Much better than the first show in several respects. Everybody seemed to be more confident and comfortable, since we knew the venue and had one show together under our belts. Bill had been at a Weezer performance earlier that day, and was clearly having some vocal trouble from the very beginning. Andy made some changes to the light set-up that made everybody more visible and allowed us to see the audience better. Good monitor mix. Andy and I were still having trouble hearing each other most of the time (because we're on opposite sides of the stage), but we could hear well enough to function.
The crowd stuck with us virtually all night, and was very enthusiastic at times. Volume was apparently not a problem, as the venue wants us back; it's just a matter of scheduling.
We still have a tendency to make some peculiar mistakes that are probably just lapses in concentration. These occur more frequently toward the end of the night, and I'm sure they are just the result of everybody getting tired. There was a notable timing problem (due to a long second set) that caused us to play the third and fourth sets back to back without a break, so a little wear around the edges is to be expected under that circumstance.
Keith really had the audience eating out of his hands with his soloing in spots. Most crowds appreciate a good guitar solo, but this was the next step up from that, where several audiences members were utterly focused on what he was playing. And Bill seemed more comfortable as a front man in spite of the issues with his voice.
Andy and I both did some audience time with our wireless rigs, but I think we're going to have to plan those things out better to make it effective. I'm sure it seemed random and pointless to the audience.
All in all, a good show, though I think we can still be better.
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Sunday, September 23, 2012
JW - 9/23/2012 - Wig Day
Last practice before our second show, and everybody was there. It's not unusual for Bill to be the last to show up for practice, but it certainly is unusual for him to show up wearing a wig and a second pair of glasses (without lenses), and having shaved his beard off. Obviously the rest of us asked questions, but didn't get solid answers. As much as we know is that Bill hadn't slept for 36+ hours and told us he wasn't really sure what he'd done last night. Did he lose a bet? Was it a bet? Did he want to see what we'd say, if anything? Was it some acting class exercise about lowering inhibitions pertaining to one's appearance. We may never know.
We buzzed through the full list of material we're planning to play next weekend, and it went smoothly for the most part. Vocals should be much improved since last time, though still not as smooth as I'd like to see on "Take It Easy" yet. Admittedly, that's the most vocally challenging song we've got. There were a few speed bumps, but it was more lapses of concentration than that somebody didn't know what they were doing. All agreed that if the show goes as well as practice did, we'll be fine.
That said, one of my old bands had a superstition that if the last practice before a show went well, the show would go poorly, and if the last practice before a show went badly, the show would go well. Let's hope that doesn't hold true in this case.
I'm more worried about whether or not we can keep the volume down than whether or not we can play well because I think the volume issue will be more of a determining factor regarding future bookings.
I'm looking forward to see where we go after this show. Obviously, "The Boys Are Back in Town" and "Lights" will be on the agenda for future practices, but which other songs will we be picking up? I know we'd discussed some simpler, danceable songs. And which of the sidelined songs will we bring back from the vaults for next time?
We buzzed through the full list of material we're planning to play next weekend, and it went smoothly for the most part. Vocals should be much improved since last time, though still not as smooth as I'd like to see on "Take It Easy" yet. Admittedly, that's the most vocally challenging song we've got. There were a few speed bumps, but it was more lapses of concentration than that somebody didn't know what they were doing. All agreed that if the show goes as well as practice did, we'll be fine.
That said, one of my old bands had a superstition that if the last practice before a show went well, the show would go poorly, and if the last practice before a show went badly, the show would go well. Let's hope that doesn't hold true in this case.
I'm more worried about whether or not we can keep the volume down than whether or not we can play well because I think the volume issue will be more of a determining factor regarding future bookings.
I'm looking forward to see where we go after this show. Obviously, "The Boys Are Back in Town" and "Lights" will be on the agenda for future practices, but which other songs will we be picking up? I know we'd discussed some simpler, danceable songs. And which of the sidelined songs will we bring back from the vaults for next time?
Saturday, September 15, 2012
JW - 9/13/2012
Third of three Thursday practices. Say that ten times fast.
Disjointed sort of session, with Andy showing up late due to an unavoidable problem. In spite of all the focus on it, "The Boys Are Back in Town" just isn't going to be good enough in time for the show. So be it; it'll be ready for the next one.
Because Andy was late, we spent a little time on vocal issues, and yes, I forgot some of the parts again, though I found them again quickly enough. I'm going to have to suggest that we rotate some of the vocal-heavy songs through more often so these stick. For the most part, the group vocals are improving, but I'd like to sharpen them more.
