each other in a violent frenzy. There was an aquarium official standing in front of us all night with a db meter. We were quiet enough to not need vocal mics. This was with a normally fairly loud R&B band. Talk about an excercise in restraint.

[Ian Sharrock]

on HERE http://www.windermere-lakecruises.co.uk/specialevents_detail.php?id=2

 

Our last note played as the boat got back to dock.... couldn't have timed it better if we'd tried!

[I-missRichardTee]

Ian What is weird, to you? Only thing weird to me is the country involved. I looked through the website. I saw a hint of UK or Ireland or Wales. But those were never verified! Windermere is where ?

There are only two places on earth I would be curious to travel to... India and In my mind that whole large mass that is Ireland Scotland England Wales!

Both locations seem deeply steeped in mysterious past! Thanks

[I-missRichardTee]

Yes I played the Satellite once (actually on Fort Dix, no?). By 4am I was napping in the booths on breaks. The Choo-Choo Club was home-away-from-home for the Young Rascals before they broke big. When I played there the big draw was a band called Jake and The Family Jewels-LOL

I mainly rehearsed with, a semi-retired for the most part, Eddie ( and occasionally his brother Davey ) Brigati. I have said it before... and if anyone knows how to reach Eddie... Eddie's voice absolutely blew me away. He had more soul in that little frame of his.. than any 2 or 3 regular singers. His singing haunts me to this day, and his tunes too.... we mostly rehearsed.. I was a hired gun, we were not buds, I recall one gig at The Bottom Line with him. But it's the rehearsals with him, where his incredible voice, and deep Blues feeling, just mesmerized me. The greatest singer I ever worked with.. Eddie Brigati, the lead singer with Rascals.

[MorayM]

The Peel in Kingston, Surrey - should have realised when I tried to load the gear in through the doors.......the name is a giveaway.

Rock venue in one half and strip club in the other.......

 

I know that venue pretty well. Never played it myself but a friend showed me around the "other side" - unfortunately it wasn't in use at the time

[StanC]

Back in the late '70's the band I was with at the time did the score for Godspell, the musical. There were several rehearsals weekly prior and 4 or 5 shows on consecutive weekends. Not weird in itself, but the cast, male and female, was all from the local prison. The inmate that played the role of Jesus was quite talented. Singing, acting, even juggling and some magic tricks. what was a bit disturbing is he was in for murder!

 

The Musical Director for the show happened to be a 16 yr old Berklee student. Prior to one rehearsal, I had arrived early and was playing the piano in the theater. When he arrived he exclaimed "Stop! I told them to tune that thing! (It wan't perfect, but usable IMO for rehearsal) "Be right back" He came back in with nothing but a wrench and proceeded to tune the piano. "What, do you have perfect pitch or something??" I asked.

"yes"

 

"oh. . . ."

 

 

 

 

[joegerardi]

Cash gig?

 

Cash, not kind. Weirdest thing was the guys coming (excuse the phase) in and the girls just going about their business, back and up to the rooms, then back to watch us, so on for the entire gig.

 

Neither they nor us tried anything untoward. It was a weird case of mutual admiration- they were doe-eyed to have "real" rock musicians in their place, while we (most about 18 or so) were doe-eyed to be around "real" hookers!

 

..Joe

[Ian Sharrock]

Windermere, Lake District, England

Windermere Google Maps

[wineandkeyz]

My band in the 80s used to play a club in a small town in West by God Virginia. I won't name the club or town to protect the guilty.

 

The club was a converted three-bay auto shop. Facing the building, the right-hand bay was the bar/pool hall. The left-hand bay was the actual club. And the middle bay was still an operating garage. So while we were playing, we could sometimes hear folks in the middle bay using the impact wrenches, etc.

 

On the "club" side, the dirty garage floor had been painted over with a rebel flag in the shape of the state of WV. A lot of clubs are grimy, but this place was greasy and grimy. And dusty. When we started playing and the folks started dancing and kicking up the dust, you couldn't see more than 15 feet past the front of the stage. After every weekend we spent there, I would spend two or three nights cleaning my keyboard rig and the PA.

 

The first time we played there, we were a bit anxious when the club cleared out at the end of our first set. We figured they hated us. Instead, they were all out in the parking lot, drinking from Mason jars (moonshine for the unenlightened). We thought security would run everyone off the property, until we spotted the owner standing out there with a jar in his hand, too. At that point, we started worrying about the authorities shutting us down. Just then, on cue, a police car pulled into the lot and we thought, "Okay, this is it. We're done for the weekend." Not to worry. The owner -- Mason jar in hand -- walked over to the police car, leaned into the driver's window, and started shooting the shit with them. After about ten minutes, the cops left.

