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First, to those of
you emailing asking what's been happening considering there have been
no postings recently your wait has ended so brace yourselves, it
doesn't get better than this.
To begin, back
in August we returned to the stage at the Seaside Cafe and as usual it
wasn't without incident. It never fails that when we play Seaside
something is bound to happen so why should this last gig be any
different. From sheer crowd bedlam the first time we played there to
almost a parking lot brawl the last go around I thought it couldn't get
worse but no, my and every musicians fears were realized in August.
In most cases
the last thing any band or performer wants to have to deal with is
equipment issues in the middle of a performance be it our own or the
venues. Normally our biggest concern has been stage monitor sound or
sometimes a lack thereof but this time around there were no worries
there. What we were
faced with this time was strictly related to a full blown issue with
the connection from Andy's keyboard rig to the sound board. So here we
are with a club full of people and not only do we have an issue with
sound Andy is also trying to deal with rectifying the problem with the
sound man who was adamant about the fact that it was not his issue but
Andy's. Yes, sometimes there are problems that pop up from time to time
between performers and sound men but this was the first time where we
were receiving zero cooperation from the sound man and to make matters
even worse not only was he arguing with Andy about how it wasn't a
problem from his equipment it was while we were on stage in the middle
of playing!!
Throughout the
many years we've been together Andy has rarely had equipment issues and
when he has he was able to figure out and solve the problem within
minutes. Considering the fact that his rig was working perfectly prior
to and following the Seaside gig it certainly stands to reason that
Andy was right in that his gear was working correctly and that the
sound man at Seaside needs an education in properly running his equipment and more importantly realizing that neither himself nor his gear are perfect.
While the rest
of the Seaside staff were great to deal with and friendly as could be
they may want to reconsider who handles sound for for them. A big
thanks to June from Seaside for helping us get that show set but for us
to return it would have to be under much different circumstances. We've
been doing this long enough to know what the people who come to see us
expect and we regret you were subjected to anything less regardless of
it being in or out of our control.
An additional thanks to those in attendance and our apologies for the lack of sound you have come to know us
for.
Moving on....
We headed into September with great anticipation for performing as part of the Utica Music
& Arts Festival and as usual whenever we're road-tripping the
weather refuses to cooperate and this trip was no different. I thought
the weather was bad last year on the way to Boston but the Utica trip
beat it hands down. There were sheets of water dropping down for at
least 80% of the way there and in a van loaded up with gear it made the
drive just that much more interesting.
Prior to
leaving I had mapped out the drive and Mapquest had the trip from
Andy's to our hotel completed in 3 hours and 40 minutes. With the
weather and the typical bathroom stops it took us almost 5 hours to get
there and then the real fun began. After checking in I had to head on
over to another hotel that was hosting the base of operations for the
festival to check the band in. With my "trusty" Mapquest directions in
hand I hopped into the van and spent almost an hour trying to find the
hotel. Well, as I expected Mapquest had it all wrong and the other
hotel was literally 5 minutes away from ours yet Mapquest had it on the
freaking other side of town.
I get us
checked in and head on back only to realize we have to be at the club
to unload and get set-up in less than 90 minutes. So....... with no
time to consume a real meal I hit up the Wendy's across the street from
the hotel and literally had enough time to inhale my food, get changed
and head on over to the club.
On the way
over to the club I had a bad feeling and when my gut speaks it's
usually dead-on and of course once again it was right. As I pull up to
the club I see Andy & John standing outside under the awning with a
look of disgust on their faces. As I hopped out and passed by the front
door I realized why their looks were justified. The first band of the
night was already on and playing yet there wasn't another soul in the
club but the bouncer and the sound man. The place was empty!!!
Figuring it
was New York and the bars really don't get busy until the later hours I
wasn't all that concerned and considering it was only 7:45pm I was
thinking that by the time we were scheduled to go on there would be
some people starting to filter in and it would at least make unloading
& setting up worthwhile. Um...no, because by the time the first
band finished and began packing up there still wasn't a crowd to speak
of other than ourselves and some patrons on the other side of the bar
that was divided from the area where the bands play. We knew the
weather was already working against us but what we weren't aware of was
the fact that the Black Crowes were playing 3 blocks away!! After a
few cocktails and some discussion we decided that it was pointless to
unload and play to an empty room where it would take us longer to
set-up than our set length was scheduled for anyway. After speaking
with the club reps who were understanding enough of our plight we
decided to head out and returned to the hotel.