We also worked on bringing the volume down, which is going to be important for the upcoming show. Shouldn't be a big thing, but it seems to be with us. It's a problem with a lot of bands, actually.
We brought "Lights" back for a quick run at the end of practice, though we know we're not going to play it for this show. Sounded pretty good for a quick run-through, though.
Bill, Dale, and I were talking before practice about adding new songs after the next show. Consensus was that we'll add a few quick and easy songs to build the list a bit before taking on a project song like "Boys" again. I'm not crazy about some of the songs under discussion, but I know they'll go over and they're easy, so it makes sense to go with 'em. I'll get over it if they succeed with audiences.
Disjointed sort of session, with Andy showing up late due to an unavoidable problem. In spite of all the focus on it, "The Boys Are Back in Town" just isn't going to be good enough in time for the show. So be it; it'll be ready for the next one.
Because Andy was late, we spent a little time on vocal issues, and yes, I forgot some of the parts again, though I found them again quickly enough. I'm going to have to suggest that we rotate some of the vocal-heavy songs through more often so these stick. For the most part, the group vocals are improving, but I'd like to sharpen them more.
We also worked on bringing the volume down, which is going to be important for the upcoming show. Shouldn't be a big thing, but it seems to be with us. It's a problem with a lot of bands, actually.
We brought "Lights" back for a quick run at the end of practice, though we know we're not going to play it for this show. Sounded pretty good for a quick run-through, though.
Bill, Dale, and I were talking before practice about adding new songs after the next show. Consensus was that we'll add a few quick and easy songs to build the list a bit before taking on a project song like "Boys" again. I'm not crazy about some of the songs under discussion, but I know they'll go over and they're easy, so it makes sense to go with 'em. I'll get over it if they succeed with audiences.
Saturday, September 08, 2012
JW - 9/6/2012
Another Thursday night practice leading up to our second show, with everybody on board.
We were very loud, and initially, not very good. We did get better later, though. "The Boys Are Back in Town" continues to get better, but still isn't quite up to standard. This caused some debate among us as to whether or not we should plan on including it in the set list with two practices left before the next show. We agreed that we still had time before a final decision was necessary. The discussion underlined some of the differences in personal approach to performing. Dale is the one most reluctant to put an iffy song in front of an audience. Andy and Bill seemed most confident on the other side of the equation, and Keith didn't say much. I'm leaning toward agreement with Andy and Bill, having caught the fearless bug while playing with Tom Hampton.
No sign of "Lights", so I think we can count that one out.
Dale is still playing with the set list, which is fine with me. We have more than enough comfortable material; it's just a matter of changing it up enough to keep the interest of audience members who have seen us before.
I definitely wasn't playing well this time. I'd had a hard time getting to practice (two separate traffic jam) and it threw me off initially. I've got to try to be more focused next time.
We were very loud, and initially, not very good. We did get better later, though. "The Boys Are Back in Town" continues to get better, but still isn't quite up to standard. This caused some debate among us as to whether or not we should plan on including it in the set list with two practices left before the next show. We agreed that we still had time before a final decision was necessary. The discussion underlined some of the differences in personal approach to performing. Dale is the one most reluctant to put an iffy song in front of an audience. Andy and Bill seemed most confident on the other side of the equation, and Keith didn't say much. I'm leaning toward agreement with Andy and Bill, having caught the fearless bug while playing with Tom Hampton.
No sign of "Lights", so I think we can count that one out.
Dale is still playing with the set list, which is fine with me. We have more than enough comfortable material; it's just a matter of changing it up enough to keep the interest of audience members who have seen us before.
I definitely wasn't playing well this time. I'd had a hard time getting to practice (two separate traffic jam) and it threw me off initially. I've got to try to be more focused next time.
Monday, September 03, 2012
Frowny
I've recently heard that a good friend of mine has passed away unexpectedly. This is so hard on so many levels.
We knew each other going back to our junior year of high school. We were both part of a relatively large circle of friends and gravitated to each other for whatever reason, eventually spending a fair amount of time together. We weren't best friends, but I'd say we were close. For a short time we dated a pair of girls who were also close friends, so we had quite the happy foursome there for a while. He also ran lights for my first band for several months. After he stopped working for the band, we each had our own lives going and only occasionally spent time together in person, but we at least stayed in touch. Eventually, he ran into some serious health issues due to a work accident and couldn't leave the house much, so a couple of times a year, I would make a point of visiting him and spending at least a couple of hours just hanging out and talking.
