A Bad, Bad gig.

[bigdaddy]

Well we've played twice since the nightmare. Last Friday night and then again the following Tuesday. The shows went off without a hitch. The guitarist added a "Cosmos" to the mixer and amps. That thing cleaned up the sound completely. The singer could be heard clearly, guitars, drums and bass were clear. I was impressed. We did a gig on Tuesday, blues night, and we drug in our own PA. The bar had a Mackie 8 channel that didn't make us sound to clear before. The owner, a great harp player in his own right, loved what we were doing and joined us on 5 songs. One of the local blues singer/guitarist joined on one song also and it went off real well. There are a few bands in the Utah area doing good covers of the standards but do them just like the original artist. We do 90 percent originals, songs I write, and they go over well. I call it powerhouse blues. The blues singer/guitarist watched our first two sets then told me he liked what we were doing. I could hear him in the audience after we'd end a song saying, I like that song or I liked that one too. It was his first time hearing us. Made me feel good. Anyway, we went into these gigs practised and ready. Our singer/piano player is becoming a fine blues player in his own right. He's 27 years old but he sings my songs, written about stuff in my 50 years of livin', pretty damn good.

[savage]

thats great to hear BigDaddy!

[bosco]

Back on track, that's great to hear!

Bosco

[jeffl]

That's great new,BD! It's really nice to get a bad gig in the rearview mirror and get back to the reasons you gig in the first place! Best wishes for your future!

[bluejay]

Glad to hear your originals are going over so well -- how lucky for the audience to have a band in the area that does originals, too.

[bigdaddy]

Originals. I have been told by so many that originals won't go over, the audience wants covers. The verdict isn't in yet but the originals we play get people dancing. We have a "shakenist booty" contest at the end of the first set to a song called "Shake It Baby." We give away a trophy, it only costs $6.00 o have the trophy made. I am learning which songs hit the crowd the best. We play 3 sets of 9 songs per set. 6 of the 27 songs are covers. The guitar player mentioned that the crowd jams to the originals better than the covers. To do a cover is easy, the audience hears with their memory as much as with their ears. We tell the crowd up front that we play premier Utah blues. We let loose on the originals and the crowd is seeming to like it. I do a thing where I strike the 3 string of the bass and slide up to the 14th fret. The singer mentions to the crowd that that noise is a bass man's mating call. The women hoot and holler. We try to balance fun and staying in control. I learned from the nightmare gig that I am there to entertain, not be entertained. Please remember that original songs come to me almost daily, at least snips and pieces I can put together as the days roll on.

[lorilu]

I want to go and hear your band! Where in Utah? How many days from central California do ya think? A little road trip to try and win that trophy. It is really weird how people will say the audience wants to hear covers. I so don't agree with that. People like good music that makes you dance or just gets you going. Some bands that only play covers just don't have originals and that's ok, too. Around here we might show up to support the band as we would want to be supported but if we know the sets are the same from 3 years ago then it's some socializing and adios. I hope I don't ever underestimate people. I think that lesson about being prepared and not letting the ego get in the way is pretty cool. It is a privelege to play still being ok to have fun.

[bigdaddy]

I have always believed people will jam to good songs and good music also. The question is what's good music. As I write a song I try to the music simple and basic. Music that is easy to move to. We have pulled songs because they get to complicated. The more basic the rythym and melody the easier it is to play. This is just my point of view. I try to write lyrics that go the same way. Clear easy to pronounce phrases. Mostly I start with something I heard or read. I was talkin' with a lady friend I'd known for all my life. She was recovering from a divorce after 23 years married. She was doin' every body. One mornin' she came to my place in tears so we went to the mountains to talk. She said "I hate when I think it's love and it's just a fling. Well that phrase became the main theme of one our best songs. When I look out at the audience and see the men, young and old, playin' air guitars and jammin' to our music, the ladies tend to come forth and shake their bottoms. When a song gets a reaction like that we keep it. Giggin' is a learning experience that is alway revolving.

[bluejay]

>I have always believed people will jam to good songs and
>good music also. The question is what's good music. As I
>write a song I try to the music simple and basic. Music that
>is easy to move to. We have pulled songs because they get to
>complicated. The more basic the rythym and melody the easier
>it is to play. This is just my point of view. I try to write
>lyrics that go the same way. Clear easy to pronounce
>phrases. Mostly I start with something I heard or read. I
>was talkin' with a lady friend I'd known for all my life.
>She was recovering from a divorce after 23 years married.
>She was doin' every body. One mornin' she came to my place
>in tears so we went to the mountains to talk. She said "I
>hate when I think it's love and it's just a fling. Well that
>phrase became the main theme of one our best songs. When I
>look out at the audience and see the men, young and old,
>playin' air guitars and jammin' to our music, the ladies
>tend to come forth and shake their bottoms. When a song gets
>a reaction like that we keep it. Giggin' is a learning
>experience that is alway revolving.

Well, you've got the start of some lyrics right in your post, BigDaddy, with a little paraphrasing, reworking, poetic license:

Three & Twenty Blues

I was talkin' with a lady friend
I'd known for all my life.

She was recently divorced,
no longer some man's wife.

She'd been doin' everybody;
now she was in tears.

Cryin', "Is this the best I get
for being good for all those years?

[lorilu]

Great song from real life! I thought at first you were gonna say the lyrics were in the post "A Bad, Bad Gig." I love originals. There's this line in this movie "Scenes From The Goldmine" or something like that. It goes, "What we want are originals. Originals that sound like standards." (record producer talking to the band he just signed).

[bluejay]

Velvet Goldmine, wasn't it? The flick about the glam rock scene?

[lorilu]

No. Velvet Goldmine is a different movie. This one is corny and I love it. It's kind of real too. This girl writes and plays keyboards and gets in this band and they get signed and the bad boy lead guitar guy gets into coke and steals all her songs while they're messing around. Other dramas occur and it all works out for her in the end when she goes it alone with another band member. She does grab a guitar at one point and hits him in the back pretty hard when she realizes he's dirty & lowdown.

[bigdaddy]

Bluejay, good lyrics. That's how most of my tunes happen. Someone says or does something that hits the creative chord in my brain and it takes off from there. I'm impressed the way you took the post and set it to lyrics. My guitarist is writing his second song ever. I asked if he needed help I'd be glad to step up but that he should try to do the song hisself. His idea is good. This from a guy who can play anybody but couldn't put 3 original notes toegether when I first met him. I had him learn the penatonic minor scale and spent hours with him teaching him to lighten up and let it rip. Today he complains his stuff all sounds the same and I told him it sounds like us. I asked if he could hear people yelling and whistling when he's ripping them leads off and he said no. He was quite surprised when I told him they do. Do others not hear the crowd when the crowd is yelling, expressing their delight?

[savage]

Fellow band members have never told me of such admiration... so i guess not, haha. The only comment that comes to mind is when someone told me that my hands "didn't look like they were moving very much but all these notes were comin out".... i dunno

[ricochet]

>The only comment that comes to mind is when someone told me that my hands "didn't look like they were moving very much but all these notes were comin out".... i dunno

Sounds like a compliment to me!



"A cheerful heart is good medicine."