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


saturn

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Played my 3rd gig in a row tonight. It was with the acoustic duo. There's a local chain of bar/restaurants called Ram's Head. We've played regularly at a few of the other locations, but tonight was the first time at this particular one right outside of Annapolis in a town called Crownsville. Interesting thing tonight, was the county fair grounds are just down the road and the annual Renaissance Festival is going on there. The place was packed with people coming from that in their full period attire. It was a great night and we met some really cool people and they loved our music. Got some tips and drinks bought for us.    

On the drive home my buddy and I talked on our phones the whole way. Reflecting how lucky we are to do this. With a very few exceptions, all the people we meet and connections we make are great. The management and staff where we play, the patrons at the venues and even other bands and musicians who play the same places. And we make a few Dollars doing it.  What more could we ask for?  🙂 

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On 10/10/2021 at 2:23 AM, saturn said:

Played my 3rd gig in a row tonight. It was with the acoustic duo. There's a local chain of bar/restaurants called Ram's Head. We've played regularly at a few of the other locations, but tonight was the first time at this particular one right outside of Annapolis in a town called Crownsville. Interesting thing tonight, was the county fair grounds are just down the road and the annual Renaissance Festival is going on there. The place was packed with people coming from that in their full period attire. It was a great night and we met some really cool people and they loved our music. Got some tips and drinks bought for us.    

On the drive home my buddy and I talked on our phones the whole way. Reflecting how lucky we are to do this. With a very few exceptions, all the people we meet and connections we make are great. The management and staff where we play, the patrons at the venues and even other bands and musicians who play the same places. And we make a few Dollars doing it.  What more could we ask for?  🙂 

But did you get laid?

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  • 2 weeks later...

Played another Ram's Head gig tonight. This time in Stevensville MD. We usually do acoustic there but they wanted a full band tonight because there was a wedding reception going on.

So we threw together an impromptu band with hardly any rehearsal. It didn't start out too well, as we were setting up the guy we had on drums realized that he forgot his cymbals. So he had to run home  to get them   ( back and forth across a congested Chesapeake Bay Bridge) .  We started acoustically without him until he arrived back halfway through the first set. 

After that things settled in to a great gig. We pretty much just winged it. But everyone was good enough players to make it work. Matter of fact, the other guitar player was probably the best guitar player I've ever personally played with. It was a real honor and pleasure to play with this guy. He is much better than me, but our styles meshed well and we both complimented each other. 

But. Then I get home and after bringing in my guitar and some other stuff, I decide to pour glass of Heavens Door whiskey and relax. As I'm walking to the couch, my elbow hits a doorway and the whiskey spills all over the kitchen floor. [angry]  Hopefully I cleaned it up good enough that my wife won't ask me about the sticky floor and smell of alcohol when she comes down in the morning.         

Edited by saturn
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  • 1 month later...

Another gig at the same place as last month with what was supposed to be the same band lineup. We had one rehearsal with only the bass player and drummer last week. We played last gig with barely no rehearsals and made it work, so we figured this was a breeze. Well the bass and guitar players (Ed and Elvin) are twin brothers and split time between Maryland and New York. They  ended up being stuck in NY today and Ed called a buddy of his to fill in on bass. 

So it was Steve and I, who play together all the time, a drummer we've played one gig with before and a bass player we've never met.  As expected, we killed it. [cool]  Other than a few glitches, mainly on endings, we played and sounded great. The crowd loved it. I think the bass player enjoyed playing with guys as loose as Steve and I. No pressure, just have fun and roll with it. These pick-up bands are great fun and just expand the circle of connections. 

Now I'll have a little agave spirit and hit the bed. 

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  • 2 months later...

I had to scroll down to Page 6 to find this sad old thread. 🙄 🙂

Anyway. Played at a cool location last night. It was a corporate party at The B&O Railroad Museum. A friend of the band had his jazz trio playing dinner music for the first half and then we stepped things up a bit for second half.

uTifBPA.jpg

  4YNcZEg.jpg

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6 hours ago, saturn said:

I had to scroll down to Page 6 to find this sad old thread. 🙄 🙂

Anyway. Played at a cool location last night. It was a corporate party at The B&O Railroad Museum. A friend of the band had his jazz trio playing dinner music for the first half and then we stepped things up a bit for second half.

uTifBPA.jpg

  4YNcZEg.jpg

 

nice !

