Semi-OT. Gig Report

[44 hurts]

I have a friend that is a flamenco guitarist. A nice guy for all of that. He recently sent me this report of a wedding gig he played. This is long but well worth the read.

 

Also: he is adding bass to his flamenco group Mojarcar (one guitar, one drummer, and two dancers).

 

Im just now getting back to my normal pace after an exciting weekend.

I went up to Lake Tahoe for a gig on the mountain top. I went with a

drummer and the two of us drove up on Friday. 50 miles from our

destination, the car suddenly stopped. We pulled over and called AAA.

By the time we got thimgs squared away with AAA, we decided to try the

car again. It started up and we made it all the way in.

 

Once we arrived and Dave and Julias cabin, where wed arranged to stay

for the weekend, we opened to door to find the fridge totally trashed

out both fridge and freezed were wide open, the contents spilled onto

the floor. It took us a minute to fiure, looking at the mess that it

was animal rather than human vandalism. Looking at the mudy tracks

leading up the stairs, we figured it had been a bear. We didnt hear or

sense anything in the house, but I cautiously went up the stair. For

some reason, my partner wasnt right behind me, but I kept going up

anyway. In the upstairs bedroom, I found the window had been pushed in

and saw bear tracks across the bed and food wrappers on the floor.

Endging up to the open window, I saw bear tracks about 6-7 inches

across leading to and from the window. By this time, my partner

entered the room carrying a champagne bottle. I wasnt immediately

certain whether he was going to hit the bear with it or give him

something to get he taste of me out of its mouth.

 

My first thought was to close off the window and find a hotel. We

decided to stay and clean up the mess. I called Dave and told him what

wed found. At 180 miles away, he could only be amused. He assured us

that, since this was their first bear incident in 15 years, the next

one wasnt due until 2019. We accepted his logic as best we could and

went to clean up the mess. We inspected the food on the floor and

figured it was warm and moldy enough to indicate that it had been at

least a week since the bear had been there.

 

We had dinner, watched a movie and then went to sleep, my drummer

downstairs behind closed doors and me upstairs in the bear-room.

Well, it was my gig, so I had to sleep there, although I did think of

offereing the drummer another $50 on the gig if he slept upstairs.

 

I didnt really sleep at all, spending all night trying to figure out

what to do about the car and the bear. The car was easy. I eventually

decided to rent a car for the day of the gig and take the car into a

mechanic. The bear was harder to figure out. Although I kept a

fireplace poker next to my bed, I wasnt all that assured that I would

be able to wake up in time to wield it effectively in the dark, should

the bear decide to return. I shouldnt have worried about that since

just the thought of the muddy bear tracks on the bed kept me wide awake

all night anyway.

 

Come morning, I got up and worked on my plan to rent a car and get my

checked out. By this time, my main thought was that I really needed

some sleep. Nonetheless, I had to take care of the car and hope to get

back to the cabin in time to get a little sleep before the gig.

 

Of course, were in the mountains on a Saturday and nothing happens in

L.A. time up there, so I don t get back to bed until 11:00 AM, two

hours before we have to go the the gig.

 

If youve ever really tried to sleep in the middle of the day, youll

know I had no success. So, at 1:00, I just gave up trying and get

ready for the gig.

 

The gig was a wedding a reception at a ski resort. I had to play

classical music for the wedding and flamenco for the reception. By

this point I was too punchy to play the classical music well, so I

gamely improvised my way through Bach and Scarlatti by memory and

creativity.

 

Next, me and my guitar and my amp got on the ski lift to go up another

1000 feet to the warming cabin on a mountain top where the reception

was being held. An amp is heavy and a guitar is akward and me on a ski

lift is both heavy and akward, but I made it up where my drummer was

already waiting.

 

We went ahead and played flamenco and discovered something very

important about this fast, highly technical form of music its

normally played at sea level. You need oxygen to play this stuff! And

sleep! Nonetheless, we made it through, me watching my fingers and

whispering Come on guys, move!. They did move, we did well and after

about an hour we were allowed t go back down the ski lift, down the

mountain and, 550 miles later, home. The car was fine, the check has

cleared and, as they say in aeronautics, any gig you can walk away from

is a good one.

[moot]

There is something wrong with Tahoe.

Last time I played there it snowed so hard that

 

1> We had to sleep in the bar

 

2> The plows didn't come by until almost noon the next day and

 

3> The manager couldn't get there to sign the check - it came in the mail 3 weeks later.

 

Other than that it is beautiful and the fishing rocks.