Phone rings
Me: Hello?
Gene (speech slurred from being about 90 years old and drunk): Ever heard of demencia?
Me: I don’t remember.
Category: Random
Bono, the lead singer of the band U2 is famous throughout the entertainment industry for being more than just a little self-righteous, but a kind and caring person.
He is playing a U2 concert in Glasgow, Scotland when he asks the audience for total quiet. Then in the silence, he starts to slowly clap his hands, once every few seconds.
Holding the audience in total silence, he says into the microphone, ‘Every time I clap my hands, a child in Africa dies.’
A voice with a broad Scottish accent, from near the front of the crowd, pierces the silence………….
‘Well, f’n stop doin’ it then.’
I don’t know if it was the back pain last night which made me start thinking of quitting the band… I had this a couple of years ago and took six months off and that refreshed me last time. I don’t think this is the same issue though.
Limited set list
During the last set of the gig last night I was wondering what the hell I was doing there. Ever since we got our new bass player the gigs have been all the same. She has only learned about 1/3 of our set list and that 1/3 she only knows enough to pass through the tunes. There are still lots of notes she’s missing and she just isn’t as solid and aggressive on the bass as my old bass player and great friend. Her tone and playing is wimpy.
Same old same old
We’ve been playing the same damn gig at an “ok” club forever. We’ve been getting decent crowds and making a few bucks at this place so that’s not the problem. The problem is the gig is getting very boring. When you only have a small number of tunes to pick from, which aren’t played as well as they could be, and you combine that with playing at the same damn place for the same damn crowd of drunk smokers it gets pretty monotonous.
Right now I’m thinking if the new bass player doesn’t learn the current tunes better and learn the rest of the set list by the end of the Summer, and if we don’t find a new place or two to gig, I’m out. I may not make it that far but that’s my plan. Maybe it’s my time to go find a different gig anyway. Maybe a jazz group…
Last night was the first gig I’ve had bashing the skins for about three weeks. I played a little too much golf last week or lifted something too heavy and tweaked my bad back. Sitting on a drum stool for three hours and putting all the balance and weight of your upper body on your bad lower back isn’t the best feeling thing in the world. Now I’m hurting bad today…
Man there are times when you just need to bail. This is one of them. This client is the pickiest pain in the ass I’ve had all year and for what? So I can try to make this junk play? You gotta be kidding.
I should have bailed when she brought in the 8 track with BUILT IN SPEAKERS and no line outs.
Gig description
Fix 8 track tapes. Break open the shells and then splice together tape more frail than Karen Carpenter’s remains in the hopes it doesn’t just fall apart again.
Transfer fixed 8 track tapes via player with no outputs to CD. Oh what just put a mic in front of the speakers on the 8 track? Oh man.
For good measure transfer an old 78 from 1963 which has creases in it and only plays about 3 seconds before it goes haywire.
All this while the picky client is asking millions of stupid questions…
Kill me.