Sunday, March 27, 2011
And..... The Anticlimax
After how worked up I was over what was supposed to go down today, to behonest I was relieved when Roger called me about an hour ago to inform me that John wouldn't be able to practice today. So after calling Britton, texting Jenn, and putting Pete in the dustbin of history, now I can focus on getting my shit together for the trip to Minden. I'm actually pretty happy right now.
I'm A Little Nervous Right Now......
Because I have at least two or three auditions set up for Sunday afternoon, but only the last of them matters to me. A guy named Pete is supposed to be coming in today, and he used to sing with the guys when they were playing under another name. But he's already blown off one audition, and there's no guarantee that he'll show in about thirteen hours or so.
Next up is a guy named Britton. I've heard him at karaoke shows around town, a good singer, but perhaps a bit limited in terms of vocal range - more of a baritone than a tenor. Of the three, he might actually be the easiest to fit into the band, because he seems like a pretty relaxed dude to me. But I have been proven wrong far too often to take a first impression as gospel.
But those guys are just the appetizer. Jenn will come in last tonight, around 7pm or so. And this is why I'm nervous. It turns out that Roger and Ron have had a CD of material she wanted to sing for some time, and haven't done a damn thing with it. Come to think of it, sounds familiar.... as in they haven't done a goddamned thing with the CD I gave them. I tried to run them through a few songs from it, and results were not up to snuff. The only song that we could even get through was Stevie Wonder's 'Superstition', and that took some work. Trying to get them to learn Journey's 'Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)' was like pulling teeth while herding cats. John was getting things rather easily, but Roger and Ron couldn't figure out anything, and then when John and I taught them their parts, they forgot them almost immediately. What I found amazing was that they'd never, ever, played 'Mony Mony' in their lives. How hard is that?
Of the fourteen songs on the CD she'd given them, I'd played ten of them in one band or another, and only one of the four I would've considered a song that I'd actually need to practice - another Journey song, 'Don't Stop Believin''. All the time, I'm thinking to myself, what the hell have I got myself into? I just hope that Ron and Roger don't fuck things up too badly when Jenn shows up. If she walks, I won't be able to forgive them for half-assing this. They're the ones that told me that they want to move up from playing one or two nights a month at one bar or another and go out onto the tribal-casino circuit. They gave me control of the group to get them to that point, and I don't think they really understand what it will take from them to actually accomplish that goal. Well, they'll know in about seventeen hours or so.
Thankfully, after Sunday I can take a break - sort of. The UW Medical Center called us Thursday and told us that the appointment Joy would have with their Endocrinology department could be moved to Monday from an original date in early May. And after a quick phone call to ParaTransit, they'll cover gas (a full tank for my pickup!) for the trip, and reimburse me for the cost of taking the ferry over from Bainbridge Island to the Colman Dock in downtown Seattle. From UWMC it's a short distance but a long drive (gotta love rush-hour) to Joy's mother's house in Tacoma. From there we can start our trip to Minden, and enjoy the company of our friends and family in Nevada while I'm gigging at the Carson Valley Inn, and doing so over our anniversary. For once, I'm beginning to think that Monday can't come fast enough......
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Auditions and Transitions
Well dear reader, back for more of my tales of musical meh? Okay, I shouldn't act like I don't care about what I do - it is my livelihood after all. But sometimes it gets a little...... tedious. But juggling two bands and two schedules, all while caring for an ailing wife, can be a pretty impressive feat of prestidigitation.
So where do I begin? Well, Steppen Stonz is struggling along, trying to find more and longer gigs to make it worth the expense of driving to Northern Nevada. But while Mike and Arthur's drives up from Las Vegas are no picnic, my travel expenses are more than theirs combined. But our good and noble steed of an agent, Stew Stewart (enough ass-kissing?), is turning stuff up for us. My last run down consisted of playing two nights midweek at the Nugget in Sparks for a dairy cattleman's convention - and the first night just happened to land on Mardi Gras. But the cattlemen didn't seem all that interested, and the hotel had no actual Mardi Gras event planned. But we still went out onstage and did our best.
That was followed by seven days off. And with not enough money to be able to drive home and back, I wound up staying in Carson City with my friends Jeremy and Alison, going to an Idekay show only a few blocks away from the Nugget with Jeremy (it's his band, after all) while pulling out some of my best recipes in the kitchen for Ali. And they'd just moved into a condo on the east side of Carson City, and actually had a guest room available for yours truly to hibernate in. Not a bad week off at all by my standards.
After that came another three nights at the Nugget, a standard Thursday/Friday/Saturday run that coincided with St. Patrick's Day, which also happened to be the birthday of the casino itself. And while we've had pleasant interactions in the past with Stephen Ascuaga, the owner's son, this time around we got to meet and greet all three Ascuagas - Stephen, Michonne, and old John Ascuaga himself. While he's getting up there in years, nothing gets past him. Seriously. He's a nice old fella, but I'm sure he'd have me wearing my balls for a bowtie if I crossed him. We talked with them backstage at the ceremony commemorating the Nugget's 56th birthday, and they were quite effusive in their praise for us both privately and on the mic for the crowd gathered in the cabaret for the birthday party itself. And it kicked off a pretty good weekend for us, with good crowds all three nights and virtually no glitches of any kind - aside from having to do an encore without my headphones because I'd accidentally pulled out the headphone cord from its socket while getting back onto my throne, and I had no time to plug them back in.
