The Night Shift... Continues!

Here's where we go to kick back after the races with our pals. Pour a tall one, punch a few buttons on the jukebox, and relax...
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Re: The Night Shift... Continues!

Postby jim sanders » Thu Sep 09, 2010 9:07 pm

:D well this might be fun tomorrow night Cat..... JTP and his 3 piece band are playing in a local dive..... the drummer's wife is setting up a tri-pod video deal to be posted on youtube and i have been invited to tag along to sing at least one song on the vid :D ... out of the hat of songs we picked Pink Cadillac for me to do along with back up vocals from JTP and my cousin Dan......... maybe more..... I'll bee wearing one of D.A' s team shirts' that Barb sent me a while back for the video.......
GOOD TO GO !!
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Re: The Night Shift... Continues!

Postby WildcatOne » Thu Sep 09, 2010 10:04 pm

Great, Doc! Give my best to JTP and co. I look forward to viewing the youtube deal. Hope the gig goes well! JTP is an excellent musician...everything I've seen him do is great. I'm off this coming weekend. I have buddies who have gigs but I'm going to stay here and rest, maybe finish unpacking and try to organize stuff. I'll be on Racin' and Rockin' tomorrow evening with BP and Danny, should be fun. Been sitting in with one of Nick's bands, Macrocosm, on bass. There's a guy in that group that is amazing on synthesizer...he's creative and artistic with it...they like my style so it's cool for me to jam with them. They play by ear and they play by heart, which is my favorite kind of music. The kind that just happens, and it flows. I'm going to make a few adjustments to my bass (my buddy Steve gave it to me...it's a nice Jap Fender Precision, high-quality with some very potent pickups, it gets it), the low E-string needs to come up just a touch and the pickup pole piece needs to raise up a little more. I noticed when I was hitting some deep notes that the volume ain't there like it is on the other strings. All the years I played bass in those rock bands, I used a pick, but the years I was with the Kingfishers, Big City and The Citykings, I used my fingers to pluck the strings, now I'm jamming with these art bands and sometimes with OTA and I haven't once considered using a pick. I think I've learned to relax, or at least to concentrate on doing it right and not just copping a pose. This leads me to another subject: Practice. I believe that there is a difference between practicing and rehearsing. I've made a point to practice, do research, study and meditate on music theory every day. Sometimes I don't accomplish anything but to keep my hands loose and my head straight. But I've been playing with a band that wants to "practice"...I don't want to practice with a band. To me, it's a waste of time. Why not just play gigs? How many times have they played these songs? 3, maybe 400 times? I also don't use a music stand. I have a couple of notes that I tape to the keyboard. It kind of takes away from the show when you're going to play "Brown Sugar" and you have to find it in the 4" thick spiral notebook, then recite the song with a big music stand in front of you. It comes off different, ya know. It doesn't connect to the crowd. It shows how not ready you are for a big break...I guarantee you, the guys who wrote and performed the original songs that we're covering never used a music stand, ever. Why not memorize the material (by practicing it) and perform it straight to the crowd? Like you really mean it? What's the point of "practicing" as a band if you're not going to remember the songs well enough to play them without having a music stand with the song charted out in front of you? If we had some kind of show, I'd be OK with rehearsing the show...but they don't have a show...and this is not rehearsing. The way the Citykings rehearsed for a show was we did the whole show, double-time: song beginnings, vocal sections only (verses and choruses)...no solos...then end it and start the next song the same way. We got all 40 songs done in 2 hours and we were ready for the show and not burned out from "practicing". This band gets 2/3rds through the first set and they quibble over stuff that they'll never do onstage, go off on tangents, waste time drinking and talking, and it's an 80-mile round trip for me to do this, plus I'm booked with Pee Wee the same night their gig is...I'm going to have to stay home...I'm rambling. I love those guys but I want to play live. I've already practiced. Cheers, WC1
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Re: The Night Shift... Continues!

