We had our first "real" gig tonight. By real, I mean that I got cold-called by somebody who had heard about us second-hand, and wanted to hire us. Also, by real, I mean we had a two-part show, the social hour when nobody would be listening to us and the Big Show after dinner where the room would be quiet and all eyes would be on us.
We accepted the gig, but made sure our patron understood we wouldn't accept payment, because frankly, we're not there yet. I don't know about the rest of the band, but I was just happy for the opportunity, and it was pretty cool that this particular person thought of us.We have worked for about the past month on learning some new songs, so our set list went like this:
Social Hour
- Keep On The Sunny Side
- Banjo In The Hollow
- Cripple Creek
- Roll In My Sweet Baby's Arms
- Dooley
- Boil The Cabbages
- Clinch Mountain Backstep
- Dueling Banjos
The Big Show
- Foggy Mountain Breakdown
- Get Out The Map
- Arkansas Traveler
- Love Of The Common People
- Uncle Chuck's Band
- I'll Fly Away
We'd have been there roughly on time if we hadn't gotten lost. Mapquest apparently doesn't actually know its way around Tacoma. So, instead of getting there at 5:00 or 5:10 and being able to set up and tune at a reasonable pace, we got there at 5:25, and had to hurry. By the time we got to the place, I was already bat-shit looney, and the adrenaline was flowing. So, when it was time to start playing, I was in a state, and not a good one.
We played the social hour set, and did pretty okay. But, see, nobody was really listening. So, nothing to be nervous about. Barb did great with the opening mandolin solo on Keep On The Sunny Side and we were off and running. We skipped Clinch Mountain, and went right into Banjo In The Hollow, which went okay, except I forgot that we had dropped the fiddle break in that one, but we recovered and I don't think anybody noticed. Cripple Creek went great, Roll In My Sweet Baby's Arms went fine. We skipped Dueling Banjos, and played Dooley, which went really well considering I threw it onto the set list kind of as an afterthought. Our closer, Boil The Cabbages, we all know really well, and we got applause for that one.We had a little more time that I thought we had, so Chuck and I went ahead and played Clinch Mountain Backstep, which went predictably south, but it was okay because a) nobody was listening, and b) the Grand Master of Masons in Washington wanted to shake my hand in the middle of the song. (After we finished that one, I went over and greeted him, with picks still on. I'm not sure what was up with that.)
Since there was still a little time before dinner, Joe and I did Dueling Banjos, which went better than it did at dress, so that was really cool.So, at halftime, the score was Band - 1, Room - 0.
We had a lovely dinner of swiss steak and all the usual trimmings, and of course, there was cake. I even had a gin and tonic, hoping that it might calm me down a little bit.It didn't work. At all.
Faux pas #1: Some guy was talking guitars with me, and I missed our introduction. That was just brilliant.So, I introduced our first piece, Foggy Mountain Breakdown and launched right into it. I've probably played this song at least a million times, and I can practically play it in my sleep. I mean, really, I can just throw it on autopilot and even smile at the crowd, usually. Not tonight. The opening was crap, my first break was tenuous at best, by the second one, I was playing it as well as I was eight months ago, and then it was time for Chuck's fiddle break, so I tried to regroup. When his break was over, I tried to rehabilitate my opening breaks by playing them right this time, and postponed the cool up-the-neck break for the next one.
That turned out to be a really bad idea, because after Joe's dobro break, I played the cool up-the-neck break really badly, and then for no good reason decided the song was over. Never mind that Chuck had another fiddle break _and_ I had another break after that. So, the band's still playing after I finish with the big flourish.Shit.
I mean, really. It takes no talent to read and execute a lead sheet. None at all; it only requires one to be aware of the surrounding world. And, I jacked it up. It made a very nice first impression. The kicker is, I have no idea how the rest of the band did on that one. :(So, I introduced Cheryl and we started Get Out The Map. Well, until I realized that I hadn't capo'd up. Faux pas #2: I stopped us, made a weak joke about the banjo player being the dumb one, and put my capo on.
Well, surprisingly, after a bit of a rocky start, I think we did okay on that one, and Cheryl sounded great, and I think we got some applause. I managed not to totally munge the ending, which I guess is a victory of sorts.So, the next song was Arkansas Traveler. Our arrangement is pretty much a rip-off of the one on Michelle Shocked's album; we play a verse of Arkansas Traveler, and then there's a joke, and then another verse, and another joke, repeat until you run out of jokes, and then the big finish. We got the jokes pretty good, but our little breaks were, again, pretty tenuous, and we were really close to just falling apart. Faux pas #3: Playing a song with 7 break/jokes too slowly and without enough preparation. We pretty much lost the audience about half way through this one. It's too long, we're going to have to shorten it, or we're going to have to play it much faster and much better to hold their interest. I think we can rehabilitate it, though.
As I was switching from banjo to guitar for the next song, and introducing the song, I got a tap on the should from our patron, and he said "The Grand Master would like to move on to the next part of the meeting as it's getting late, so one more song."I'll never know if it was really a time thing, or if somebody hit the gong on us, but in any case it was definitely not confidence-inspiring.
I made a command decision, and we scrapped Love of the Common People and Uncle Chuck's Band, which is really sad, as Cheryl and I kick ass on the former, and the whole band kicks ass on the latter. But, I felt like this room really wanted I'll Fly Away. This turned out to be good judgment, because we are _startlingly_ good on this song. I never expected it, but I'm so proud of the band on this one. It was awesome, and we got good applause. I made some parting remarks (needs more applause, please) and we were out of there.Okay, so, all of that should tell you where my head was the whole night. I wasn't much of a band-leader tonight, I was just a banjo player struggling with my time to suck or shine, and, well, I didn't shine.
I think if I'd had a better idea of just how much music they really wanted, I could have done a better job of putting together a show. I think we could have planned four songs for the Big Show, and done them really well. But, because I was under the impression that they wanted a half-hour, I had to scramble around and put some marginal songs in the rotation.Anyway, I'm not sure exactly what my point is, but really, I just want to express how frustrated I am with my inability to be a leader under pressure, and my inability to make my hands do what they need to do when I'm stressed.
As I make this post, I'm not sure I can do this any more. :(
1 comment:
It is charitable of you to blame getting lost on Mapquest instead of on me sending you totally the wrong way! :)
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