But all that has pretty much paled in comparison with what's been going on at home. I only have about a week in Port Angeles before I have to return to Nevada, this time for a three-nighter at the CVI in Minden, and this time with Joy to celebrate our 17th anniversary. Dirty Joe needs work, and I've been trying to arrange auditions for our lead-singer position, as I've mentioned previously. Well, I now have four interested candidates. I've already auditioned one, a Filipina from Sequim who's played in many of the same places I have in Nevada, though she may not be all that compatible with my guys. A karaoke buddy of mine has expressed interest in the gig, and a singer from a previous incarnation from the band as also thrown his hat into the ring. But they're all over shadowed by another karaoke friend of mine, with talent of phenomenal proportions, and nothing to hold her back. Jenn is so very talented, even with a cold her voice puts most others to shame. Ron and Roger have pursued her for some time, and she actually did sing with them for a few months, but she found their lack of professionalism and drive to be a bit disturbing back then. I was able to sit down with her at karaoke last night at the Coo Coo's Nest, and told her that I was pushing them a lot harder, and making them a more professional unit. I went to the mat to convince her to give them another chance. And talking to her and getting to know her, I came to the realization that she's too damn good for this town. She wants to sing, but doesn't want to be famous. She wants to sing in a cover band, and play the kind of gigs that I play. And while she has a healthy-enough ego regarding her ability (as well she should), her desire to pursue the same career path I chose and to avoid stardom showed her to have really not that much of an ego after all. Listening to her, I could clearly hear some of my favorite ladies on the Reno circuit in her words, good friends like Tracy Bing and Tina Fink. And I told her so. I actually told her that she needed to get off the Peninsula and come with me to Reno - or just get her own ass there herself. She's got the talent - the voice, the personality, the ability to engage the crowd - I just hope my minions will change their ways enough to make her want to actually work with us, though I told her that if they pissed her off to the point of bailing on us, that I might just go with her.
Yeah. She's that talented, folks.
But Roger, Ron, and John (Tom is out of the band for the foreseeable future due to health concerns - but we'll keep his seat open for him to come back whenever he's right) agreed to work more and kiss the bong less, and apply themselves to music more suited to Jenn's powerhouse voice. And if she sticks around, I'll finally have the three-part harmonies I've been wanting ever since I joined the band, plus a true lead singer who can peel the paint off the walls with her voice. And if it doesn't work out? Well then, I might have a passenger on a future trip to Reno......
We shall see, my friends.....
So where do I begin? Well, Steppen Stonz is struggling along, trying to find more and longer gigs to make it worth the expense of driving to Northern Nevada. But while Mike and Arthur's drives up from Las Vegas are no picnic, my travel expenses are more than theirs combined. But our good and noble steed of an agent, Stew Stewart (enough ass-kissing?), is turning stuff up for us. My last run down consisted of playing two nights midweek at the Nugget in Sparks for a dairy cattleman's convention - and the first night just happened to land on Mardi Gras. But the cattlemen didn't seem all that interested, and the hotel had no actual Mardi Gras event planned. But we still went out onstage and did our best.
That was followed by seven days off. And with not enough money to be able to drive home and back, I wound up staying in Carson City with my friends Jeremy and Alison, going to an Idekay show only a few blocks away from the Nugget with Jeremy (it's his band, after all) while pulling out some of my best recipes in the kitchen for Ali. And they'd just moved into a condo on the east side of Carson City, and actually had a guest room available for yours truly to hibernate in. Not a bad week off at all by my standards.
After that came another three nights at the Nugget, a standard Thursday/Friday/Saturday run that coincided with St. Patrick's Day, which also happened to be the birthday of the casino itself. And while we've had pleasant interactions in the past with Stephen Ascuaga, the owner's son, this time around we got to meet and greet all three Ascuagas - Stephen, Michonne, and old John Ascuaga himself. While he's getting up there in years, nothing gets past him. Seriously. He's a nice old fella, but I'm sure he'd have me wearing my balls for a bowtie if I crossed him. We talked with them backstage at the ceremony commemorating the Nugget's 56th birthday, and they were quite effusive in their praise for us both privately and on the mic for the crowd gathered in the cabaret for the birthday party itself. And it kicked off a pretty good weekend for us, with good crowds all three nights and virtually no glitches of any kind - aside from having to do an encore without my headphones because I'd accidentally pulled out the headphone cord from its socket while getting back onto my throne, and I had no time to plug them back in.