His name was Todd, but almost everyone called him Frowny, an abbreviated version of his last name. It was ironic in that he was one of the most cheerful people I knew. He was very well liked in our circle, primarily because he was one of the most fundamentally kind people we knew. Even when he was angry with someone, revenge wouldn't have been his style; he'd just keep his distance from that person in the future. Our circle of friends was large enough that we'd often divide into sub-groups, and he was welcome in all of them, as well as having friends outside that particular circle.
Another distinguishing characteristic is that he was one of the most creative people I know in his way. He once told me that he envied those of us who were able to write stories or songs, or perform in some way, because that was something he couldn't do. And yet he had his own remarkable form of creativity. He was good at building things. It was more than just manual labor; he would identify what was needed and often found surprising solutions to the problems presented to him. He could make people laugh with the sheer ingenuity of his approach. His home is set up with a computer network that would be the envy of a small company, and perfectly adjusted to the needs of every member of the family.
I think what brought us together is that we were both young men who simply spent a lot of time thinking about things. We were able to talk about life in a depth that didn't interest most people. We both enjoyed games (Risk was a mutual favorite), but the conversation and time spent together were more important. One significant difference between us is that he was always the stable one and I was the more volatile personality during our high school days. Even then, he had a more mature, sensible viewpoint than most people our age. I was often struggling with depression or some other high school drama, and was always able to turn to him for the best advice. Even in our adult lives, after I've worked my way to a greater balance, he was still one of my go-to advisers when I was really stuck about a problem.
Not surprisingly, he eventually married his female counterpart in our circle of friends, and they've had three great kids together. Most people seem to think their own kids are great, but theirs really are. Their kids are everything they are: intelligent, kind, and polite. I think it helped that Frowny was able to spend so much of their early years with them because his health problems kept him at home. It also made the kids mature beyond their years because they had to learn to be careful about certain things, lest they make Dad's health problems worse by accident.
Many of my best stories in life were shared with him: the time police falsely and hilariously accused us (and one other guy) of armed robbery, my first band's most decadent weekend ever, and my mom getting into the car with us and our girlfriends in front of my house one night. Unfortunately, the nature of all of those stories is that I won't be able to share them with his kids for several years yet.
I will be eternally grateful that I spent an afternoon in his company only a week and a half before he passed away. He seemed to be okay, maybe a little worn down, but I chalked it up to him just having a bad day. I certainly didn't expect that to be the last time I'd ever see him. I'm grateful to have had the privilege of his friendship. I've had to learn kindness (often from him), where kindness was his first instinct. He was very much the person I aspire to be in many ways, and I can't begin to say how much I'm going to miss him.
We knew each other going back to our junior year of high school. We were both part of a relatively large circle of friends and gravitated to each other for whatever reason, eventually spending a fair amount of time together. We weren't best friends, but I'd say we were close. For a short time we dated a pair of girls who were also close friends, so we had quite the happy foursome there for a while. He also ran lights for my first band for several months. After he stopped working for the band, we each had our own lives going and only occasionally spent time together in person, but we at least stayed in touch. Eventually, he ran into some serious health issues due to a work accident and couldn't leave the house much, so a couple of times a year, I would make a point of visiting him and spending at least a couple of hours just hanging out and talking.
His name was Todd, but almost everyone called him Frowny, an abbreviated version of his last name. It was ironic in that he was one of the most cheerful people I knew. He was very well liked in our circle, primarily because he was one of the most fundamentally kind people we knew. Even when he was angry with someone, revenge wouldn't have been his style; he'd just keep his distance from that person in the future. Our circle of friends was large enough that we'd often divide into sub-groups, and he was welcome in all of them, as well as having friends outside that particular circle.
Another distinguishing characteristic is that he was one of the most creative people I know in his way. He once told me that he envied those of us who were able to write stories or songs, or perform in some way, because that was something he couldn't do. And yet he had his own remarkable form of creativity. He was good at building things. It was more than just manual labor; he would identify what was needed and often found surprising solutions to the problems presented to him. He could make people laugh with the sheer ingenuity of his approach. His home is set up with a computer network that would be the envy of a small company, and perfectly adjusted to the needs of every member of the family.
