LGOberean
Doctor of Teleocity
...and get away with it, apparently.
This statement applies to a lot of areas in my life. A couple of more or less off topic examples spring immediately to mind.
The prevailing wisdom of today about marriage...well, many today don't see marriage as a worthwhile institution. But of those that do see some value in it, prevailing wisdom says that it should not be valued early in life. Get an education first, then get a job, then set some money aside for that future life together. Me? I got married when I was 19, my wife was 18. We conceived our firstborn six months later, and had three children before I was 25. Recipe for disaster, right? A lot of people said it wouldn't last. Well, in 48 days we'll be celebrating our 50th anniversary. I broke the "rule" of conventional wisdom and got away with it.
Then there's the fact that I'm a southpaw, but I play guitars of right hand orientation. In the mid 1960s, aside from Paul McCartney on bass (and somehow in my mind that didn't count) I'd never seen anyone flip a guitar over and/or re-string it. My Dad played, I had access to guitars of right-hand orientation, and I knew it was a right-handed world, so the word of the day was "adapt." Now, 56 years later, I still play, even gig and make money with it.
Which brings me to the real reason for this thread. I did a gig last night. I am a solo performer (not to be confused with a performer of solos), and I plug straight in, no pedals. I run vocals and acoustic/electric guitar through my Fishman Loudbox Mini Charge, electric guitar (tele) through a VOX Pathfinder 15R. I line out from the rear panel of both to, not a PA, but a powered speaker on a stand.
That's my rig. No pedals: whatever effects the amp I'm playing through has is all I use. And I have no music stand, no devices (iPad, cell phone, whatever) to prompt me for lyrics or chords. Or even a set list. I break that rule, too. Oh, if I've been working on a new addition to my performance repertoire, I will know in advance that I'll play it at some point during the gig. But my "sets" have no predetermined order of songs to play. I play what comes to mind in the moment, often because I get a sense from the audience of what's working for them, and just start playing in that vein. Oh, and I don't really do "sets," per se. I play a 3-hour gig non-stop. Thus far, my bladder is still able to hold out for that long, so I just keep playing, start to finish.
And I take requests. Now it happens every gig that I get "stumped," that there will be a request I don't know. In some cases, I've never even heard of the song. In most cases, I'll recognize a song title from the radio, but I don't know all the words or chords. In some cases, if I know a good bit of the words and can hear the tune in my head, I'll "fake" the chords and sing what I can. But otherwise, I'm stumped, and can't fulfill that specific request. But I usually offer another song that I do know by the same artist or band as substitute. That usually goes over well.
Oh, and the conventional wisdom of "shut up and sing"? I break that rule, too. I always try to engage my audiences with a mix of banter, quips and request taking. As is obvious from the length of this post (or my other posts on TDPRI), my username should have been "Loquacious Larry." Sometimes that doesn't work for the audience. If I get a clear indication that they're just wanting me to be a flesh-covered radio, I'll oblige, and shut up and sing. Those gigs aren't particularly fun for me, and generally speaking not as profitable.
But more often than not, I get audiences that get me. They relate to me like I'm a friend sitting by a campfire just playing tunes that people can dance to or sing along with. Last night was such a gig. Nuthin' fancy, just me, voice and guitar. For three hours. Non-stop. I took a bunch of requests, almost all of which I could accommodate. I did a fair amount of stage banter, engaging the audience, and the talked back to me (in a good way). And a lot of people were putting tips in my boot (my tip jar is the left boot from a 15-year-old pair, his name is "Phillip D. Boot"), several patrons multiple times. No one tip was more than $20, but when all was said and done, my tips were $68.50.
And the 50¢ was a fun story. One family with two small boys gave them each a quarter to come put in my tip boot. The younger of the two came and stood directly in front of me and held up the shiny quarter. He looked at it and smiled, not saying a word, just holding onto that quarter. Finally his dad said to him, "Put it in the boot," and the boy obeyed.
Then he made a request, but he was so young it was barely more than baby talk, and I had to reply, "I don't know what you're saying." His father again came to the rescue, saying, "He wants you to do 'the stars at night'..." I exclaimed, "Derp in the Heart of Texas? I can do that! Y'all help me sing it. There's a clapping part you can help me with."
So yeah, long story short (too late for that, right? Loquacious Larry strikes again), I broke a lot of rules of conventional gigging wisdom last night, and got away with it. And had a lot of fun doing it. And made $150 for the gig + $68.50 in tips. And I'm already booked by that venue to play again the first Friday of April. Sometimes it pays (literally) to break the rules.