But all that has pretty much paled in comparison with what's been going on at home. I only have about a week in Port Angeles before I have to return to Nevada, this time for a three-nighter at the CVI in Minden, and this time with Joy to celebrate our 17th anniversary. Dirty Joe needs work, and I've been trying to arrange auditions for our lead-singer position, as I've mentioned previously. Well, I now have four interested candidates. I've already auditioned one, a Filipina from Sequim who's played in many of the same places I have in Nevada, though she may not be all that compatible with my guys. A karaoke buddy of mine has expressed interest in the gig, and a singer from a previous incarnation from the band as also thrown his hat into the ring. But they're all over shadowed by another karaoke friend of mine, with talent of phenomenal proportions, and nothing to hold her back. Jenn is so very talented, even with a cold her voice puts most others to shame. Ron and Roger have pursued her for some time, and she actually did sing with them for a few months, but she found their lack of professionalism and drive to be a bit disturbing back then. I was able to sit down with her at karaoke last night at the Coo Coo's Nest, and told her that I was pushing them a lot harder, and making them a more professional unit. I went to the mat to convince her to give them another chance. And talking to her and getting to know her, I came to the realization that she's too damn good for this town. She wants to sing, but doesn't want to be famous. She wants to sing in a cover band, and play the kind of gigs that I play. And while she has a healthy-enough ego regarding her ability (as well she should), her desire to pursue the same career path I chose and to avoid stardom showed her to have really not that much of an ego after all. Listening to her, I could clearly hear some of my favorite ladies on the Reno circuit in her words, good friends like Tracy Bing and Tina Fink. And I told her so. I actually told her that she needed to get off the Peninsula and come with me to Reno - or just get her own ass there herself. She's got the talent - the voice, the personality, the ability to engage the crowd - I just hope my minions will change their ways enough to make her want to actually work with us, though I told her that if they pissed her off to the point of bailing on us, that I might just go with her.
Yeah. She's that talented, folks.
But Roger, Ron, and John (Tom is out of the band for the foreseeable future due to health concerns - but we'll keep his seat open for him to come back whenever he's right) agreed to work more and kiss the bong less, and apply themselves to music more suited to Jenn's powerhouse voice. And if she sticks around, I'll finally have the three-part harmonies I've been wanting ever since I joined the band, plus a true lead singer who can peel the paint off the walls with her voice. And if it doesn't work out? Well then, I might have a passenger on a future trip to Reno......
We shall see, my friends.....
Sunday, February 27, 2011
What's Old Is New Again
Remember that gig I thought I had coming up in my last post? Never happened. It turns out that the bar we were supposed to be playing was having problems. Or at least that's what I was told. They weren't alone. Remember that new drummer I was talking about? He's out, too - showing up for practice 90 minutes late - twice - and not responding to our phone calls is generally grounds for a rapid dismissal. But as usual, there's more to it than that. And because of that, I'm going back behind my drums again.
Y'see, while ol' Phife wasn't the best drummer in the world, let alone the best person, he could sing fairly well. And with his departure, there was no one left in the band to sing backing vocals behind me. And then Roger strays from the CD of new songs I wanted the band to learn and starts noodling his way through a handful of Styx songs. I advised him that we could only tackle material like that with not one singer, but three - and I didn't see anyone else stepping up to the mic. And with the new drummer not panning out, I made the decision to go from being merely a singer to being a singing drummer again, and hire a new lead vocalist.
And on top of all this, our bassist was ailing as well. I won't go into details about - it ain't pretty folks, that's all I'll say - but he was unable to play. And while we were able to drum up a replacement for Tom, this guy wasn't going to be available full-time due to family. And he also had issues with the new drummer, so it behooved me even more to get back behind the kit. But Tom's health is improving, but how much so is still somewhat of a mystery to me. So for the moment, we have two bass players, with Tom playing on the weekends, and the backup coming in to rehearse during the week.
So we got together last night for my first rehearsal as drummer/vocalist, and it went remarkably well, though getting there was quite a challenge. With the recent snowstorm, the roads can be a bit...... dicey. And Roger's place isn't on a paved road. I picked up John (the backup bassist) at the Transit Center in downtown PA and headed up to Roger's place, only to find that not only was the road impassable, but Roger and Ron weren't even there - helping a friend move at the last minute, apparently. They showed up soon enough though, and we got on to business. None of them had ever really heard me play before, and well....... let's just say they were happily surprised. At one point Ron actually got down on all fours and bowed to me. I guess their drummers had been of rather inconsistent quality as of late.
It felt good to just rock out, I must say. This was more the style of drumming I had back when I first started gigging around PA 15 or so years ago, made all the more better by years of experience and understanding. But now I've wound up leading them into an even bigger pickle - who do they call to replace me when I'm out of town? I don't even want to know any more.
And a quick side note for you. My Carson City homegirl Jazmyn posted to her Facebook page about going to see the Stonz. I almost had a heart attack thinking 'did they fire me without even bothering to tell me?' before I remembered that they were playing at the Atlantis. So I'd assume that Alan Zukor is keeping my seat warm for me until the next good gig comes along. Whenever that will be. I'm starting to get a little worried.....
Breathe Joe, breathe. Just be patient.......
Y'see, while ol' Phife wasn't the best drummer in the world, let alone the best person, he could sing fairly well. And with his departure, there was no one left in the band to sing backing vocals behind me. And then Roger strays from the CD of new songs I wanted the band to learn and starts noodling his way through a handful of Styx songs. I advised him that we could only tackle material like that with not one singer, but three - and I didn't see anyone else stepping up to the mic. And with the new drummer not panning out, I made the decision to go from being merely a singer to being a singing drummer again, and hire a new lead vocalist.
And on top of all this, our bassist was ailing as well. I won't go into details about - it ain't pretty folks, that's all I'll say - but he was unable to play. And while we were able to drum up a replacement for Tom, this guy wasn't going to be available full-time due to family. And he also had issues with the new drummer, so it behooved me even more to get back behind the kit. But Tom's health is improving, but how much so is still somewhat of a mystery to me. So for the moment, we have two bass players, with Tom playing on the weekends, and the backup coming in to rehearse during the week.
