House Of Blues Chicago gig

bassduke49 · Post by **bassduke49** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 6:50 am

Boy, I'm spent. The place was fantastic. I don't know if they spiffed up an old opera house or if it was made new, but the facility was terrific. Big stage, good size dance floor with three bars on the main level, then two more levels above of mezzanine and boxes.

The really neat thing was the sound techies who set up all the mikes for the house PA; they really knew their stuff. The dressing room was two long floors up (pant pant), but they fed us off the menu and the food was fine. Fridges stocked with soda and water, TVs and the wildest Bayou art all over the place.

The crowd was pretty stiff, lots of suits and about 70 percent male. Polite applause after almost every tune, but not much cheering and merriment. All these folks had just done a long day on the convention floor and were facing more on Friday and Saturday. Second to last set, a few started dancing, then we got some requests and the crowd brought one slightly lubricated lady to go on stage to play tambourine to "Wild Night." Last set we had two young ladies come on stage for show on "Mustang Sally" (I know, many of you hate that song -- we do the Commitments arrangement), and they had fun.

Most of the tunes went over well, but our guitarist/vocalist lost his way in the middle of "Soul Man" and he went into the key change waaaaay before the rest of us were ready. Embarrassing.

Load out was quick and efficient. Freight elevator is just at backstage, leading into an underground alley system for delivery trucks, etc. I load the car, then discover the right rear is flat. They guys in the band helped out, but I ended up driving the 110 miles home on the limited service spare at 60mph. Got to bed at 1:30.

Obviously, I have today off.

Upshot: Great experience (good money, too), but lessons learned are to practice more and have everybody take notes on arrangements. I felt I did pretty well, a couple of missed notes with fumble fingers, but I got to dance around and mug the other members of the band, and got the drummer laughing (which isn't easy). The Ricks sounded great, of course.

So, next appearing at the MARC in Winchester Virginia November 5, please welcome . . . .

rickaddict · Post by **rickaddict** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 7:45 am

Hey Paul-

That sounds like a blast. I SO wanted to be there, but I knew it was a private party and I know they hire some huge ex-military guys for bouncers.

I was looking at my watch at 9:00 trying to think of how to sneak in: "Maybe if I walk in backwards past the bouncers"..."Maybe if I say I'm with the band and drop Paul's name"..."Maybe if I wear a suit and tell them I'm there for the party!"

Oh, well!

incubus2432 · Post by **incubus2432** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 7:45 am

Paul.....glad to hear that things went well. It's also nice to be fed and get refreshments along with an actual dressing room for a change. Too bad about the car trouble but at least you made it home safely!

The little flubs and stumbles are part of the fun....at least you didn't splay an artery open like I did at my 1st HOB appearance

.

jwr2 · Post by **jwr2** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 8:28 am

when I play out the lead singer / guitarist leads the song ... if he changes the structure then the band has to follow ... that becomes the right way to play that song ... if I get locked into the structure of the song and follow that then there is a problem ...

some lead singers change stuff on the fly on purpose and some by accident ... either way the band has to follow ...

so congrats on a fun gig ...

jnbass · Post by **jnbass** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 9:13 am

no pix?

vito · Post by **vito** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 12:05 pm

ATTN PAUL :

I tried to send some pics of my shadow to the account you listed in your ebay message to me, but the email bounced. Shall I send them to your addy in your profile? Just let me know. There are a couple of pics up on the Shadow thread on the for sale page.

mike

mikeskiff AT comcast DOT net

beatlefan · Post by **beatlefan** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 12:58 pm

PIX!!!

Congrats, Paul....glad it turned out well!

kcole4001 · Post by **kcole4001** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 1:09 pm

Congrats on a successful show! If you & the drummer enjoyed it, then all went well.

bassduke49 · Post by **bassduke49** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 2:27 pm

Ok, the first of the (fuzzy) pics are in. I'll try to attach closeup of me taken from a digital video camera on the mezzanine. Better shot of the Cheyenne than of me (and that's just fine).

beatlefan · Post by **beatlefan** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 2:50 pm

LOVE the hat! That is YOU, Paul...definitely YOU!

nattiep · Post by **nattiep** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 3:10 pm

WOW! Beautiful bass! And yes, nice hat!

thx1955 · Post by **thx1955** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 3:17 pm

Great stuff Paul .... !!

rickenbrother · Post by **rickenbrother** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 3:19 pm

That's a cool pic Paul!
Glad you had a great gig. Knowing how modest you are about your playing, I'm sure your finger flubs were so minor that few people if any, possibly noticed. Flubs are part of playing live.

rickfan60 · Post by **rickfan60** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 3:36 pm

The Chicago HOB is in what used to be the movie theater that was part of the original Marina City complex. In the 60's, the (self contained) complex included a bowling alley, grocery store, dry cleaner/taylor, post office, and a restaurant. The theater is the only surviving piece. It is supposed to have great acoustics.

ken_swearingen · Post by **ken_swearingen** » Fri Oct 28, 2005 9:35 pm

congrats Paul, cool pic and yes,nice hat.