About 11:00pm
or so Joe, Andy and John decided to drive back into town to see if
things had picked up and sure enough about an hour later there's a
banging on my door. The 3 of them burst through the doorway to tell me
that they found one of the festival organizers who after hearing what
happened was going to try and line up something for us so the trip
wasn't a total loss. What they also mentioned was that even at that
late of an hour the club we were scheduled was to play was still empty
BUT a block away and around the corner the festival was in full swing.
Even with a mild rain the streets were packed with people and the bars
were full. Of course out of all the places we could have played we were
booked into the only venue not included in the main area of the
festival!!
At 1:20am I got a call that the back-up gig fell through so off to sleep I went.
In all the
years we've been doing this collectively and separately none of us had
ever canceled a gig but there we were in Utica.
Ya just can't make this shit up!!!
All in all it was an 800 mile round trip drive, hundreds of dollars lost, and time
none of
us will ever get back again
for absolutely nothing. Ah the life....
So we roll
into October and on the 2nd we once again returned to the stage at the
world famous Toads Place in New Haven Connecticut. It's been more than
5 years since we played Toads and as usual it was an event all unto
itself. For those of you unfamiliar
with Toads Place it stands along side other clubs like The Whiskey or
the Troubador in Los Angeles and without question is one of the better
venues on the entire East Coast. (For those of you old enough to
remember, the Rolling Stones began their Steel Wheels tour at Toads
Place)
As luck would
have it we were booked on a Friday night and while that in and of
itself is a good thing the problem I personally faced was dealing with
the notorious traffic that those of us in the area are all to used to;
the dreaded North bound traffic on Interstate 95. I was a full 44
exits away and knew that unless there was divine intervention I was
scheduled to get to the club much later than everyone else which meant
spending the first hour I was there getting caught up with setting up
and then rushing through sound check. As predicted what would normally
be a 45 minute drive turned into an hour and a half trek that included
the typical stop and go the whole way. Thankfully my gear was already
inside, out of their cases and on the stage when I arrived so that made
life much easier as all I had to do at that point was set-up.
Following
setting up and sound checking the door opened promptly at 8:00pm and
much to our surprise by the time we hit the stage at 9:00pm there were
already over 200 people in the place and more streaming in as we were
playing. Now, our usual set length runs anywhere between 60 to 90
minutes yet because it had been so long since we've played there we
were relegated to a paltry 30 minutes due to our "unknown" status and
by the time we wrapped up our set the crowd had grown to close to 400
people. What happened at the end of our 30 minutes surprised us more
than anything else has recently because as we finished playing the
cries of "encore" rang throughout the club as if we were the headliners
and everyone had known us for years!! All in all another successful
evening in the books.
About a week
and a half ago I got a call from my boy Keith who asked if we would be
willing to play his clubs 3rd anniversary party because the band they
had booked backed out and they were in a bind for entertainment. Of
course our answer was a resounding yes because Keith has been a part of
our immediate "family" since the beginning and we're not usually a band
that will turn down a gig especially one where a friend is in need. As
the days wore on the weather looked like it would be anything but
cooperative but thankfully the rain held off and the temperature stayed
at a somewhat reasonable 55 degrees throughout which turned out to be a
huge plus for us as we were playing outside!! As we arrived at the
clubhouse tents were in process of being erected and food was only
minutes away from being ready so all was a go and this gig turned out
to be one of the more fun ones to play as everyone from every club in attendance
was about as friendly as could be and made the day just that much
easier. Our heartfelt thanks to the Wolfpack M.C. especially Tree,
Pete, Fern and of course Keith for having us and making us feel welcome
and we certainly look forward to doing it again.
A special thanks to Brian & Nick from the RackNRoll Cafe' for headin' up and handling sound for us like no one else can.
Speaking of he RackNRoll Cafe'....
We're happy to
announce that we will be returning to the stage at the "Rack" Wednesday
night November 25th, Thanksgiving Eve. Those of you who know that the
night before Thanksgiving is the biggest party night of the year also
know we'll be pulling out all the stops as we already have a few
surprises in store for that night so make sure you are in attendance as
this will be our last show of 2009. We will keep you informed as we
have info for this night but make sure you are there or you will miss
one hell of a party!!
Later this evening I will be posting the pictures from the Seaside and Toads show so check back when you can.
2:57 PM
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