the closing time thread

[Leon Grizzard]

Well, this is right after a gig of sorts: I just dropped my wife and a load of runners off in far north Austin for an 18 mile training run.

I had two gigs yesterday. One was in the middle of the afternoon at a nursing home. Our fiddler works the Old Folks Circuit, and I try to make this one monthly gig at nursing home with a lot of folks with mental deficits. Sometimes Tom will do a Gospel number. Yesterday he called In the Garden. These little old folks, many of whom can hardly speak, sing or mouth the lyrics along with the band. You look out in the hallway, the staff is singing along too. It is just so touching. We did Amazing Grace there a few months ago, and it was amazingly powerful.

Then last night a little coffee shop gig, just steel, bass and guitar. We do it about once a month in place of a band practice, and publicly try out new tunes or ones with rough spots. When/if we get an audience, it turns into a regular performance.

At both gigs I played my recently acquired DRRI. What a sweet little amp. My SF Twin is my total reference, and the DRRI is a not exactly like a lighter version of the Twin, but a similar, great tone. This was first time I played my Epi Dot (Gibson PU’s) through it at a gig, and it really sounded nice.

[Tony474]

I just got in from a gig at a recently reopened pub in Caledonian Road, north London, right opposite HM Prison, Pentonville - yup, a real salubrious area! Knowing from past experience that it was a bit tight for space and also having strained my back recently, I left my 60 lb Music Man amp behind and instead took the little Roland Cube 60 I bought just for fun, using my pedalboard into the JC Clean channel, lined out through the PA.

Stone me, what a great sound I got tonight! The other guys in the band were delighted, the punters were highly complimentary and the guv'nor booked us again for next week after a mere two songs.

I have lots and lots of amps but this one really hit the spot. Has to be the greatest bargain in the whole music trade.

[toadman]

just got home from a gig at Black Eyed Sallys blues +BBQ bar in Hartford Ct. 'Twas an interesting night!
the college kids came out late in their skin tight mini dresses and their boyfriends were drunk and loud. had a few sit-ins. a guy named "Washboard Slim" joined us for a few tunes with a "full dresser" washboard with the bells and whistles and stuff on it. a guy from Laffayette, La joined us on guitar (strat) and then some Irish rugby players came in. large chaps all with orange shirts on. they had just won some kind of tournament and were quite "celebratory". one of them was a novice accordion player and talked the
boss into letting him play a few tunes! pretty unusual for our band, for an accordion "sit-in"! but we did a cool, off-the-cuff- version of "Ratlin Bog"! very weird for a Zydeco band to play irish music to a crowd of teenyboppers! but lot's of fun!
played my Vibro Champ miced into the house PA(only because i know the soundman and he's a good one) sounded great!

FYI i love this thread!

[Rombel]

I just got back from a festival gig with my Eagles tribute band. It was a hot rod/muscle car thing, and there were scantily-clad vixens galore during the afternoon (lots of walking around to kill the time at those gigs). At concert time, the vixens showed up and danced in front of the stage while the carboys nursed their Budweisers.
It was a really fun gig. Good crowd, good ambiance, good staffers.
I had a new toy to break in, a BBE Green Screamer, which I like a lot. I was able to dial in a great creamy tone immediately, just before soundcheck. I sing the Henley numbers, and play most of the licks and solos, so there's little time for me to bend down and tweak while playing.
It was a long day. We had to be onsite at 2:30, setup and soundcheck asap, and be done by 5. The gig itself was at 9. That gave us time to wander around and check out the babes and the cars.

Oh, and I bought myself a cowboy hat :-)

[crawdad]

Saturday afternoon I played classic rock at an outdoor mall. Though that might sound like a nightmare, it is actually a really fun gig. The band plays and people gather and listen. It becomes a concert atmosphere. We open up the show to requests from time to time and we have fun with the crowd. We had about fifteen little kids onstage dancing at the end, playing percussion instruments and generally going nuts. What a hoot...we usually gather 100-150 people for each set.

Its funny. I look out and see some people who are 60 and up. At first I think--oh no, they want fifties music. But then we will do some AC/DC or something and I see them all singing along. I guess the page has turned.

For the outdoor gigs, I am starting to wish I had a Twin Reverb--just for the clean headroom. Then, I remember I am my own road crew...

