Sunday, May 22, 2005
Knight's Cellar - Nine Months Later
A little over nine months ago, I was lugging equipment into Knight's Cellar in Spearfish for a show with the now defunct Patient 957. As I helped Mike and TSA set up in the same venue tonight, it was hard not to think back to that day last summer. My first thought was of a little incident, and though it didn't spell an end for P957, it was definitely an indication of problems we were having as a band at the time, problems that would come to a head about a month later.
But I don't want to give the indication that playing at Knight's Cellar tonight was full of bad memories. On the contrary, it brought back many good memories, and though many of those memories were good at the expense of JB, most were just of how fun it was to make music, even if you didn't always enjoy the company of all the people you were making music with.
TSA and I sat in with Mike Reardon in Spearfish tonight. I enjoy playing with TSA and I enjoy playing with MIke. The three of us together are really something special, though. I really get the best of everything when we play together. I get to just play harp and sing backups for Mike, which as I've stated many times before is really all I want to do, and I get to be out front on songs like Mojo and Are You Drinkin' With Me Jesus. Really, it's a perfect situation for me, I get to do something I'm really good at and get to do something that I'm getting better at. I'm never going to be that singer that people just have to hear, but I do OK. And backup singers and instrumentalists are a dime a dozen. Truthfully, either would probably get old. Getting to do both really makes things fresh.
Mike took the first set solo, calling me up to do a couple of tunes at the end. Fun stuff, really just playing harp and doing some limited backups until we launched into the Stones' Ruby Tuesday. We've only been playing that song for a couple of days now, but the harmonies have gotten really tight. So tight that Mike wanted to do the song again in the third set. I gladly agreed.
Second set is where we got to have some real fun. After leading off the set with me forgetting how to play Buffalo Springfield's For What it's Worth we settled in for some real fun. Hotel California gets just a little bit better everytime we play it. TSA's rhythm guitar is really coming along and if we play it more as a trio, I think it would get really strong. Mike even switched to bass for the end of the set for songs like Brian Wilson, I Will Survive and Got My Mojo Workin'. My voice trashed by the final song, TSA and I had a beer or two.
Mike again started the third set as TSA and I discussed songs we wished we'd done. At that point we sort of decided to hijack the final set. Once Mike called us back to the stage, we took over, playing the planned Two Condoms and the unplanned Vibrator Dependent and Rollin' & Tumblin'. All went over pretty well. We did a lot of songs that most of the people in attendence had never heard, but the audience seemed appreciative. OK, dirty material will generally work on a bar crowd, but it still feels good when it does work.
That, of course makes me wonder what we're going to do for the Heritage Festival. I know we won't be able to get away with Two Condoms at such a family oriented event. Hopefully the wackiness of Slappy is Jebus will survive as we clean it up a little bit. I'm sure we can attract attention even with a clean show, the main problem is coming up with an hour of material. I don't think 20 minutes of music and 40 minutes of amusing stories is going to cut it......
BOJ
But I don't want to give the indication that playing at Knight's Cellar tonight was full of bad memories. On the contrary, it brought back many good memories, and though many of those memories were good at the expense of JB, most were just of how fun it was to make music, even if you didn't always enjoy the company of all the people you were making music with.
TSA and I sat in with Mike Reardon in Spearfish tonight. I enjoy playing with TSA and I enjoy playing with MIke. The three of us together are really something special, though. I really get the best of everything when we play together. I get to just play harp and sing backups for Mike, which as I've stated many times before is really all I want to do, and I get to be out front on songs like Mojo and Are You Drinkin' With Me Jesus. Really, it's a perfect situation for me, I get to do something I'm really good at and get to do something that I'm getting better at. I'm never going to be that singer that people just have to hear, but I do OK. And backup singers and instrumentalists are a dime a dozen. Truthfully, either would probably get old. Getting to do both really makes things fresh.
Mike took the first set solo, calling me up to do a couple of tunes at the end. Fun stuff, really just playing harp and doing some limited backups until we launched into the Stones' Ruby Tuesday. We've only been playing that song for a couple of days now, but the harmonies have gotten really tight. So tight that Mike wanted to do the song again in the third set. I gladly agreed.
Second set is where we got to have some real fun. After leading off the set with me forgetting how to play Buffalo Springfield's For What it's Worth we settled in for some real fun. Hotel California gets just a little bit better everytime we play it. TSA's rhythm guitar is really coming along and if we play it more as a trio, I think it would get really strong. Mike even switched to bass for the end of the set for songs like Brian Wilson, I Will Survive and Got My Mojo Workin'. My voice trashed by the final song, TSA and I had a beer or two.
Mike again started the third set as TSA and I discussed songs we wished we'd done. At that point we sort of decided to hijack the final set. Once Mike called us back to the stage, we took over, playing the planned Two Condoms and the unplanned Vibrator Dependent and Rollin' & Tumblin'. All went over pretty well. We did a lot of songs that most of the people in attendence had never heard, but the audience seemed appreciative. OK, dirty material will generally work on a bar crowd, but it still feels good when it does work.
That, of course makes me wonder what we're going to do for the Heritage Festival. I know we won't be able to get away with Two Condoms at such a family oriented event. Hopefully the wackiness of Slappy is Jebus will survive as we clean it up a little bit. I'm sure we can attract attention even with a clean show, the main problem is coming up with an hour of material. I don't think 20 minutes of music and 40 minutes of amusing stories is going to cut it......
BOJ
# posted by Blind Orange Julius @ 2:49 AM 