Postby WildcatOne » Mon Sep 13, 2010 11:38 am

Yesterday evening the same aforementioned band played a 30-minute set in Galveston at an open-mic showcase. The host of the jam is a great guy named Joe, his band is the house band in the sense that it's their back-line that is used for all the acts to work with...well, I brought my keyboard and my hundred-pound Twin Reverb amp...took me about 8 minutes to get all set-up and ready. Joe couldn't have been nicer, but he was a little confused about what band we were...he thought it was going to be Pee Wee and his band (we played there last Saturday night and he was there) and he was announcing us as such, but I pulled him aside and said no, it's THIS band...he was like, oh! OK! Anyway, with no "practice", no music stands and no set list, we played a house-rocking 30-minute set of kick-ass rock n' roll (Love The One you're With, Gimme Some Lovin', James Dean, Jenny (6345789), Balinese, One After 909, a couple of others that I don't remember, which means it was a great set). We rocked, we ruled, we won over a completely alien audience. Folks were coming up to us, thanking us for the set...Bikers, Regulars, Musicians, everybody...my own world was given a gigantic boost of confidence when a black gentleman well into his 70s pulled me aside and shook my hand and he talked into my ear: "I just wanted to tell you. You're the best I've ever seen." I was taken aback. I received similar compliments from the open-mic participants and I appreciated that, but I know that guy. He's been around a lot of the gigs I've played down there over the last several years, but this was the first time he'd ever seen me play keyboards. Joe the host was utterly flabbergasted...he expected me to play guitar...what's coming out about me now is that I've built this long-standing reputation around the Bay Area as a guitar player and now I'm showing up playing keyboards. It is confusing to folks at first but they immediately dig what I'm doing...yesterday evening was one of those gigs where I "let go"...I just kicked into it and played from the heart...it went over LARGE...well, glory is fleeting. I entertained thoughts on the drive back home (72 miles) of having my own band, of playing this song, that song, playing here, playing there, but I woke up this morning and put all those ideas to rest. I'm making great dough as a sideman and I don't have any of the headaches of a bandleader. If it works, don't fix it! It was a wonderful evening, and a great way to cap off a laid-back weekend. Congratulations to the Texans...monster win yesterday, I just hope they can be consistent all season with stuff like they showed in that game. Listening to the radio today, you'da thought they just won the Super Bowl... Cheers, WC1
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Re: The Night Shift... Continues!

Postby draglist » Mon Sep 13, 2010 6:00 pm

Great stuff as always John. I'm listening to you doing Hit Records with John Bockelman... awesome! I also took part of my relaxing Sunday to tag all the pics that I took last year in Houston when I visited you and Debby and Steve and Janice.... what a great time what was! bp
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Re: The Night Shift... Continues!

Postby WildcatOne » Mon Sep 13, 2010 8:09 pm

It's hard to believe that was more than a year ago...and yes, it was a great weekend! Thanks for linking 'em up on Facebook, too! You are family here and we all love ya. WC1
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Re: The Night Shift... Continues!

Postby WildcatOne » Tue Sep 28, 2010 10:32 pm

I probably mentioned earlier that following a personnel spasm in the band, I was assigned the keyboard slot. I was perfectly happy to do it. It's been challenging and the band's dynamics are much improved. We played 3 barrelhouse gigs last weekend and we recorded Saturday night's show for an upcoming live CD. Thing is, my keyboard started acting up on me. We'd be playing a ballad softly and it would suddenly crank out a LOUD note without me wanting to do it...that's a warning sign of upcoming keyboard woes. The sensors are wearing out, or the circuits are starting to get a short in them...now, I beat the living daylights outta these things. If one lasts 4 years, it's a miracle. I got this one in 2006 when the other one I was using got stolen out of Ludwig (Van). It was an off-the-shelf Yamaha PSR-something and it's served me well. But it was starting to wear out. So yesterday after much online research, I went to Guitar Center and bought a brand-new Yamaha PSR E-423, the best portable digital keyboard they make. I also got a gig bag for it. I should be good to go until mid-2014. This thing is amazing. It'll do far more than I need it for, but that's OK. I'm going to work up some presets and not have to dial everything up between songs. I have 3 seconds to readjust the keyboard before downbeat. The band plays and plays and plays and plays and plays. That's how our deal goes. Here's a Yamaha PSR E-423. It has 61 touch-sensitive keys...which I prefer way more than weighted keys. Once I played a touch-sensitive keyboard, I was hooked for life. It FEELS right. There are hundreds of sounds in this thing...the chip that makes all that stuff is probably no bigger than a Chiclet. This is gonna be fun! WC1
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Re: The Night Shift... Continues!

Postby draglist » Tue Sep 28, 2010 11:10 pm

Looks amazing, John (and I'm sure sounds even better). Congrats! bp
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Re: The Night Shift... Continues!

Postby 23t » Wed Sep 29, 2010 5:28 am

8) 8) 8) !!!!! Nice WC1!!

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Re: The Night Shift... Continues!

Postby WildcatOne » Wed Sep 29, 2010 9:11 am

Thank you. That was bought with some of the money I got from George's wreck back in July. Thanks, George...WC1
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