[trag-o-caster]

I played outdoors in the rain last night. It was for a big restaurant, out on their back deck, overlooking a big beautiful lake. It wasn't my band. I was working for someone else (and that someone else is a bit of a control freak).

It started raining on our second set, complete with thunder and lightning. He ordered us to keep playing. Then suddenly BOOM!!! I didn't see it, but the drummer said that it looked like ball lightning right over our heads!

I turned my amp off, and yanked the power cord out of the socket. I then lied telling the bandleader (who was strumming flattop electro-acoustic while his wife continued to sing) that my amp died. The set was going overtime anyway, and there was no good reason to continue. He just wanted us to carry on because he said so.

We took a long break, waiting for the rain to let up. It did, and we went back on. Then here came the rain, thunder and lightning again, just as soon as we set back up. This time I was running the guitar through the Morley JD-10 direct to the PA (because my amp was supposedly dead). Two songs later we quit, with the bandleader making the suggestion that we were wimps and unprofessional, etc. etc.

How DARE we want to quit while getting drenched with lightning striking above us!

[DonoMondo]

My band played last night at a great venue in Grapevine, Tx. called Tolbert's. We were scheduled for 9:00 - 12:00 and they requested that we play an additional hour! So that means after teardown I got home around 3:00 - 3:15, asleep around 4:30. As usual, being "age-challenged" I find it difficult to sleep late, so I was up around 9:00am.

The gig was cool - we "introduced" several "new" tunes we've never played in front of "real people"; Reeling in the Years, Running on Empty, Summer in the City, and Galway Girl. We played Maybe I'm Amazed and Touch of Grey for the second time. I'm pleased to say they didn't suck! The new songs weren't great - but we didn't embarrass ourselves - and everyone loved them! Hard to beat that!

Broke a string on my acoustic during Story in your Eyes - that was inconvenient.

And, we got fed. Tolbert's offers *great* food! If you live in the Metroplex make sure you drop in.

[mantis]

This weekend, I was very happy to perform at the Boardwalk in Saint John, New Brunswick:



Basically, just out of view on the left side of the picture was an outdoor stage. It was a beautiful night for playing some good ole country. And surprisingly, it was fairly warm for maritime weather, so no numb fingers! The crowd was polite but receptive.

At the end of the night, we were also treated to a Saint John, port-city, classic - a mini bar brawl between a half dozen fellas. Ah, the maritimes.

[romo]

Played with my band on saturday at a bank. It was the bank's anniversary party and they were giving out free lunch to anyone who stopped by. Here is a shot of the band rocking with a couple of teles! I'm the one in the middle playing the paisley. I wish I had a picture of what were were looking at. The parking lot was filled with people showing off their classic cars and cool stuff for the kids. This was sort of our first official gig. We played all classic rock covers. I've got another band who I do all original stuff with, but its more indie rock kinda thing. I've been playing with that band for about a year and a half, it's nice to have a couple different bands to play different types of music with. Tough to have a paying gig without a cover band though.

Overall the gig went pretty well. We played two 45 minute sets and a third short set to close out the afternoon. We had a few rough spots, mostly because we just haven't played together too much but in the second set for sure were gelled pretty well. Got a lot of complements, hopefully more paying gigs for us to come. Other than the heat (like 90 and sunny) it was a pretty cool day!

[crawdad]

I am enjoying reading all the gig reports and glad to see so many out there making music!

Today's gig for me was a solo thing at a familiar Carribean themed chain restaurant. Five sets to people munching on dinners and slurping up island drinks. Not much to do but be background entertainment. After three nights of real inspiring venues, this was a "back to reality' gig. Payed well, though.

This Thursday, I have an interesting one nighter on a riverboat cruise. Playing country music no less. If this thread lives, I'll post back with a report.

[Daddydex]

Originally Posted by crawdad

I am enjoying reading all the gig reports and glad to see so many out there making music!

Today's gig for me was a solo thing at a familiar Carribean themed chain restaurant. Five sets to people munching on dinners and slurping up island drinks. Not much to do but be background entertainment. After three nights of real inspiring venues, this was a "back to reality' gig. Payed well, though.

This Thursday, I have an interesting one nighter on a riverboat cruise. Playing country music no less. If this thread lives, I'll post back with a report.

Five Sets? There oughta be a law...

Dan

[Telemarkman]

This weekend was my annual gig, the Sky-Festival, actually more of a jam for me + some heavy friends from the past (though we never played together). We dedicated our set mostly to Cream, who were favorites of ours back in the days.