So we got together last night for my first rehearsal as drummer/vocalist, and it went remarkably well, though getting there was quite a challenge. With the recent snowstorm, the roads can be a bit...... dicey. And Roger's place isn't on a paved road. I picked up John (the backup bassist) at the Transit Center in downtown PA and headed up to Roger's place, only to find that not only was the road impassable, but Roger and Ron weren't even there - helping a friend move at the last minute, apparently. They showed up soon enough though, and we got on to business. None of them had ever really heard me play before, and well....... let's just say they were happily surprised. At one point Ron actually got down on all fours and bowed to me. I guess their drummers had been of rather inconsistent quality as of late.
It felt good to just rock out, I must say. This was more the style of drumming I had back when I first started gigging around PA 15 or so years ago, made all the more better by years of experience and understanding. But now I've wound up leading them into an even bigger pickle - who do they call to replace me when I'm out of town? I don't even want to know any more.
And a quick side note for you. My Carson City homegirl Jazmyn posted to her Facebook page about going to see the Stonz. I almost had a heart attack thinking 'did they fire me without even bothering to tell me?' before I remembered that they were playing at the Atlantis. So I'd assume that Alan Zukor is keeping my seat warm for me until the next good gig comes along. Whenever that will be. I'm starting to get a little worried.....
Breathe Joe, breathe. Just be patient.......
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Minden Your Business
I deeply apologize for not having posted for so long. I must do better. Now where was I?
When last I left you, I was looking at the possibility of losing my gig with Steppen Stonz due to a lack of work. My new band, Dirty Joe, had just played our first gig to a crowd of about thirty or so at a local artist's studio. So what's been happening lately? Well, a three-day run at the Nugget in Sparks was nice, but barely able to pay for the gas to get there and back. But it led to some good news - we'd gotten a four-night gig at the Carson Valley Inn in Minden, about 10 miles south of Carson City, over the Super Bowl weekend now just past. This was a chance to showcase Steppen Stonz to a new audience and a new management, so we needed to be on our best behavior for the gig.
It'd been a while since I'd been there last, and even longer since I'd last played there. I played there two or three times with Powerlight, the last time being in '03 or '04. I used to go there five nights a week as a part of my courier route, but that was just to duck in and out as quickly as possible. Since Joy and I had left Reno, Carson Valley Inn had been sold to the family that owns the Eldorado in Reno, but I guess they'd sold CVI (and the smaller Bodine's Casino in Carson City) to another guy, who we were briefly introduced to after we'd set up - he was busy fiddling with a lighting fixture. I saw that as a good sign - a guy who's hands-on with the businesses he owns is always a good thing, win or lose. Our agent had talked us up to the CVI pretty good, saying that we'd likely become their number-one band once they hired us. I'd like to think we delivered on his promise, but more on that later.
As usual, we started filtering into the CVI the night before the gig started, or the day before in my case. Due to the Inn itself being booked solid for the weekend, we were farmed out to rooms at CVI's nearby motor-lodge a few hundred yards away, with their RV resort and mini-mart in between. Upon checking in it was plainly obvious that the new regime was pouring a lot of money into refurbishing the place - the old cabaret above and behind a bar (similar to cabarets at the Atlantis, Peppermill, and Carson Station) was gone, replace with a stage just a few inches above a small dancefloor, with the bar now off to the stage-left. Rooms in the inn and motor-lodge were refurbished as well, and the smell of paint and carpet glue was strong enough to suggest that the refurbishing was done quite recently. I was glad Joy wasn't with me - those fumes would've put her in the hospital.
I'd pulled an all-nighter to get to Minden, leaving directly from a Dirty Joe practice that actually became a scouting trip for a new drummer in Sequim to drive straight through to Minden, so the extra-comfy bed was a godsend. After a nap, I wandered over to the Inn to see my homegirl Tina Fink play with her band's new gig, doing live-band karaoke. They've managed to work it into a pretty stable set of one-nighters during the week while still playing standard cabaret shows on the weekends. After they finished their show and cleared out, I set my kit up so that I wouldn't waste the Stonz' time the next morning when they'd set up. Our agent actually gave us a pep-talk after we set up, and assured us that we'd get good crowds that weekend because of the Super Bowl while telling us how he'd sung our praises to the CVI brass. So we were pretty optimistic heading into the first show on Thursday night.
That optimism didn't last for very long, though. We played to a pretty empty house that first night, with only a few regulars from Carson there to support us. We did our best to shrug it off and figured that the real fun would start the next night. For once our predictions came true, and the next three nights were played to full houses, all night long. Even including Sunday, after the game was over. And boy were those people enthusiastic. I don't think I've ever played to such a lively crowd in Nevada. All our friends from Carson, Dayton, and Lake Tahoe came to visit at least once. We were getting a good crowd to work with, and we hit it for all we were worth. In my honest opinion, I think that this may have been the best set of shows we've done since I joined the Stonz. No problems, no bugaboos, no brainfarts. Even with a cold wrecking my voice, I was putting out as good an effort as I could manage. Our agent was there for a little while each night, and I think even he was impressed. He even jumped onstage a few times to sing along with us.
And the staff at CVI were so good to us. When I checked in, I'd found that there was a slight miscalculation on somebody's part, and that we weren't scheduled to check in until the next night. They fixed that error quickly enough though, and Mike and Arthur checked in a few hours after I did. We were given access to the employee cafeteria for a meal a day (bonus!), and treated well by the staff in general. It even turned out that a few CVI employees had seen us play before, presumably up in Carson, and were quite happy to have us playing on their home turf.
