Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I used to play with musical-comedy group "The Arrogant Worms" and when we were starting out, we of course took any gig that was offered to us. One was a Christmas party for a local business. The attendees weren't really interested in our foolishness (which was fine), but it got a bit uncomfortable when the owner (who had hired us), told everyone to stop talking, drinking, eating etc. and to pay attention to us. That was a bit awkward.
Another time we were booked in a pub at McGill University in Montreal on a Saturday night. After waiting for the hockey game on TV to finish, (this is Canada after all), we started our act. About half way through our first set, a guy in the audience yells out "Hey, put on some dance music!". At the break the pub manager admitted he mis-booked us and told us not to worry about finishing the night (he did pay us in full though!).
But from a personal standpoint, the strangest experience was playing a bonspiel with the Worms. For those who may not know, a bonspiel is a curling tournament, which usually ends up in a bunch of folks sitting around a lounge drinking beer. I used to do a number called "Miss Texas" where I sang about my love for a mythical beauty queen in a tortured strangled voice - it was pretty funny, but very hard on my vocal chords. We ended up getting called back for an encore and we asked the audience which song they'd like to hear again (we were a bit short on material), and of course they chose.... "Miss Texas". Having a bunch of half-looped curlers cheer me on while I shredded my voice was a bit surreal to say the least!

I once had a string break in the middle of a song. Crazy times, man... crazy.

Clint wrote:.... Oh yeah, the guy with the concussion was listed as AWOL from Ft. Hood until he was found, three days later, wandering around an airport somewhere in Kansas.

Thanks for filling in the details. I've often wondered how I got out here.

JimK

kiramdear wrote:Hard to choose from so many in my career, and the weirdest are unfit for print. Maybe it's easier to describe the one or two times when I felt "normal".

The one gig I felt normal I didn't enjoy
I know exactly what you mean by "unfit for print".

Greg, I completely understand what you are talking about. One of the bands I was in had a member who was the American version of Joe from Hard Core Logo. Egadz.

JakeK wrote:
I told him he'd never look at an Epiphone again if he picked up a Rickenbacker. And he said, "I love my Epi's. I wouldn't go for something I've never heard of!"

+1 on not knocking the Epiphones...

[quote="scotty"]
I might also add that he was a toss pot!
quote]

Can I get a translation please?

My first band wrote and played what we considered "progressive" rock, that is we'd have about 10 different parts in each song, in different tempos and time signatures. Anyways, we were playing at a dive on Ventura Blvd., and some people started to dance, only to give us a dirty look and walk back to their barstools when the timing changed to the un-dancable.

Bout the third song, the drummer demands we play everything in straight dance tempo. We don't, he does. Dirty looks from the bartender, who suggests after our set we wouldn't be coming back.

jingle_jangle wrote:Weird gig memory?

Here's one:

I'd been with North of Malibu a few months, when we booked a gig at a dinner at what I understood was a "private school". I got a mental impression of some exclusive place with ivy-covered walls and red-brick Tudor buildings and huge halls with their rafters lost in shadows many hundreds of feet overhead. Maybe it was because I was reading the fifth book in the Potter series at the time...

The evening of the gig, we showed up an hour early to set up. It was a small church hall-type place. Oops. We wheeled our first load of big amps and PA system to the door, led by George and his giant '68 Dual Showman cabinet, which was almost as tall as we were...we knocked on the door.

It was answered by a tiny, blue-haired lady well into her 70s, who looked up at George and asked in a quavering voice, her eyes big as saucers, "Oh, you have amplifiers?" We traded glances and made our way into the hall, where about two dozen really senior citizens were having a quiet potluck supper.

We set up and played one song with the amps set on about 2 1/2, then another at 1 1/2, and a final three songs with the amps at 1. Then we were asked by the organizers to sit down and eat.

Then we packed up and left.

The food was good...I swiped some extra deserts to take home...a couple of things I remember about that "gig" First song up was Penetration... Eight bars in a guy comes up and starts jabbing me in the arm and yelling "turn down"..we kept playing... I had a "little talk" with the fellow after the song and he chilled. The school is a private 1-8th grade and their were a number of parents there who were not that old...but they brought "their parents" doh.. After we ate we came back and played a very quiet version of Sleepwalk and actually sold one cd..hah!

Jerry
Toss pot = idiot
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tosspot

scotty wrote:Jerry
Toss pot = idiot
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tosspot

Ha!