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2econd Story / Blog

November 6, 2010 - Issues, DeLand, FL

SET LIST The Road of Any End Over It Girl You Walk In Little Light Dancer in the Wake She Says More to Me Than I FACES WE RECOGNIZED Mark and June, Darin and Shenese, Julie, and Steve I'll start by saying "10th Annual DeLand Original Music Festival?" Where have I been for the last nine years? What a great opportunity for all kinds of singer-songwriters, performers, and bands to get out on a stage (or 26 different stages) and show the world what they're made of. After having been through a phase in our careers where we got used to stage managers and techs, all communicating through headsets, it's been an interesting experience to start over again. We're having to adjust our expectations. Outside of not really knowing how to get our equipment loaded in and knowing where to park without getting towed, and wondering whether anyone coming to see us would be faced with a cover charge, the real fun began quickly enough. As we began loading into the club, we realized there was one outlet that was powering everything. Understand that I don't mean one plate with six or eight outlets running off of different breakers; I mean one physical outlet, into which was plugged a power strip. This was powering the PA and all the stage gear. As we were setting up, i asked the sound man about the one monitor wedge on the floor. He told me that the horn blew up in one of the PA cabinets so he had to use one of the monitor wedges for the high end of the sound. That left us with one monitor wedge to share between Chris and me. Fortunately, Monie has his own in-ear monitor system. Next, Monie told me he forgot his cymbals. Great googley moogley. Now we were in a mad scramble to borrow cymbals from another band, which all worked out. We used to say that if the technical stuff was a real nightmare, it meant that we would have a good show. Maybe it's because the nerves and adrenaline are all haywire, so it gets transformed into stage energy. Whatever the case, the set felt good. For a room that has a rough reputation, it seemed as if we had won the room over. The grace under pressure award goes to Chris. His strap bead broke on his guitar during the last song of the set, but he still pulled off the rest of the song. Guitar hero. After the show, we all went to Bellini's for dinner. Very happy that after all these years, it's still there. It's all about the tortellini alfredo. Then we walked around the rest of the festival to catch some of the other bands. As we were walking into the east gate, some guy body checked Monie in a big way, then turned and said, "Sorry, man." This meant that I spent the rest of the night body checking Monie and saying, "Oh, sorry, man." Between said body checkings, a girl walked right up to my face and said, "Are you hot? NO!" Not that I have a problem with my self-image or anything, but this was truly bizarre. Anyway, this meant that Monie spent the rest of the night asking me, "Are you hot?" The Andretti award goes to Julie, who came all the way in from Jacksonville. Super trouper.

October 2, 2010 - Shotski's, Winter Springs, FL

SET LIST The Road of Any End Over It Girl You Walk In Little Light Don't Change Dancer in the Wake Rearviewmirror She Says More to Me Than I FACES WE RECOGNIZED Mark, June, Jeff, Gabriela, Dan, Angie, Brad, Julie, Loren, George, Patti, Jason, Stephen, and Angela Special thanks to Caerbannog for giving us the opportunity to play. It was great to get the set out in front of an audience for the first time. After we were done, we wanted to watch Caerbannog play their sets, but there was a guy cruising the bar trying to hook his daughter up with someone. All of us. Wow. Disturbing. We listened from outside. Chris had parked nose out in his parking space. There was a car parked behind him, and someone else parked nose-to-nose in front of him, presumably because they thought he was parked nose in. We're thinking the parking lot lines need to be clearer, and a special area designated for the parking-challenged.