Hey, What's happening?

Last night, I was playing a hot sidewalk show downtown with Chris on Bass & Harmonies.  It was hot, but not quite in the hell range.  Just hot enough that we were pretty much saturated with sweat.  Sure I know you really dig that description.  2 sweaty guys.  Anyway.

The set was going well.  We were playing all manner of songs from both CDs as well as a couple new tracks.  Chris and I even went so far as to switched roles so he could belt out a couple of his great tunes.  As we were playing I noticed a group of what appeared to be musicians (funny that) outside The Blue Grotto watching us.  Actually one of them was recording us on his video phone... not sure what that's all about but anyway this big, black cube van drives up and parks near the tent where we're performing.  The driver gets out, sets the alarm, and together with the band mates they head into The Blue Grotto.  Nothing too strange about that.

A few minutes later we start into Sweet Misery and we can hear the GMC's alarm system tweeting warnings every so often, seemingly in relation to Chris's bass performance.  It started off a little distracting but we maintained our composure save the odd chuckle.  As the song progressed, the van seemed to want a bigger role in the show.  A whole series of chirps and tweets were suddenly followed by the full-on wail of a siren.  By this time a number of passers-by had stopped to hear the song and watch us as we try to keep from breaking out in laughter.  Sticking to the mantra of "The Show Must Go On", we persevered and shortly the wailing siren cut out, only to return here and there with more chirps and whistles and the odd wail.  We wrap up the song to great applause and I was quite thrilled to have the opportunity to introduce our newest band member.

The constellations were in some sort of alignment on this. The irony of it all, is that the CD and Radio versions of Sweet Misery have Ambulance sirens at the beginning and near the end of the song.  If the van (built by the recovering debt-aholic executives of GM), had a bit of a sense of timing it would have been truly amazing, but as it works out the timing was a little awkward; not quite in sync with the rest of the band.  It was definitely one of the more unusual moments I've had while performing live.

Oh... and yeah.  We fired the GMC shortly after that.  Chris took to the mic to perform one of his tracks while I tracked down the driver (they were doing their sound check in The Blue Grotto) who kindly came out to disable the alarm.

That's my story... what's yours?

Mickael Maddison