Hi everyone!

-Sorry about the delay in doing this show recap. This was an interesting show on several levels. We haven't really played regularly in the Utica/Rome area since 2005 or so-mostly at Albies.. A few hit & run shows here & there since then, but not as much as we'd like to. We ran into a few problems w/ a certain bar owner which probably hasn't helped either. It's been tough getting gigs in the Utica area-which is kinda ironic since our drummer Joe lives there. We finally landed a show at the 12 North Sports Bar. I've tried there before, but always wound up playing phone tag w/ no end. I let Doc call him-since he has more free time than I do-and he landed the show. Originally It was suppose to be on Friday night, but our light guy couldn't make it and, without him, our sound guy couldn't get his gear to the show so we had to re-schedule it for Saturday.-the same night a popular Pink Floyd tribute band was in town and Dashboard Nixon was down the road from us. I did give our promo flyers and stuff to a certain person almost 2 weeks in advance of the show to not only hit the bar, but the college as well. Unfortunately, that stuff was not brought to the bar until 2 days before the show (!). The college wasn't even hit (!!).  Nice....

Here's our set list for the evening...

SET 1

-Bad Girlfriend (Theory of a Deadman)
-Sober (Tool)
-Nothing Will Satisfy You
-Living Dead Girl (Rob Zombie)
-Where the River Flows (Collective Soul)
-Dead or Alive
-Deny
-Man in the Box (Alice in Chains)
-Living After Midnight (Judas Priest)
-Seek & Destroy (Metallica)
-Our Love is Wasted
-Slave to the Hourglass
-Talk Dirty to Me (Poison)
-Breaking the Chains (Dokken)
-Won't Be Home Tonight
-Stay
-For Whom The Bell Tolls (Metallica)
-T.N.T. (AC/DC)
-How You Remind me (Nickelback)
-N.I.B. (Black Sabbath)
-Bulls on Parade (Rage Against The Machine)
-Careless Whisper (Seether/Wham)

SET 2
-Mine, Mine, Mine
-You've Got Another Thing Comin (Judas Priest)
-I've Seen The Light Tonight
-Cold Gin (KISS)
-Too Late
-Paranoid (Black Sabbath)
-Hard Life
-Voodoo (Godsmack)
-Detroit Rock City (KISS)
-Dirty Deeds (AC/DC)
-Pain
-Sex Type Thing (Stone Temple Pilots)
-Ace of Spades (Motorhead)
-Love Me or Leave Me
-She Hates Me (Puddle of Mudd)
-Rock & Roll All Nite (KISS)
-Enter Sandman (Metallica)

-So we get there early to get everything set up-which was all done by around 6. Which meant then waiting for around 3+ hours before we could go on. I don't have a problem w/ getting to a gig early to make sure everything is set up properly, but sitting on your hands for 3 hours sucks. I can't speak for the other guys, but I know waiting that long doesn't help me w/ performing cause I start getting bored & even a little annoyed. A few other factors did contribute to this though.

-One, there was a benefit going on when we arrived. Not a problem-that was cool. Met some nice people from it and even got a few sign ups on the mailing list. Once it was over though, the bar was for the most part empty. There couldn't have been anymore than 10 people at the bar at any one time when we played. Thankfully the Willie Kramer band showed up for some moral support-thanks guys! I don't know if the flyers would've helped with the draw, but the lack of them definately didn't help....I always do the online promo thing-but even that's not as effective as it used to be cause people are so tired of bands bombarding them with stuff. I don't think we do it bad, but I know of some bands that will send show invites to people and then send reminders several times each day leading up to the show. IMHO-that's stupid-all you're doing w/ that is causing people to delete you.As it is-no one I contacted via online promo was there and anyone who said "maybe" on the show invite online didn't show up either.

-Two-I injured myself before we got onstage. Both my hands were hurting and by the end of the night my hands were not in good shape. They felt pretty sore. With my right hand, I'm not sure what happened but it was like the nail was digging into my right index finger. With my left hand, I put my hand in my pocket and something in there went right underneath the finger nail on my left finger-ouch! It was bleeding for a little bit too. I was also tired-it's too bad I couldn't go to sleep for a few hours before going on-it would've done me a world of good.

-We also found out that normally country bands play here-although they do get rock bands in. But the clientelle (sp) here seems to want the current popular stuff. While we have some of that in our setlist, we don't ave enough to fill a complete set of it-much less 2.

-So even though there wasn't much of a crowd, we still went up and did our show. And we still gave 100%. I know after all was said & done, some of the people who were still there to the end said they were surprised/impressed that we played like we did and that we went the distance instead of calling it early. Course, then came the re-loading of all the gear into the truck/trailer. People who think being in a rock band is all about partying & stuff don't see this part of it.

-After a quick sleep in Johnny's SUV, we reached the pratcice room to unload all the gear. It was pretty cold this night too-nut numbing cold. (how's that for a description?) :) We finished off and went  home-well, kinda. I got home, unloaded my gear-and then went right into work! Am I crazy? Could be... But even though I was beat, I would be more so later on and I figured I might as well put in my hours (just my luck I had to work a manditory 8 hours this day) so i coud basically sleep the rest of the day off-which is basicaly what I did. And people wonder why I'm drinking coffee now :)

-So that was our trip to Utica. 12 North is a good sized bar and I'd have no problem w/ us playing here again. We dropped the ball on the flyers though-that shouldn't have happened. It's done and over with though so... Thanks to Doug & Stephi @ 12 North for aving us here-and for Stephi for dancing on stage while we did "She Hates Me" (Puddle of Mudd). Thanks to Art & Johnny for doing a great job w/ sound & lights. And thanks to the people who were there in support. As I told Stephi-all this means is that, on return shows, we have nowhere to go but up.