The "Just got in from a gig" thread.....

[saturn]

Had an acoustic gig tonight. Went very well considering we never rehearse. This one was a 4 hour gig, so we had to reach in to  our bag of tricks to fill up the time. We mostly winged it and did a lot of solo/jams to eat up time. 

['Scales]

On 3/20/2021 at 4:53 PM, saturn said:

Had an acoustic gig tonight. Went very well considering we never rehearse. This one was a 4 hour gig, so we had to reach in to  our bag of tricks to fill up the time. We mostly winged it and did a lot of solo/jams to eat up time. 

Wow a 4hr show - hey that's great to hear!! (and thank goodness - I was beginning to worry I was the only one still playing out)

let there be more!...soon!

[saturn]

22 hours ago, 'Scales said:

Wow a 4hr show - hey that's great to hear!! (and thank goodness - I was beginning to worry I was the only one still playing out)

let there be more!...soon!

Yeah. Things are starting to pick up. I have another acoustic coming up this Saturday night and many more booked though the summer. Plus the full band already has about 20 booked between April and November. Looking forward to a better summer than last, 

[Rabs]

9 minutes ago, saturn said:

Yeah. Things are starting to pick up. I have another acoustic coming up this Saturday night and many more booked though the summer. Plus the full band already has about 20 booked between April and November. Looking forward to a better summer than last, 

Nice... And as said, very good to hear. Live music has been devastated this last year... You go out there and represent for all of us 

['Scales]

4 hours ago, saturn said:

Yeah. Things are starting to pick up. I have another acoustic coming up this Saturday night and many more booked though the summer. Plus the full band already has about 20 booked between April and November. Looking forward to a better summer than last, 

Good stuff mate! we've had 2 gigs in 3 weeks which is the same as in about the previous 18 months. Crowd can now walk around and stand about with beers as opposed to having to be seated - pretty soon they'll be able to dance too if Covid keeps behaving itself. Wishing you a rocking northern summer!

[Notes_Norton]

What is a gig?

[saturn]

On 3/25/2021 at 10:26 AM, Notes_Norton said:

What is a gig?

Dude. You, more than about anyone else here should have some stuff booked. Aren't you in Florida?  I can't imagine you have no jobs lined up?

 

[Notes_Norton]

9 hours ago, saturn said:

Dude. You, more than about anyone else here should have some stuff booked. Aren't you in Florida?  I can't imagine you have no jobs lined up?

 

When I was in my 30s, I targeted the +55-year-old crowd, yacht clubs, country clubs, condominiums, retirement developments and the like. I've been booked steadily and I can make in 3 hours, 3 days a week what I used to make 6 nights a week in a lounge (and thanks to karaoke, open mic  nights, and DJs, not many 6 night gigs are left.

The seniors have been very good to me for many years. But since they are in 'the high risk group' and don't want to die, I haven't had a gig since March 17, 2020. The cancellations came flying in, one after another.

When they canceled, I asked each one of them if they wanted their deposit back, of if I should hold it for a future gig. All but one asked me to hold the deposit, and she is moving back up north to be near her children.

The high risk group simply holed up in their homes, the Canadians (a huge part of our market audience) have stayed "up north", and the entire tourist business is suffering (other than the crazy spring break people who didn't learn the lesson from Sturgis last year).

Summers are usually slow in the +55 market, and the vaccine roll out is finally starting, so things are looking up.

The gigs for the 2021/2022 winter season are starting to come in. Some from the people who have deposits with me, and some from those who don't. It looks like there is going to be light at the end of the tunnel.

Meanwhile, I'm making more aftermarket style e-disks and fake e-disks for Band-in-a_Box for some cash flow.

The mortgage is paid off, and I have zero debt, so I'm doing much better than a lot of others in the hospitality business. I know of waitresses and bartenders who can't pay their rent.

I can't complain. Things will get better and perhaps not having a gig for over a year has kept me from getting the dreaded plague.

Insights and incites by Notes ♫

[sparquelito]

Not a gig exactly, but I did play and sing, so;

My wife and I drove down on Monday morning to UCLA (the Ugliest Corner of Lower Alabama) to attend a memorial service. 
Her younger sister had passed away late last week, and was cremated over the weekend. 
Five hours of driving south-bound. 
Lots of emotional conversation on the way down, regarding the hard life and tragic demise of Beth's younger sister. 

The whole family converged upon Dothan, Alabama and we all had dinner together Monday evening. 
The patriarch of the family is 92 now, and he's having a hard time getting around. 
Hard especially now for old Jim, after having lost a grown daughter now,  a grown son six months ago, and another daughter three years before that. You're not supposed to out-live your kids. 