And that positive vibe was a welcome change. Y'see, in the past CVI didn't have all that good of a reputation with the bands because some of their employees seemed a little, well........ obsessed with enforcing noise-limit rules on the bands. They'd wave around sound meters and threaten bands with firing for being even the slightest bit over the 85-decibel limit that federal regulations demanded, and do other things to embarass and humiliate bands. But all of that was gone now. But while we still had to keep things somewhat quiet (having my drums muffled and triggered certainly helped), there would be no hassles from anyone, as any issues would be solved quietly and quickly, lest a quick phone call to our agent would be placed to chew out the offending party.
But negativity was nowhere to be found. In so many words, things went great. We killed it. Knocked it out of the park. We received nothing but praise from all sides. I even got a $50 bonus, which certainly helped pay for gas getting home. We figure that it's only a matter of time before we're working there steadily, filling the void left by the Station's cancellation. Even a few Station employees showed up, telling us they were convinced the place would be going under any minute now, while other friends of ours claimed that the place had been sold to new owners, and that we'd be back onstage there within a few months. That would be nice, I'll admit. Playing two-week gigs in Carson and Minden would be awesome, and certainly help boost my bottom line. But I'll take what I can get for the time being.
And now that I'm back in Port Angeles, I have to put on my lead-singer hat and front Dirty Joe for its first serious gig this weekend. I'm looking forward to putting these guys through their paces, and seeing how Port Angeles accepts me as a singer instead of a drummer. With a new drummer in tow, we've got one rehearsal before Friday comes. So let's hope for the best, okay?
Happy thoughts, people!
When last I left you, I was looking at the possibility of losing my gig with Steppen Stonz due to a lack of work. My new band, Dirty Joe, had just played our first gig to a crowd of about thirty or so at a local artist's studio. So what's been happening lately? Well, a three-day run at the Nugget in Sparks was nice, but barely able to pay for the gas to get there and back. But it led to some good news - we'd gotten a four-night gig at the Carson Valley Inn in Minden, about 10 miles south of Carson City, over the Super Bowl weekend now just past. This was a chance to showcase Steppen Stonz to a new audience and a new management, so we needed to be on our best behavior for the gig.
It'd been a while since I'd been there last, and even longer since I'd last played there. I played there two or three times with Powerlight, the last time being in '03 or '04. I used to go there five nights a week as a part of my courier route, but that was just to duck in and out as quickly as possible. Since Joy and I had left Reno, Carson Valley Inn had been sold to the family that owns the Eldorado in Reno, but I guess they'd sold CVI (and the smaller Bodine's Casino in Carson City) to another guy, who we were briefly introduced to after we'd set up - he was busy fiddling with a lighting fixture. I saw that as a good sign - a guy who's hands-on with the businesses he owns is always a good thing, win or lose. Our agent had talked us up to the CVI pretty good, saying that we'd likely become their number-one band once they hired us. I'd like to think we delivered on his promise, but more on that later.
As usual, we started filtering into the CVI the night before the gig started, or the day before in my case. Due to the Inn itself being booked solid for the weekend, we were farmed out to rooms at CVI's nearby motor-lodge a few hundred yards away, with their RV resort and mini-mart in between. Upon checking in it was plainly obvious that the new regime was pouring a lot of money into refurbishing the place - the old cabaret above and behind a bar (similar to cabarets at the Atlantis, Peppermill, and Carson Station) was gone, replace with a stage just a few inches above a small dancefloor, with the bar now off to the stage-left. Rooms in the inn and motor-lodge were refurbished as well, and the smell of paint and carpet glue was strong enough to suggest that the refurbishing was done quite recently. I was glad Joy wasn't with me - those fumes would've put her in the hospital.
I'd pulled an all-nighter to get to Minden, leaving directly from a Dirty Joe practice that actually became a scouting trip for a new drummer in Sequim to drive straight through to Minden, so the extra-comfy bed was a godsend. After a nap, I wandered over to the Inn to see my homegirl Tina Fink play with her band's new gig, doing live-band karaoke. They've managed to work it into a pretty stable set of one-nighters during the week while still playing standard cabaret shows on the weekends. After they finished their show and cleared out, I set my kit up so that I wouldn't waste the Stonz' time the next morning when they'd set up. Our agent actually gave us a pep-talk after we set up, and assured us that we'd get good crowds that weekend because of the Super Bowl while telling us how he'd sung our praises to the CVI brass. So we were pretty optimistic heading into the first show on Thursday night.
That optimism didn't last for very long, though. We played to a pretty empty house that first night, with only a few regulars from Carson there to support us. We did our best to shrug it off and figured that the real fun would start the next night. For once our predictions came true, and the next three nights were played to full houses, all night long. Even including Sunday, after the game was over. And boy were those people enthusiastic. I don't think I've ever played to such a lively crowd in Nevada. All our friends from Carson, Dayton, and Lake Tahoe came to visit at least once. We were getting a good crowd to work with, and we hit it for all we were worth. In my honest opinion, I think that this may have been the best set of shows we've done since I joined the Stonz. No problems, no bugaboos, no brainfarts. Even with a cold wrecking my voice, I was putting out as good an effort as I could manage. Our agent was there for a little while each night, and I think even he was impressed. He even jumped onstage a few times to sing along with us.