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  • 4 weeks later...

Rather than start a new thread, figured I'd add this here even if it's not exactly on topic.

Coming up this weekend, it will be two years ago that we played a last gig before the big lockdown in the US. It was the Saturday before St Paddy's Day and we were the last act of several playing a pre St Paddy's party at a Ram's Head. We were booked to play same place on actual St Paddy's Day which I believe was a Tuesday, but it never happened.

So this Saturday we are booked to play another Ram's Head location for a similar deal as two years ago. We are one of about 5 bands playing throughout the day. Just feels a little ironic. 

Then we will pack the band up and just Steve and I are going to bolt over to another local bar to do an acoustic gig that night.  If WWIII doesn't happen, maybe we can look forward to a full year of gigs for the first time in two years. 

Looks like Delfest is actually going to happen this year too after 2 years off. The lineup isn't as good as past but who cares. 4 days of camping and partying and listening to some great live music. [cool]

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  • 4 weeks later...

Well since the Forums are back up, I'll bring this thread back again. [cool]

Played another gig with our "band". I put that in quotes because this isn't an official band. It's Steve and I and a rotating cast of dudes we bring in to play when needed. The guy we had booked on bass (Ed) realized again at the last minute he double booked himself, and he got this dude Art to fill in for the second time. So it was Steve (acoustic/vocals), Louis (drums), Art (bass) and me (electric guitar/vocals). But then at the last minute Ed's brother Elvin  (guitar)showed up and we squeezed him in  too.

Musically it was a great night. We had a blast, played great and the crowd loved us.  But the bar kinda stiffed us on the pay. We already expected to get less per person when we added Elvin into the equation, but then the bar gave us a check for even less than we expected. I think this is the last time we play there even though we have more gigs on the books.     

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14 hours ago, saturn said:

Well since the Forums are back up, I'll bring this thread back again. [cool]

Played another gig with our "band". I put that in quotes because this isn't an official band. It's Steve and I and a rotating cast of dudes we bring in to play when needed. The guy we had booked on bass (Ed) realized again at the last minute he double booked himself, and he got this dude Art to fill in for the second time. So it was Steve (acoustic/vocals), Louis (drums), Art (bass) and me (electric guitar/vocals). But then at the last minute Ed's brother Elvin  (guitar)showed up and we squeezed him in  too.

Musically it was a great night. We had a blast, played great and the crowd loved us.  But the bar kinda stiffed us on the pay. We already expected to get less per person when we added Elvin into the equation, but then the bar gave us a check for even less than we expected. I think this is the last time we play there even though we have more gigs on the books.     

Well, I'm glad y'all had a good time, and I'm glad the crowd had a good time, but too bad the bar didn't treat you fairly.

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On 4/4/2022 at 8:20 AM, Karloff said:

played a gig at a small bar in Chincoteague, Va. Saturday night. decent crowd, appreciative ... decent $$, free drinks & food for the band. lol

rkpogkprogk.jpg

Some day I'm gonna convince one of my bands to add Southbound into our set. [cool]

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2 hours ago, ghost_of_fl said:

Hey did anyone else ever book a gig where you had to promise not to play certain songs?  I ran into that once - apparently every single band that showed up to play at this one bar played "Come As You Are" by Nirvana so they banned it. 

In the 80s and early 90s I worked for a catering hall .We had house bands. I saw several times a wedding reception specified No Michael Jackson songs.

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2 minutes ago, ghost_of_fl said:

I can think of at least 3 reasons someone wouldn't want MJ performed at their wedding. 

This was before any accusations started coming out. Apparently some people thought his songs were way overplayed.  

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Never come across any banned songs stipulation (yet).

At one wedding we played, a family member, who clearly didn't think much of our material asked if we could play some Abba. 