Hadn't played the songs in 35-40 years, but strangely I remembered them all: Sunshine of Your Love, I'm So Glad, Strange Brew, Crossroads, Born Under a Bad Sign and Spoonful. (We played some other stuff too though - both soul and country).

I played my '52 RI Tele through my new Blues Junior Ltd. Ed. in relic'd tweed. Holy Mackerel what an amp! I wish I'd used my 60's Classic Tele though, 'cos we played between 2.00 and 3.30 Sunday morning, and it was chilly and damp and the maple fretboard was getting pretty sticky.

The reason we played so late was that we were at the very end of a long playlist, which was probably good 'cos most of the other bands are gigging bands - one even professional. We had a great time though, and I slept on the stage (outside, but with a tarp over it) in a sleeping bag ... But not until I finished my set ... Hee, hee!

One thing I gotta mention: One of my 'heavy friends' - who also brought his own band - (mostly) played a Shadows Custom Signature Burns Ltd. Ed. guitar in Fiesta Red - and man!, what a TWANG!!! He also had a '52 RI Tele '89 model, but the Burns beat it in the twang department. In fact , I don't think I've EVER heard a more twangy guitar sound in my life - at least not in person. He played through a MusicMan 210 'Sixty-Five'. (He played Pipeline, Ghostriders, Ebb Tide a.o.) Absolutely amazing - and beautiful - tone!!!

[Tony474]

Originally Posted by Daddydex

Five Sets?

Yup. 6-4, 6-2, 4-6, 5-7, 10-8...

[Rombel]

Bwaahahahahahahahahaha!

[JasonRobert]

did a gig yesterday at a pub which was having some sort of festival. I was under the impression there would be at least 3 bands, but it was just us. We played from about 7 - 9:30 with a break in between. We played some beatles, elvis and stones as well as some newer stuff like Blur, Arctic Monkeys and Red Hot Chilli Peppers.

Unfortunatly we had to play inside with speakers outside as it was scheduled to rain. There were lots of drunk people coming in trying to get us outside but we couldnt. Then lots of drunk people came inside and we had to play our hour set again because they liked it so much! It went ok considering our drummer couldnt make it and me and my mate (who isnt in our band) switched between playing drums and playing lead and singing.

I was also testing out my les paul style guitar I made with a strat neck and a gate hinge as a tailpiece. I was actually testing a switch I added which bypasses the volume, so if I set the volume about halfway, when I flick the switch and bypass the volume I get added volume for solos. It worked very well.

[zoppotrump]

again out of the bed....
played a little bar gig, just filling in for a band from farther away, who got stuck in a jammed highway and could not show up in time.
some sort of grab your guitar. basic equipment and rush to the bar, where folks are already waiting to hear some good music.
after the first set a friend from another band showed up and we ended playing the whole night as a duo, trying to remember every song the crowd asked us for.
we got the whole pay from the band, that didn´t show up at all ( after an car accident they closed the highway down for hours ) and were asked to perform every four weeks....
it was a real fun night and i played a lot of songs i never pplayed before...

zoppotrump
:O)

[mantis]

It's 3am Atlantic time and I just finished playing a bunch of Waylon tunes at the local watering hole. Place holds about 50 people. Just me, my nylon string, and 15 of my friends.

Best gig I had all week.

[Buckocaster51]

I've been home a few hours.

Played outside near Iowa City IA.

Nice warm day.

Not many clothes.

Started a band divorce.

Other than that, every thing was normal.

[Rombel]

Weekend stint for me.
Huge festival gig near Ottawa on Saturday, wedding gig with a friend's band (on bass) on Sunday. Much distance in between the two gigs, like the Eagles sang: "I had to stop for the night"...
Got home around 3 this morning, there are bags and cases all over the place.
Reminds me of my touring days. As soon as the espresso kicks in, I may start thinking about doing some laundry and putting stuff away.

Wait.
The friggin' cat is clawing away at my Coveramp.
Think I'll put that away first.

[TwangoBango]

Played an "End of Summer" Labor day gig yesterday. We went on at 5 pm but didn't play til about fifteen mins later due to PA problems. The event had a racetrack, so there were plenty of race fans ... there was a Beergarden handily erected right in front of the stage so we had a built-in crowd. Plenty of eye candy... I love late summer