The Great Falls Balloon Festival Part 2: MaineStream

After I left the stage fresh from a Jeroba Jump performance, I packed up the guitar and amp and got my keyboards onto the stage. My setup for keyboards is such that I can stand up and play 3 keyboards on a double-tiered stand with a side stand for my mini-Korg. I usually have the top keyboard slanted so I can see the screen and play it easier with my lower digital piano, but tonight one of the techs made it flat and I only found out when I started playing (and I didn't want to risk moving it with one hand while playing a song).

 We opened the show and the sound was not there-- at least not for us through the floor monitors. The audience possibly received a good sound, but as a performer I can tell you that performing on a keyboard that sounds like a tin can makes you play differently. Knob changing and button pushing didn't help. The bass player mentioned that after Jeroba Jump, we sounded like half of a band. Of course, in reality we are missing members. I can only play so many keys at once with two arms!

 Here I am at the controls questioning patches and how to make a bigger sound every step of the way!

I left the stage that night tired and melancholy. The 80's band rocked and the pop band was less so. We can't play dance pop without legitimate dancing and audience participation... we had a small audience and very few dancers.

I breathe a sigh of relief knowing that 2 weeks of craziness is now over. There were highs and lows but I made it through. I look forward to more gigs with better planning. I will keep all readers informed.

Thanks!

Big Weekend! The Great Falls Balloon Festival Part1: Jeroba Jump

This past weekend (8/17-19) the Great Falls Balloon Festival was held in Lewiston/Auburn.
http://www.greatfallsballoonfestival.org/
Not only was I in a band that was headlining it Saturday night, but I was filling in for a guitar player for the band before that band. This is the story of that band: Jeroba Jump.

http://www.facebook.com/jerobajump

I knew about this band for a few years, as two of the members helped begin MaineStream (the bass player/singer Glenn is still with us). I heard they played 80's music, so of course I was interested. Yes, I was brought up on leather, girls dancing on cars, excessive money and leopard print vests over bare chests (writing this feels gross)-- I wanted to be on stage in Def Leppard when I was 10 so now I had my chance!

Here was the stage as I was setting up. The place was mobbed with people-- maybe 5k or so surrounding hot air balloons and eating fried foods. It was hard getting the equipment to the stage and once we were there we were trapped. Luckily, an RV was rented so we did have a place to compose ourselves.

 Here, my wife with little man Christian and Justin (the programmer for this website) are eating fried dough and relaxing.

Somehow the door in the back was broken or off its slide. No one I knew used that bathroom!

I practiced with Jeroba Jump earlier that day and was comfortable with the songs-- rock songs from the depths of the 80's!
We took the stage, set up, and of course there were issues with sound and a pedal not working, but we started playing and all of the faces looked at us.

 Right at the end of the first song the drummer shot off streamers into the audience (and the bassist). Everyone was screaming after each song-- I had to play it up!

 Yes... I used my Jem for the show-- of course I had to! I hope a few people noticed what I was playing and  were wondering if I also liked Steve Vai or I was too young to know about him.

I had fun and the sound was amazing! Jeroba Jump is awesome and I hope to play with them again soon. Of course, I was only sitting in for this gig, but if they need to play White Lion or more Def Leppard, then I am there!

Thanks!

String Trio Wedding in Bridgton, ME

On 8/11, prior to a performance of "Aida", I played a wedding as part of a string trio with two other musicians from the now defunct AVCO. It took weeks to find music that sounded like it fit and that everyone could play. We began as a quartet but lost our cello player due to bad eye surgery. Our viola player switched to a bass viol and it became a lesson in dynamics between our modern strings and her gut strings.
The wedding had to be rushed because of an approaching storm so we played very little. Still, it was a pretty service and I did find a new love for Corelli's music!

You may leave a gig with a bad feeling of a lost performance or a rushed presentation, but you cannot deny that your effort meant more than anything to those you played for. Put your heart into all you do and you will never have regrets, just lessons learned.

Thanks!

Backtrack: Back in the Crow's Nest at CLT!

This began 2 weeks ago and just finished yesterday.. I played in the "Aida" pit for CLT. The rehearsals (that began nightly from 7/29 on) went well and there was the usual pit relocation that always happens when fire lanes must be opened or hearing issues occur. I ended up in my "Children of Eden" spot in a corner on a board which had a sole purpose of being staging for putting a light up on.
Here are the views I got to see.

In the end, I had a system worked out for playing out of 2 scores on 1 music stand sideways. I had to stand during the show and of course the only way up or down was to shimmy up two walls. Lesson to everyone-- stay in shape if you want to work at CLT.

Great show. Please check out future productions. Maybe see me in the crow's nest for "The Whiz"?

http://www.laclt.com/

Thanks!

Playing catch up!

These past two weeks have been hectic! I have been in a play almost nightly, played a wedding with a string trio, and played the Great Falls Balloon Festival in 2 bands (one of which was headlining).

I will blog about each as soon as I get acquainted with sitting down.

Back soon...

The Redneck "Blank"-- not a good year for our band

Last weekend was the Redneck "Blank"-- or some would call it the 2nd annual "Olympics".

http://www.maineredneck.biz/

MaineStream had this gig for a year, yet we had all broken up 3 weeks prior to the event. Explaining that will be for another time, although it is not too important. Glenn, the bass player and I, always in need of money, would not give up the gig so we remade the band with a new drummer and singer. It took a little while but we found two people that could do it, and rehearsals seemed promising.
Leading up to the event, everything seemed to be sounding great. At the event, it was another story.

Once again we were between metal bands. We went on prior to a wet t-shirt contest (basically naked women again), so no one was keen to watch us sing pop music. Two guys in the front kept screaming. "Last Song!". I had 10 minutes to rig up a mixer and 4 keyboards-- I couldn't get the sound right but it was already time to play.

Our setlist could fill an hour and 15 minutes-- we played for maybe 35 minutes. I couldn't hear my keyboards, the singer was glued to lyrics pages, and of course the band had general issues with missing parts of songs and endings. As for endings, I look around to cue everyone-- but when everyone is looking down at their instrument then it cannot end.

The Daily Show had cameras on us while we were playing and their aired something this past week about the event. It didn't include music, but the entire event was made fun of (as usual).
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-august-9-2012/double-wide-world-of-sports

This link will expire possibly in a month.

I left after our performance, and I am still a little nervous about our Balloon Fest. performance this approaching weekend-we are the main act!

Things will work out.

Thanks!