I think what brought us together is that we were both young men who simply spent a lot of time thinking about things. We were able to talk about life in a depth that didn't interest most people. We both enjoyed games (Risk was a mutual favorite), but the conversation and time spent together were more important. One significant difference between us is that he was always the stable one and I was the more volatile personality during our high school days. Even then, he had a more mature, sensible viewpoint than most people our age. I was often struggling with depression or some other high school drama, and was always able to turn to him for the best advice. Even in our adult lives, after I've worked my way to a greater balance, he was still one of my go-to advisers when I was really stuck about a problem.
Not surprisingly, he eventually married his female counterpart in our circle of friends, and they've had three great kids together. Most people seem to think their own kids are great, but theirs really are. Their kids are everything they are: intelligent, kind, and polite. I think it helped that Frowny was able to spend so much of their early years with them because his health problems kept him at home. It also made the kids mature beyond their years because they had to learn to be careful about certain things, lest they make Dad's health problems worse by accident.
Many of my best stories in life were shared with him: the time police falsely and hilariously accused us (and one other guy) of armed robbery, my first band's most decadent weekend ever, and my mom getting into the car with us and our girlfriends in front of my house one night. Unfortunately, the nature of all of those stories is that I won't be able to share them with his kids for several years yet.
I will be eternally grateful that I spent an afternoon in his company only a week and a half before he passed away. He seemed to be okay, maybe a little worn down, but I chalked it up to him just having a bad day. I certainly didn't expect that to be the last time I'd ever see him. I'm grateful to have had the privilege of his friendship. I've had to learn kindness (often from him), where kindness was his first instinct. He was very much the person I aspire to be in many ways, and I can't begin to say how much I'm going to miss him.
Saturday, September 01, 2012
JW - 8/30/2012
Everybody on board for a rare Thursday night practice, though we're also going to practice the next two Thursdays due to everyone having other obligations at the same time we have an upcoming show. Not much to say about this session, and probably nothing much for the next two, as I'm sure we'll be focused on polishing up "The Boys Are Back in Town" and the planned set lists for the 9/29 show rather than adding anything new.
Individually we played well enough, and it was a joy to play again after a terrible week at work, but we seemed to have problems keeping track of the structure of some songs, especially those we haven't played for a while. Group vocals sounded pretty good on the whole.
Dale has been moving some songs around on the set lists, which is a Good Thing. "Boys" will almost certainly open a set, but I think the guitar players are concerned about opening the night with something relatively technically challenging. The problem with putting it too late in the night is that we'll play it best when we are least tired, so it really should lead off the first or second set.
Journey's "Lights" is still a bit of an outside chance to make the 9/29 list.
I played the Rick through most, if not all, of the session, because that's just how that set list happened to work out. The guys were asking why I hadn't been bringing "my little friend" (the Ashbory). The reason is that I wanted to work the Rick into what we were doing, which I've now done.
I don't really need the third bass. Strictly speaking, I don't need two, though there are a few songs particularly suited to each of those two, and I really like having a back-up in case of catastrophe. The Ibanez and the Rick both sound at least okay on everything I play with JW. The problem with the Ashbory is that it either suits a song or it doesn't. I'd still like to use it here and there because I like the unusual look of it for stage purposes, and it really does have a unique sound. I'll play around with it again once we're past the upcoming show.
Individually we played well enough, and it was a joy to play again after a terrible week at work, but we seemed to have problems keeping track of the structure of some songs, especially those we haven't played for a while. Group vocals sounded pretty good on the whole.
Dale has been moving some songs around on the set lists, which is a Good Thing. "Boys" will almost certainly open a set, but I think the guitar players are concerned about opening the night with something relatively technically challenging. The problem with putting it too late in the night is that we'll play it best when we are least tired, so it really should lead off the first or second set.
Journey's "Lights" is still a bit of an outside chance to make the 9/29 list.
I played the Rick through most, if not all, of the session, because that's just how that set list happened to work out. The guys were asking why I hadn't been bringing "my little friend" (the Ashbory). The reason is that I wanted to work the Rick into what we were doing, which I've now done.
I don't really need the third bass. Strictly speaking, I don't need two, though there are a few songs particularly suited to each of those two, and I really like having a back-up in case of catastrophe. The Ibanez and the Rick both sound at least okay on everything I play with JW. The problem with the Ashbory is that it either suits a song or it doesn't. I'd still like to use it here and there because I like the unusual look of it for stage purposes, and it really does have a unique sound. I'll play around with it again once we're past the upcoming show.
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