And the staff at CVI were so good to us. When I checked in, I'd found that there was a slight miscalculation on somebody's part, and that we weren't scheduled to check in until the next night. They fixed that error quickly enough though, and Mike and Arthur checked in a few hours after I did. We were given access to the employee cafeteria for a meal a day (bonus!), and treated well by the staff in general. It even turned out that a few CVI employees had seen us play before, presumably up in Carson, and were quite happy to have us playing on their home turf.
And that positive vibe was a welcome change. Y'see, in the past CVI didn't have all that good of a reputation with the bands because some of their employees seemed a little, well........ obsessed with enforcing noise-limit rules on the bands. They'd wave around sound meters and threaten bands with firing for being even the slightest bit over the 85-decibel limit that federal regulations demanded, and do other things to embarass and humiliate bands. But all of that was gone now. But while we still had to keep things somewhat quiet (having my drums muffled and triggered certainly helped), there would be no hassles from anyone, as any issues would be solved quietly and quickly, lest a quick phone call to our agent would be placed to chew out the offending party.
But negativity was nowhere to be found. In so many words, things went great. We killed it. Knocked it out of the park. We received nothing but praise from all sides. I even got a $50 bonus, which certainly helped pay for gas getting home. We figure that it's only a matter of time before we're working there steadily, filling the void left by the Station's cancellation. Even a few Station employees showed up, telling us they were convinced the place would be going under any minute now, while other friends of ours claimed that the place had been sold to new owners, and that we'd be back onstage there within a few months. That would be nice, I'll admit. Playing two-week gigs in Carson and Minden would be awesome, and certainly help boost my bottom line. But I'll take what I can get for the time being.
And now that I'm back in Port Angeles, I have to put on my lead-singer hat and front Dirty Joe for its first serious gig this weekend. I'm looking forward to putting these guys through their paces, and seeing how Port Angeles accepts me as a singer instead of a drummer. With a new drummer in tow, we've got one rehearsal before Friday comes. So let's hope for the best, okay?
Happy thoughts, people!
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Closings, Openings, And Sides, or "Where Has Joe Been For The Last Six Weeks?"
Well, as usual, it's been kinda weird. Is anything ever normal with me?
Let's start off with the beginning, of course. I started off December in Sparks, playing at John Ascuaga's Nugget. For a nice surprise, we were given rooms in the Nugget's West Tower instead of the neighboring Courtyard hotel. My ninth-floor room had a panoramic view of Reno, Sparks and the Sierras. I also found out that I could get free wi-fi at the Starbucks in the hotel, but the original blog post I'd written in my hotel room wouldn't copy-and-paste from MS Word onto this blog, and I didn't have enough battery life on the laptop to just transcribe it, so it's still languishing on the laptop's hard drive, likely never to be seen by the public - all two of you. It was a good enough gig, though the particular acoustics of the room were bothering Mikey to the point that I offered to muffle and trigger my drums in order to help lower the noise level onstage. He said that'd help. So I'll be muffled and triggering when I play there again next week.
After playing The Nugget for the weekend, I had a week to kill before settling for another two weeks at the Carson Station, so I drove up to Carson and stayed with my friends Jazmyn (Jazzy) and Sara. Jazzy's mother Michelle was also staying there, and her little brother joined the party in time for the holidays as well. It was a bit cramped, with four adults (later five) and two small children sharing a two-bedroom apartment, but I handled it well. I couch-surfed, and slept on Michelle's air-mattress when Jazzy and her boys went to California to pick up her brother - Michelle took her daughter's room for herself. I had no real problem with that. I cooked for them, made my famous pot-roast for the whole crew, and my tater-tot casserole for Michelle and Sara while Jazzy was away (Sara called it 'the perfect stoner food'), endured the lack of internet access and even the lack of TV. I bought a hard drive for my Xbox 360, read my books, and bided my time, and did my best to be of as little inconvenience to everyone as I could.
And the Station was a welcome relief, with comfortable beds (though I found it quite odd that I didn't sleep all that well while I was there, compared to the week before and it's air-mattress and lumpy couch), cable-TV and free internet access. The first week of the gig went well enough, learning new material to slot into our show, and playing to happy - no, grateful - audiences.
Then everything pretty much went to hell.
The night before we started our second week, Mikey stopped rehearsal to tell us all something - that this week would be our last. Why? Because The Station was cancelling all live entertainment after the New Year.
Oh, shit.
No official reason was given as to why, and in the absence of such, rumors abounded. There was talk to the positive side, that new owners would be coming in and sprucing up the place before bringing live music back. The more cynical side of my nature listened more carefully to rumors saying that it was only a matter of time that cost-cutting measures would be of no more help, and The Station would close its doors for good shortly. No matter what, we did our best to put on a brave face, and accept the decision as gracefully and humbly as possible. Our fans were not as inclined to follow in our footsteps, however. During an exceptionally busy New Year's Eve, I was pulled aside by a fan of ours (who shall remain nameless) who told us that they'd established a petition with over a hundred names on it, all agreeing to boycott The Station until live entertainment was re-established.
Author's Note: While the name of this blog is "Musicians Boycott!", I hereby declare that in no way whatsoever did I or any of my bandmates have anything to do with this petition. To be completely honest, I never even saw the thing, so I still question whether such a petition ever actually existed.....