At 2:30 in the morning, the old fellow's wife rang me up, and needed assistance.
Jim had stumbled out of bed and frammed his arm against the door frame. 
Nothing broken, but his arm was swollen, purple, and very much in pain. 
I drove Jim up to the local ER at 3:00 am, and we spent a few hours there getting evaluated and treated for a nasty blood-swollen hematoma.  His Rx of blood-thinners was part of the problem apparently, but nothing  could be done about that, but to wrap it up, keep him comfortable, and get him ready for his daughter's memorial service hours later. 

The service went fine, at the Catholic Church. 
It was a proper Catholic Funeral Mass, with all the associated rituals, prayers, songs, and the communion. 
The music was structured very nicely by the church's musical director and one of their singers, but (at the request of the deceased's daughter), they let me step up to the lectern and mic near the end of the communion and sing a song. 

I got up with my copy of a Gibson J-160E, and played and sang Amazing Grace. 
It went very well. 
A lot of the attendees wept openly and I got a little choked up myself, but I soldiered on thru it nicely. 

I think people were weeping because it was a beautiful song, and they knew how much the dearly departed had struggled with addictions for many years, and now she was in the arms of The Savior. 

Either that, or they were crying because they wished that I would quit singing and go sit down. 
One or the other I reckon. 

Afterwards, Beth and I drove straight north to get our 3 doggies out of the kennel, and back home where we all belong.  Five hard hours of driving north-bound, making best speed. 

I unloaded the wife and the dogs and the overnight bag and guitar case, and put everything away. 
Stayed busy until bed-time, getting things organized and ready for the next day. 
I was so tired that after a hot bath, I locked up the house, fell into bed at 09:00 pm, and slept hard until 4:30 this morning. 

I am wiped out now, and so is Beth, obviously. 

We don't want to do that again any time soon. 
Please, Lord. 

😔

[kidblast]

Thx for sharing that Sparky.  Sounds like a long few days for sure.  I can relate about offering up a song in dedication.  that's a tuff act right there.

My wife lost her younger brother in 2015 to complications for a recurrence of cancer.  he was 45, and one of my best friends.

 mom inlaw asked me to do a song during the mass,  sure no problem... 

 As  I settled into the first verse I realized immediately eye contact with anyone was not gonna work.  I fixed my gaze on the choir loft, and pounded thru the number. 

It's not easy to perform in a moment of sadness like that, but you must know, it's something none of the family gathered there will forget.

 

Edited March 31, 2021 by kidblast

[Notes_Norton]

We call the Florida Panhandle "Lower Alabama" 🙂

[Marky Forrest]

Good on you for playing and singing that beautiful song. So sorry for all the losses you and your family have suffered.

[saturn]

Had our first full band gig tonight since October. We did very well, especially considering we only had 2  quick rehearsals  beforehand.  Amazing how quick you can forget how to play a song. 

Here's our setlist that we mostly stuck to.

Edit:

Oh well.  I guess I forgot how to post images from Imgur 

Edited April 24, 2021 by saturn

[saturn]

Played a bar gig with the full band tonight. Actually there was a snafu, and I was double booked with the band and my acoustic partner. My buddy Stave can play acoustic solo, although he prefers when I'm there to do fills and leads solos. Plus we have a blast together.  But I had to chose the full band tonight because they have no one to fill in if I'm not there. 

So, I played with the band and it was a decent night. We've certainly had better,  and also had worse. We had several guests sit in with us. Two guitar plyers and a female singer who's specialty is singing Janice Joplin. That was fun, especially jamming with another guitar player. Crowd was good, but like I said we've certainly had bigger and more lively crowds before. 

I kinda wish I had done acoustic gig with my buddy . He called me as I was driving home and said there was a huge biker group at the place and he had a lot of fun. But it would have been more fun with his buddy to share.  He saw a lot of biker girl t!tties.    😎     

['Scales]

 great to here some of you guys are getting back into it!

 

Just took in a set of a local originals band on a Sunday afternoon here - excellent sound.

About time my band lined up another gig - we'll have a chat at rehearsals next week and hopefully cook something up with a couple of other local acts. 

[rct]

Had a great night last night.  Decent size crowd, but a great crowd.  Paid attention, participated, danced, laughed, clapped, golf clapped, all of it.  We were pretty good, always sing and play better in front of people instead of the back of the studio.  Took out the two pandemic Teles that have been rehearsed a lot so they know what to do, but hadn't been out to a gig.  It was a good night.

rct

[saturn]

Played my  3rd gig in 3 days tonight. It was a private party held at a restaurant in Baltimore. 

