Postby WildcatOne » Sun Mar 05, 2006 12:36 pm
Last night was strange. A very up and down experience. The way they have the "stage" set up on the patio at 5th street is they have 2 4X8 sheets of plywood in the corner...ONE SINGLE ELECTRICAL OUTLET that comes off of an extension cord that is run into the inside wall outlet...we ran a 2,000 watt PA system with a 100-foot snake cable hooked up to it, the mixer, 2 sets of 4 floodlight racks, 3 200 watt amps and 2 20 watt amps and 3 guitar effects processors out of that one plug...we hooked up 6 power strips to it...daisy-chained 'em. The "stage" wobbles around like an airwalk...everything wobbles...the drums, the amps, the mic stands, the musicians. You have to maintain your balance with your body and your equipment while trying to play. It's a BAD JOKE, man. Especially if you're drinking, which we were. There was a big crowd there for Shakedown's opening set and the Citykings' first set, which was the entire "Four Lifetimes" album done live. Weird monitor mix which threw us off on the harmonies. In the 4th song, "Follow The Leader", I broke a string...a brand-new set had just been put on Thursday night at practice...how that happened I have no idea, it just went boing. That sucked. I sucked, in fact, on guitar...my guitar would go out of tune on every song. We were outside, right next to Galveston Bay, in a humid and cool place with warm lights on us...the strings were expanding and contracting as soon as I'd tune 'em...I was mortified. Most of the crowd stayed until the Citykings finished doing the album, then there were about 25 people, including 2 from my class at the college, who stayed for the second set, which was much better than the first...we did our club set, doing our flat-out blues and rock 'n roll. My system came to life and we rocked out...HOWEVER, as bad as I say I was, and by my standards, I should fire myself for such a poor display of ham-fisted guitar playing, the whole place jumped all over me with praise and wonderment of how great we sounded. Willie had us mixed out front very cunningly and apparently he covered up a multitude of sins with his controlling the levels and pans and overall sound of the band. Willie saved my butt from playing the worst set I've done since I was on drugs back in the early 80s. Lynn just called to tell me how great the Citykings sounded. His sister was there and she called him to tell him how awesome our show was. What the hell. I mean, what the hell. He said we're the best original material band he's ever heard. We sold one box of CDs and were guaranteed our own night at 5th Street in May. We also unanimously decided to build a temporary stage by laying down 10 wooden pallets and screw some plywood on top of 'em...at least that'll stop the wobbling until Cynthia's (the owner's) daddy pays for the materials to build a frame and a floor out there. Jeez. As it is now, everything's in the dirt...all the cables, the amps, everything but the drums. It ends up being a spaghetti bowl of dirty cords...aaagh! I have to give great credit to Shakedown for playing a total kick-ass first set. Lynn was lit-up and he tore the place down and we all pulled out all the stops and did one of the best Brandi-less sets we've ever done...it was the Citykings who were a little shaky...that's showbiz. Next weekend it's going to be the Freedom River Band at the North Main Ice House in Baytown. That is one hell of a good time. I think the FRB is the new Beatles of Baytown or something. We got the world by the tail out there, man. Colorado is a well-known biker icon of their scene and this is his band. They've never heard Brandi...FRB is Shakedown without Brandi, with Colorado added. Boys' night out for the band. Life is good. WC1
Life Is Good!
http://www.peeweebowenband.com
Support Live Music!