They hired a Soul & Ska band comprising 7 hairy a$$ed blokes & they wanted 'Dancing Queen'. In more ways than one, he dint get it.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Our band opened the season tonight at this golf course with a bar/restaurant/event hall that we've been playing at for the past 2 or 3 years. It's a great place with  big dancing crowd and lots of regulars who come to see us. We've gotten a few private parties from playing here. Matter of fact we're playing this same place Sunday for a private party.  

We debuted a few new songs (for us) and they came out mostly good. a few glitches but that's normal. One of the things we did for the first time tonight was play Keep On Rockin Me, but in the key of A, then the bass player went into the Alright Now breakdown and I played a note-for-note solo, and came out of the solo into the last chorus rather than a verse. Came out flawless. [cool]   

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  • 1 month later...

Played in the jazz group today.  In the UK it is the Queen's Jubilee (70 years on the throne - I am nearly 68 so she's always been there) and there are events going on all over the place this weekend. 

We were booked over a year ago to play at the Stratfield Mortimer Jubilee Party; it's a village in Berkshire with a long main street suitable for a big procession.  And there was a big procession; it was a massive event, I hadn't realised how large.  We were under a canopy in a big field next to the beer tent (I didn't drink) and about 100yds away on the other side there was a main stage with a big band on.  The organisers didn't co-ordinate us, so they were playing while we were for a little while; and we started as the bagpipe marching band was finishing. 

I hate bloody bagpipes....but anyway....took the big jazz guitar and it sounded great.  This guitar does everything you ask, it is instantly responsive...so if you input like a klutz you sound like the greatest klutz ever.  It is a superb player but 25 1/2" scale with a very wide body, more of a handful than my Gibsons.   I played it safe mostly, a bit clumsy on 1st number (haven't played in public since 2019) but otherwise good. 

We had to finish by 3pm because - WOW! - there was an Avro Lancaster flypast!  That doesn't come cheap as there are only 2 or 3 of them left that are airworthy.....he came in beautifully banked and low - I saw crew in every turret - came round twice more then away to the next gig - the most incredible roar of the 4 Merlins (I presume) in top condition - everyone cheering.....that plane sounded and looked very healthy from where I stood.   Lovely, and truly a gig to remember!

Packed up, came home.  Chicken salad and beer.   Wish I had some more live work booked but I don't.

Argo-Mortimer050622.jpg

Edited by jdgm
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Played a duo gig tonight. We've played here before as a full band and they kinda gipped us on the pay. So we played tonight as a test to see how they'd pay 2 people rather than 4. Turns out we got paid the same, so if we play there in future we'll just do the duo rather than bring in a drummer and bass.

Anyway. Crowd wasn't huge, but people who were there liked us so that was cool. Plus we got to talking to a dude at the end of the night who also plays sax in a very popular local band that's been around since the 80s. We exchanged info and he will probably sit in with us at a gig we have scheduled later in the summer at a dock bar on the Eastern Shore. Funny how these connections work out.

Anyway. Gonna have a little whiskey and go to bed.       

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  • 2 weeks later...

Played the Mountain Branch Golf Course again tonight. We play one Thursday a month there from May through October. Beautiful place to play.  Our regular bass player is out tonight and tomorrow, so we had a friend fill in. He's played with us before and is familiar with most of our material. He'll be with us tomorrow night too, as we play Music on Main Street outdoor show. 

Great crowd tonight with many familiar faces. I thought we played exceptionally well tonight even without our regular bass player.  We had a few snaffu's but we always do. I even started the wrong song one time, and was wondering why everyone was looking at me funny.  Oh well. So we played Lay Down Sally rather than Tulsa Time.  [cool]    

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

We played a July 4th celebration in Frederick Md tonight. There were thousands of people and several stages. We were the last band on the Main stage. The band before us was a Beach Boys tribute band. There were beer gardens, food trucks and after we finished, a fireworks display. 

A sound company ran all our sound and did a great job. Because of all the different bands and because time was tight, everyone used a back-line. So I got to play through a Fender Hotrod Deluxe, which I loved. I joked with the sound guy at the end that I was gonna take that amp with me. 

Considering the beautiful weather, awesome crowd, great sound and the way that we all played tonight, this was one of our best gigs  yet.     

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