It was a great night. Got paid well, got to eat and drink for free and had an enthusiastic crowd that danced and sang along all night.  

Played acoustic gig last night and used the new Takamine for the first time. I was amazed at how nice it sounded through the PA. Much better than my friends Martin IMO. Maybe it was the just player?   

I took a good, IMO, photo of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge from where we played

 

 

 

[rct]

Wow we had a whopper tonight.  On the river, beautiful set up:

Great crowd, packed.  Boats pulling up all night.  They liked us, they really did!  Set list:

Guitars:

Pedalboard of Doom:

Sang good, played well, a good time was had by all.

rct

['Scales]

Good on ya Ron - bet that felt like a blast!

Off R Rockers or one of you side projects?

good stuff.

[rct]

3 hours ago, 'Scales said:

Good on ya Ron - bet that felt like a blast!

Off R Rockers or one of you side projects?

good stuff.

It was, it has been a good summer.  Off R Rockers is the worst name in band history, I have detested it since the day we implemented it.   And this year we changed it to Hidden Treasure, the new worst name in band history.  Same three of us, different name.  But it is fine, just not my preference for band name.  Chix like it.

We had a sorta more "progressive" kind of thing going, a ton of Floyd and some ELP and some Yes and a bunch of Alan Parsons.  It was a hoot.  Had two whole gigs and keys guy, really important in such a band, got the covid.  That went down in flames quickly.

The lady singer two guitar band has rehearsed only a few times last two months, two of the founders are far from here and have been having difficulties with their jobs and stuff.  So that one hasn't even gigged yet this year.  I don't know how much longer the others will keep it up.

rct

[saturn]

Great looking gig Ron.  So you guys go with 4 10-song set? Interesting. We usually do 3 sets of about 13 songs. You have some great song choices.

We played a gig on Saturday. Private party on Kent Island. Host was a very wealthy dermatologist with a beautiful home on the Chesapeake Bay. Awesome night. We played it as an acoustic trio with Steve and I on guitar and Quinny on bass/keys. They loved us and everyone had a blast. There was even a Belly Dancer which we weren't expecting. We had to cut our second set short and figure out how to play her music through our PA. Steve was happy to work it out.  

As we stood enjoying a beer and watching the dancer, I commented how lucky we are. We get paid to hang with our good friends, play fun music, have a few drinks and watch beautiful women.  Guy even paid us almost twice what we had agreed on.

 

 

 

[rct]

Yeah we are old, 4 sets, 45 on 15 off.  Used to be 9 or 10 - 2am but them days gone quite a while now, I don't think we have been in a bar past 1am in a very long time.

We go and have fun and i get to use my stuff and sing some songs and play the guitar and do it like we rehearsed it and then they hand me money.  Every time is still like the first time in 1975.  Fun!

But you got a belly dancer.  Jelly.

rct

[fortyearspickn]

Not intending to divert,  but wtf is the concept behind the  Emoji  posted above??     I can understand  a Heart - you love it.  Trophy - you Agree big time.  But many here seem confused by the other two.   Confused?  Sad?  Disagree?  Angry?     RCT's comment in no way should have confused, saddened or angered anyone.   I guess the latter two are just  negative votes.  But as near as I can tell - they still get added to your score as a +.  So whoever uses them thinking they are a 'down vote'  -   they be trippin'.

I know ...   "First World Problem". 

[Whitefang]

Well, FORTY;

If referring to the post just above your post above this one, I just see one "sad" emoticon.  Plus, I don't think any use of the emoticons indicate any kind of "vote".    Just a reaction to the particular post. 

And, in other forums I'm in that use a similar emoticon system in the lower right hand corner, any reactions by emoticons also include the names of the forum members that  posted them. 

Whitefang

[rct]

Yeah, Confused Boy and Sad Boy have been following me around.  I can understand their sadness and confusion.  Anybody that comes here to be a snarky, hip, social media **** is easily saddened and confused by the real deal like me.  I like giving them a reason to exist and an outlet for their weak, teenage vitriol.  They obviously don't have the bawls to just tell the entire room in broad daylight that they don't like me.

Enjoy yourself Confused Boy and Sad Boy.  Maybe someday you'll be like me.  lolz

rct

**** above is twit, spelled with an 'a' instead of an 'i'.  Used like the Limes use it.  You know.

Edited August 9, 2021 by rct