This statement applies to a lot of areas in my life. A couple of more or less off topic examples spring immediately to mind.
The prevailing wisdom of today about marriage...well, many today don't see marriage as a worthwhile institution. But of those that do see some value in it, prevailing wisdom says that it should not be valued early in life. Get an education first, then get a job, then set some money aside for that future life together. Me? I got married when I was 19, my wife was 18. We conceived our firstborn six months later, and had three children before I was 25. Recipe for disaster, right? A lot of people said it wouldn't last. Well, in 48 days we'll be celebrating our 50th anniversary. I broke the "rule" of conventional wisdom and got away with it.
Then there's the fact that I'm a southpaw, but I play guitars of right hand orientation. In the mid 1960s, aside from Paul McCartney on bass (and somehow in my mind that didn't count) I'd never seen anyone flip a guitar over and/or re-string it. My Dad played, I had access to guitars of right-hand orientation, and I knew it was a right-handed world, so the word of the day was "adapt." Now, 56 years later, I still play, even gig and make money with it.
Which brings me to the real reason for this thread. I did a gig last night. I am a solo performer (not to be confused with a performer of solos), and I plug straight in, no pedals. I run vocals and acoustic/electric guitar through my Fishman Loudbox Mini Charge, electric guitar (tele) through a VOX Pathfinder 15R. I line out from the rear panel of both to, not a PA, but a powered speaker on a stand.
That's my rig. No pedals: whatever effects the amp I'm playing through has is all I use. And I have no music stand, no devices (iPad, cell phone, whatever) to prompt me for lyrics or chords. Or even a set list. I break that rule, too. Oh, if I've been working on a new addition to my performance repertoire, I will know in advance that I'll play it at some point during the gig. But my "sets" have no predetermined order of songs to play. I play what comes to mind in the moment, often because I get a sense from the audience of what's working for them, and just start playing in that vein. Oh, and I don't really do "sets," per se. I play a 3-hour gig non-stop. Thus far, my bladder is still able to hold out for that long, so I just keep playing, start to finish.
And I take requests. Now it happens every gig that I get "stumped," that there will be a request I don't know. In some cases, I've never even heard of the song. In most cases, I'll recognize a song title from the radio, but I don't know all the words or chords. In some cases, if I know a good bit of the words and can hear the tune in my head, I'll "fake" the chords and sing what I can. But otherwise, I'm stumped, and can't fulfill that specific request. But I usually offer another song that I do know by the same artist or band as substitute. That usually goes over well.
Oh, and the conventional wisdom of "shut up and sing"? I break that rule, too. I always try to engage my audiences with a mix of banter, quips and request taking. As is obvious from the length of this post (or my other posts on TDPRI), my username should have been "Loquacious Larry." Sometimes that doesn't work for the audience. If I get a clear indication that they're just wanting me to be a flesh-covered radio, I'll oblige, and shut up and sing. Those gigs aren't particularly fun for me, and generally speaking not as profitable.
But more often than not, I get audiences that get me. They relate to me like I'm a friend sitting by a campfire just playing tunes that people can dance to or sing along with. Last night was such a gig. Nuthin' fancy, just me, voice and guitar. For three hours. Non-stop. I took a bunch of requests, almost all of which I could accommodate. I did a fair amount of stage banter, engaging the audience, and the talked back to me (in a good way). And a lot of people were putting tips in my boot (my tip jar is the left boot from a 15-year-old pair, his name is "Phillip D. Boot"), several patrons multiple times. No one tip was more than $20, but when all was said and done, my tips were $68.50.
And the 50¢ was a fun story. One family with two small boys gave them each a quarter to come put in my tip boot. The younger of the two came and stood directly in front of me and held up the shiny quarter. He looked at it and smiled, not saying a word, just holding onto that quarter. Finally his dad said to him, "Put it in the boot," and the boy obeyed.
Then he made a request, but he was so young it was barely more than baby talk, and I had to reply, "I don't know what you're saying." His father again came to the rescue, saying, "He wants you to do 'the stars at night'..." I exclaimed, "Derp in the Heart of Texas? I can do that! Y'all help me sing it. There's a clapping part you can help me with."
So yeah, long story short (too late for that, right? Loquacious Larry strikes again), I broke a lot of rules of conventional gigging wisdom last night, and got away with it. And had a lot of fun doing it. And made $150 for the gig + $68.50 in tips. And I'm already booked by that venue to play again the first Friday of April. Sometimes it pays (literally) to break the rules.