 

We played there four or five weekends before I moved away and had to leave the band. They told me that a few months after our last gig, the owner's girlfriend shot him for fooling around on her.

 

Wild and wonderful.

[DanL]

Once played at Dover Downs raceway. After the race, a radio station did interviews with the drivers, we played songs going in/out of commercial breaks.

Poor man's Paul Shaefer (sp?).

 

That's right down the road from me. When did you do this?

[AlanV]

Nothing even close to these stories, but two places definitely stand out in my mind.

 

There used to be a place called The Eagle's Roost in northern NJ in Sussex County (or somewhere like that).

 

We were a Grateful Dead-heavy band with a bunch of originals. We walk into this joint and it's like the Blues Brothers walking into Bob's Country Bunker.

 

The owner said, "Well, I don't know what kinda music you play but the house rule is that any band DAMN well better be playing 'God Bless America' at least once."

 

This was in '96 or so before fervent patriotism took over and ingrained that song and the lyrics into everyone's heads thanks to the 7th Inning Stretch at ball games.

 

The second was a bar and grill at a small local airport in Lincoln Park NJ. We played just next to the airstrip so while we were playing, private planes were taking off behind us and people were practicing take-offs and landings with helicopters.

 

Very awesome to be jamming away and NNNNNYYYYYYAAAAARRRRR, a plane takes off.

[Rusty Mike]

Nothing even close to these stories, but two places definitely stand out in my mind.

 

There used to be a place called The Eagle's Roost in northern NJ in Sussex County (or somewhere like that).

 

We were a Grateful Dead-heavy band with a bunch of originals. We walk into this joint and it's like the Blues Brothers walking into Bob's Country Bunker.

 

The owner said, "Well, I don't know what kinda music you play but the house rule is that any band DAMN well better be playing 'God Bless America' at least once."

 

This was in '96 or so before fervent patriotism took over and ingrained that song and the lyrics into everyone's heads thanks to the 7th Inning Stretch at ball games.

 

The second was a bar and grill at a small local airport in Lincoln Park NJ. We played just next to the airstrip so while we were playing, private planes were taking off behind us and people were practicing take-offs and landings with helicopters.

 

Very awesome to be jamming away and NNNNNYYYYYYAAAAARRRRR, a plane takes off.

 

Reminds me a bit of a restaurant/bar I played in the very early 80's in Roselle NJ called The Drop Zone. It was run by this WWII vet named Pete, who was also worshipped Frank Sinatra. The was completely decorated with soldier and war images (I mean huge paintings on all the walls of parachute drops, tanks, etc.), very heavily highlighted with Sinatra pictures of all types. You didn't really play structured sets, as Pete told you when you were on and when you were off. You could play for 10 minutes and he would tell you to take a break, or you could be on the stage for two hours. Some say he was a bit shell shocked.

 

You obviously had to include some signature Sinatra tunes in your sets.

 

Pete was also rumored to be a bit, um, "connected." He had an adult son (can't recall the name) who helped him run the place and occasionally came out to see our band in other venues. He used to smoke Lucky Strikes like a chimney. A few years after leaving the band, I heard the son was beaten to death over some "misunderstanding."

 

[Werno]

Late last summer my band played a gig at the end of the Steel Pier in Atlantic City. For starters it required what felt like a half-mile load-in since the boardwalk was the only access- vans and boardwalks don't mix. While schlepping we were shunted aside by beefy security to make way for the then-current crop of Miss America contestants to return to shore from some photo-op on the pier. A bandmate turned to me and said "Now I know how it feels to be invisible"- not sure if it was lesbian-bar invisible, but as they passed by four feet away there wasn't the slightest sign of awareness that other non-sash-wearing human life existed nearby. Maybe they were tired from smiling and waving. Turns out it was good emotional prep for the gig.

 

We set up in the big tent at the end of the pier and get ready to do a sound check. Suddenly we hear an engine roar to life on the other side of the canvas and hear chopper blades spinning- turns out the other attraction at pier's end is a helicopter tour. For the next two hours at roughly fifteen minute intervals the tours head out and return, turning us into a band of mimes while they're swapping one set of passengers for another. The long load-out was pretty much a relief when it finally came time.

 

[AlanV]

Oy, never played any places like that.