Though if it did, it was almost immediately effective. The next night we were informed by The Station that what they'd actually been planning was just a temporary closure, that things would be redone, the stage itself possibly remodeled in the interval, and live music would return in a few months' time when business picked up again. I could live with that decision, even if it meant taking a few months off. Now if only another gig would turn up.....
That took all of about three days. After coming home on Monday night, the following Wednesday, Joy and I were just curling up for a night of My Big Fat Greek Wedding on DVD when I got a phone call from a guy I'd been hearing from on-and-off for several months. He'd been looking for a drummer and vocalist when I saw his ad at the Albertson's supermarket just down the street from my mother's house in April, and I've been playing phone tag with him pretty much ever since. Well, this phone call at 11:30 at night was about an audition - right there and then, and as just a frontman this time. I figured "why the hell not?" and got us both out of bed to go take this audition on. An hour-and-a-half later, I was the new lead singer of a band called.......
.....wait for it.....
Dirty Joe.
According to Roger and Ron, the band's two guitarists, the name was taken from the movie Joe Dirt, and they'd been playing under this name for some time now. To be honest, I have seen the name before in the Thursday entertainment section of the local paper, but that's quite a coincidence there. But after that audition and one practice, there I was, fronting a band that was supremely grateful to have me - even going so far as to actually listen to my suggestions in rehearsal, try them, and like them! - for a well-known local monthly party at a warehouse on the western edge of downtown Port Angeles.
It was quite a difference, compared to playing with Steppen Stonz, or Powerlight, or even with Rick and Dana Cowen's band Kick. Live music, no sequences, no bullshit. Just a singer, two guitarists (though Roger also plays keyboards), a bassist and a drummer. The drummer, an old friend of mine named Rob Phifer, handles backing vocals as well, though that's going to change soon - we need more than that. It's not that I want stacked three- or four-part harmonies at all times, but I know from experience that drumming and singing at the same time takes a lot out of a body, so Rob could use some help from the other guys in the band. The music itself - hard-rock standards from the 60's, 70's and 80's - is easy enough in itself for me to learn. Hell, I've played nearly all of those songs at one time or another in my career, and sang several of them as well. The catch is that I've only sang them from the drummer's chair. I'd never fronted a band before.
Ever.
Was I nervous? Fuck yeah! But I've seen enough bar bands to know all the moves frontmen make. In simpler terms, I acted like a fucking maniac onstage, and sang my ass off for the length of the show. Afterwards, I was congratulated for my performance by my new bandmates and generally showered with praise. Mission fucking accomplished. So what do I make of this? Where does this go from here? Where do I go from here? Which band do you think I'm going to choose?
Why make me choose? Right now, this new band is something I can't take terribly seriously. I just can't. It's too fun right now. The work will come later, that's for sure. But they're bascially giving me the keys to the car in this band, and asking me for suggestions as to what material I want to bring into the group. I hope they're ready to learn 311's version of The Cure's Love Song, or Down's Ghosts Along The Mississippi, for starters. I'll come up with a list of songs in the next few days, and burn a CD for them to listen to while I'm gone next week.
And that's because I ain't leaving Steppen Stonz. Things are difficult for them right now, and they don't need things to be made worse by me bailing on them. They took the chance on me, after all. I think that they'll only be out of work for a little while, and then they'll be back with a vengeance. So why would I leave them when I'm convinced that while things suck now, they'll get better and better soon?
So I'll do both bands for the time being. I have my concerns about Dirty Joe, and those will only be answered with time. Mike and Arthur have weathered far worse times than this, so I know that they'll still be around. I think Mike and Arthur would be tickled to know that I'm a lead singer now myself. They'd probably laugh at my act, but not out of spite - I hope. But even if they did, I don't think I'd care that much. I have a saying, after all:
"I don't care if you're laughing with me or at me, so long as I've made you laugh."
Let's start off with the beginning, of course. I started off December in Sparks, playing at John Ascuaga's Nugget. For a nice surprise, we were given rooms in the Nugget's West Tower instead of the neighboring Courtyard hotel. My ninth-floor room had a panoramic view of Reno, Sparks and the Sierras. I also found out that I could get free wi-fi at the Starbucks in the hotel, but the original blog post I'd written in my hotel room wouldn't copy-and-paste from MS Word onto this blog, and I didn't have enough battery life on the laptop to just transcribe it, so it's still languishing on the laptop's hard drive, likely never to be seen by the public - all two of you. It was a good enough gig, though the particular acoustics of the room were bothering Mikey to the point that I offered to muffle and trigger my drums in order to help lower the noise level onstage. He said that'd help. So I'll be muffled and triggering when I play there again next week.
After playing The Nugget for the weekend, I had a week to kill before settling for another two weeks at the Carson Station, so I drove up to Carson and stayed with my friends Jazmyn (Jazzy) and Sara. Jazzy's mother Michelle was also staying there, and her little brother joined the party in time for the holidays as well. It was a bit cramped, with four adults (later five) and two small children sharing a two-bedroom apartment, but I handled it well. I couch-surfed, and slept on Michelle's air-mattress when Jazzy and her boys went to California to pick up her brother - Michelle took her daughter's room for herself. I had no real problem with that. I cooked for them, made my famous pot-roast for the whole crew, and my tater-tot casserole for Michelle and Sara while Jazzy was away (Sara called it 'the perfect stoner food'), endured the lack of internet access and even the lack of TV. I bought a hard drive for my Xbox 360, read my books, and bided my time, and did my best to be of as little inconvenience to everyone as I could.