 

The most fun place was called The Underpass in Elmwood Park, NJ, sadly no longer there.

 

It was called such because it was literally under Route 80. Divey, smoky, pool table with a bad lean, but a good built in crowd, and a grizzled soundman who would make *anyone* sound decent.

 

My old band had a standing gig the last Saturday of every month playing from 10 until close. Being in an industrial zone, that was usually around 2-2:30AM.

 

God, I miss that place.

[orangefunk]

on HERE http://www.windermere-lakecruises.co.uk/specialevents_detail.php?id=2

 

Our last note played as the boat got back to dock.... couldn't have timed it better if we'd tried!

 

I have done that gig too.

 

We had to play a jazz funk version of Kung Fu fighting at one point. Great gig.. was cool to take in the sights even though I am from around there originally...

[orangefunk]

My weirdest gig was for a local communist party meeting...

 

pretty memorable

 

they had a priest from Cuba come...

only 2 or 3 people in the audience...

my sax player decided to jack up on heroin and start singing Leon Thomas material for the first time (he is tone deaf when it comes to singing).

My guitarist was on LSD.

My drummer was depressed because his girlfriend was acting werid (found out later my sax player had been sleeping with her).

 

Ahhh... (un) happy days... long gone...

[ChiefDanG]

Once played at Dover Downs raceway. After the race, a radio station did interviews with the drivers, we played songs going in/out of commercial breaks.

Poor man's Paul Shaefer (sp?).

 

That's right down the road from me. When did you do this?

1994(I think)

[RABid]

Nothing really strange for me.

 

Strangest place: Flat bed trailer set up across the road from a new fast food restaurant. Things were fine when we set up. During the first song the trailer moves. I thought we were going to roll into the river. In reality, we moved about 3 inches.

 

Strangest person: Played a club in Hazard, KY. The bouncer was in his 70's and carried a Mini 14. No trouble there. We arrived just before a snowstorm hit so we did not expect anyone at the club. It ended up being packed. Everyone was driving 4-wheel-drive trucks and SUV's. It was a weekend booking so we slept at the club that night. The owner brought in food.

[I-missRichardTee]

Just recalled a recent outdoor gig in summer on the beach, just above Black's Beach ( a clothing opt beach ) . We played within a few feet of Gliderport, where folks would Hang glide over Black's beach. It was a new one for me. It is not all that easy to get the wind to cooperate as you attempt to become airborne, as you simultaneously run off the edge of a high hill overlooking the nude beach. More than a few have lost their lives there; as it is several hundred feet drop.

We were set up under a tiny tent where hang gliding apparatus was set up.

[I-missRichardTee]

What's a Mini 14? No trouble, eh, why not?

[J. Dan]

What's a Mini 14? No trouble, eh, why not?

 

http://www.ruger.com/products/mini14/images/index.jpg

[Joe Muscara]

The second was a bar and grill at a small local airport in Lincoln Park NJ. We played just next to the airstrip so while we were playing, private planes were taking off behind us and people were practicing take-offs and landings with helicopters.

Villapiano's?

[ChiefDanG]

Oy, never played any places like that.

 

The most fun place was called The Underpass in Elmwood Park, NJ, sadly no longer there.

 

It was called such because it was literally under Route 80. Divey, smoky, pool table with a bad lean, but a good built in crowd, and a grizzled soundman who would make *anyone* sound decent.

 

My old band had a standing gig the last Saturday of every month playing from 10 until close. Being in an industrial zone, that was usually around 2-2:30AM.

 

God, I miss that place.

Was in a band that rehearsed in that area when it was still called East Patterson. Played the "Gold Star" and a bowling alley there, but never had the pleasure of playing the Underpass, though I prolly drove past it a thousand times.

I had a brother in Lincoln Park. Remember them having some weird noise/decibel laws. Villapiano's may have stopped live music by midnight on Saturdays, so nothing loud on Sunday-dunno for sure, never played there.

[AlanV]

Sunset Pub and Grill

 

http://sunsetpubandgrill.com/

[retrokeys]

The Goodyear airdock in Akron. One huge blimp hanger. The echo was so ferocious I think we may still be in there in though it was 12 years ago.

[Synthoid]

I had an unusual solo gig a few years back at an outdoor yard sale. It was a fund-raiser for a small local church, and was held in a downtown parking lot. I wasn't sure if there would be electricity, but fortunately the diner next door let us use their outdoor outlets.

 

During a break when I was visiting with the people running the event, some guy wandered over to my keyboard and asked someone how much it was selling for.