And the Station was a welcome relief, with comfortable beds (though I found it quite odd that I didn't sleep all that well while I was there, compared to the week before and it's air-mattress and lumpy couch), cable-TV and free internet access. The first week of the gig went well enough, learning new material to slot into our show, and playing to happy - no, grateful - audiences.
Then everything pretty much went to hell.
The night before we started our second week, Mikey stopped rehearsal to tell us all something - that this week would be our last. Why? Because The Station was cancelling all live entertainment after the New Year.
Oh, shit.
No official reason was given as to why, and in the absence of such, rumors abounded. There was talk to the positive side, that new owners would be coming in and sprucing up the place before bringing live music back. The more cynical side of my nature listened more carefully to rumors saying that it was only a matter of time that cost-cutting measures would be of no more help, and The Station would close its doors for good shortly. No matter what, we did our best to put on a brave face, and accept the decision as gracefully and humbly as possible. Our fans were not as inclined to follow in our footsteps, however. During an exceptionally busy New Year's Eve, I was pulled aside by a fan of ours (who shall remain nameless) who told us that they'd established a petition with over a hundred names on it, all agreeing to boycott The Station until live entertainment was re-established.
Author's Note: While the name of this blog is "Musicians Boycott!", I hereby declare that in no way whatsoever did I or any of my bandmates have anything to do with this petition. To be completely honest, I never even saw the thing, so I still question whether such a petition ever actually existed.....
Though if it did, it was almost immediately effective. The next night we were informed by The Station that what they'd actually been planning was just a temporary closure, that things would be redone, the stage itself possibly remodeled in the interval, and live music would return in a few months' time when business picked up again. I could live with that decision, even if it meant taking a few months off. Now if only another gig would turn up.....
That took all of about three days. After coming home on Monday night, the following Wednesday, Joy and I were just curling up for a night of My Big Fat Greek Wedding on DVD when I got a phone call from a guy I'd been hearing from on-and-off for several months. He'd been looking for a drummer and vocalist when I saw his ad at the Albertson's supermarket just down the street from my mother's house in April, and I've been playing phone tag with him pretty much ever since. Well, this phone call at 11:30 at night was about an audition - right there and then, and as just a frontman this time. I figured "why the hell not?" and got us both out of bed to go take this audition on. An hour-and-a-half later, I was the new lead singer of a band called.......
.....wait for it.....
Dirty Joe.
According to Roger and Ron, the band's two guitarists, the name was taken from the movie Joe Dirt, and they'd been playing under this name for some time now. To be honest, I have seen the name before in the Thursday entertainment section of the local paper, but that's quite a coincidence there. But after that audition and one practice, there I was, fronting a band that was supremely grateful to have me - even going so far as to actually listen to my suggestions in rehearsal, try them, and like them! - for a well-known local monthly party at a warehouse on the western edge of downtown Port Angeles.
It was quite a difference, compared to playing with Steppen Stonz, or Powerlight, or even with Rick and Dana Cowen's band Kick. Live music, no sequences, no bullshit. Just a singer, two guitarists (though Roger also plays keyboards), a bassist and a drummer. The drummer, an old friend of mine named Rob Phifer, handles backing vocals as well, though that's going to change soon - we need more than that. It's not that I want stacked three- or four-part harmonies at all times, but I know from experience that drumming and singing at the same time takes a lot out of a body, so Rob could use some help from the other guys in the band. The music itself - hard-rock standards from the 60's, 70's and 80's - is easy enough in itself for me to learn. Hell, I've played nearly all of those songs at one time or another in my career, and sang several of them as well. The catch is that I've only sang them from the drummer's chair. I'd never fronted a band before.
Ever.
Was I nervous? Fuck yeah! But I've seen enough bar bands to know all the moves frontmen make. In simpler terms, I acted like a fucking maniac onstage, and sang my ass off for the length of the show. Afterwards, I was congratulated for my performance by my new bandmates and generally showered with praise. Mission fucking accomplished. So what do I make of this? Where does this go from here? Where do I go from here? Which band do you think I'm going to choose?
Why make me choose? Right now, this new band is something I can't take terribly seriously. I just can't. It's too fun right now. The work will come later, that's for sure. But they're bascially giving me the keys to the car in this band, and asking me for suggestions as to what material I want to bring into the group. I hope they're ready to learn 311's version of The Cure's Love Song, or Down's Ghosts Along The Mississippi, for starters. I'll come up with a list of songs in the next few days, and burn a CD for them to listen to while I'm gone next week.
And that's because I ain't leaving Steppen Stonz. Things are difficult for them right now, and they don't need things to be made worse by me bailing on them. They took the chance on me, after all. I think that they'll only be out of work for a little while, and then they'll be back with a vengeance. So why would I leave them when I'm convinced that while things suck now, they'll get better and better soon?
So I'll do both bands for the time being. I have my concerns about Dirty Joe, and those will only be answered with time. Mike and Arthur have weathered far worse times than this, so I know that they'll still be around. I think Mike and Arthur would be tickled to know that I'm a lead singer now myself. They'd probably laugh at my act, but not out of spite - I hope. But even if they did, I don't think I'd care that much. I have a saying, after all:
"I don't care if you're laughing with me or at me, so long as I've made you laugh."
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