Triple Shot of Tequila
Thursday, 06 May 2005
BenWahBob played at the Casa Gallardo mexican restaurant in South St. Louis County for their Cinco de Mayo festival. This seemed fitting, since the guitar player’s name is Carlos, si? We had taken our gear there the night before to load in with less crowd hassles. As I was standing around on the back parking lot talking with Dale and our soundman, Mike Stevenson, wondering where in the hell Carlos and Bobby were, they were sitting inside drinking margaritas wondering where in the hell we were. We worked it out after about half an hour, and loaded in the euipment.
We played Thursday night on a mezzanine overlooking the entire restaurant/bar. It was a bit cramped up there, but at least we were away from the drunks. The place was packed with youngsters (they’re all youngsters to me these days) partying like they didn’t have to go to work the next day. I remember those days... The atmosphere was quite festive, and everyone seemed to have a good time...well, everyone except Mike, who had an “incident” with his trailer while trying to park it. He made Carlos swear he would never call him again for one of these gigs.
Friday, 06 May 2005
The party celebrating the Battle of Puebla (not Mexican independence as some incorrectly assume) continued the following night at the Chevy’s mexican restaurant in the St. Louis Mills shopping mall. (If you’ve never been there, this mall is freaking HUGE!) We played on a stage erected outside at the end if the patio area. It was rather small. They said it was 10’x12’. I estimated it more like 8’x12’...at the most. Bobby had to set up his drums in one corner, and Carlos set up his guitar rig in the other, which, with the stairs coming up in the middle back, left me nowhere to put my bass amp. So I crammed it into the front corner next to Bobby’s drums, and stood sideways all night with cymbals crashing in my left ear.
This night was a little different than the previous. I guess everyone got there fill of partying the night before, because the place was dead all night. We had in our contract an additional hour at the end of the night if necessary. Needless to say, it wasn’t necessary. Mike had a better night, though. Load-in was much easier – right from the curb next to the patio. The manager came out during sound check to tell us that we were rattling the glassware on the shelves inside. Later in the evening, a waitress told us that he was sitting in his office – which was just the other side if the wall from the PA – holding on to everything and keeping the plugs for the computer and security systems from shaking out of the sockets on the wall. This news pleased Mike immensely, as he was heard saying, “My work here is done.” He just sat there and grinned the rest of the night. Well, except when we butchered a song we don’t play much, and he popped off over the monitors with “You really sliced that one deli-thin!” Uhh, yah.....thanks, Mike.
We stuck around at the end of the night to help Mike load out the PA. Then Carlos and I stood around for awhile in front of the NASCAR Speed Park shooting the bull about I-don’t-remember-what. I stopped off at White Castle on the way home for some of their fine cuisine, and didn’t get home until after 02:00 Saturday morning.
Saturday, 07 May 2005
Rusty’s in Edwardsville, IL was the venue for BenWahBob on this night. We have traditionally not had a good go at this place. This night was little exception. I rolled in a little early to get set up with plenty of time left to eat. Rusty’s has exceptionally good food, and I planned to partake of some. Unfortunately, I blew most of my spare time talking with the soundman. I knew Mike wasn’t going to do it, but wasn’t sure of the arrangements otherwise. I thought we might be doing it ourselves, but Mike set us up with a buddy of his. It turns out that it was Paul Finch, who was a sound tester in the Final Assembly Department at St. Louis Music when I started there. Some of the stories about Paul were legend at that place – some I even witnessed for myself (I’ll never forget the giant shrimp platter in the test booth). After initial introductions – I didn’t even recognize him at first because he has since shaved his head – we shot the bull for quite awhile, reliving old stories and talking about old co-workers.
I suddenly realized that I needed to eat. I also realized that I had forgotten to stop at the bank on the way there. So, off to the nearest ATM I went. When I got back, I settled on the chicken strips and fries; not particularly glamorous, considering it would be my last real meal for the next two weeks. My pushing of maximum density lately has prompted me to re-enter the Atkins diet Induction Phase this Sunday. So, no more carbs for two weeks. The lack of Dr. Pepper is going to kill me.
I finished my meal with just enough time to wash my hands, check the tuning on my bass, and start playing the first set. We started into the same sets we had played the two previous nights, and decided that later we would do some stuff we didn’t normally get to play. This was probably a mistake. We were...well...we were awful this night. Carlos and I both noticed the progression from night to night of us getting steadily worse. We were messing up simple stuff; forgetting where we were in songs, forgetting parts.....we looked and sounded like rank amateurs. Sad.
The crowd – and I use that term loosely – was sparse at best. There were some younger groups there early in the evening, but after midnight it was pretty much dead. The lack of crowd feedback two nights in a row was starting to wear on us, not to mention just playing three night in a row when we’re use to playing only twice a month. We even began at one point to bicker over tempo issues. We were like an old married couple.
Fortunately, the night did seem to go by pretty quickly, and was over before I realized it was already 02:00. A quick tear-down of my small rig and light trees and I was out of there. No Waffle House or McDonald’s this time. It was now Sunday morning...time to start eating fat and protein. I decided to just go to bed and eat something greasy in the morning.
Next weekend is another three-nighter, with Fairmount Park Ultra Thursdays (BWB) and Club 501 in Wood River, IL (KH) Friday and Saturday. It’s starting to feel like I’m back in Those1Guys again. Oh, well...maybe I can use the money from this month to buy a Chapman Stick.....maybe.
BenWahBob played at the Casa Gallardo mexican restaurant in South St. Louis County for their Cinco de Mayo festival. This seemed fitting, since the guitar player’s name is Carlos, si? We had taken our gear there the night before to load in with less crowd hassles. As I was standing around on the back parking lot talking with Dale and our soundman, Mike Stevenson, wondering where in the hell Carlos and Bobby were, they were sitting inside drinking margaritas wondering where in the hell we were. We worked it out after about half an hour, and loaded in the euipment.
We played Thursday night on a mezzanine overlooking the entire restaurant/bar. It was a bit cramped up there, but at least we were away from the drunks. The place was packed with youngsters (they’re all youngsters to me these days) partying like they didn’t have to go to work the next day. I remember those days... The atmosphere was quite festive, and everyone seemed to have a good time...well, everyone except Mike, who had an “incident” with his trailer while trying to park it. He made Carlos swear he would never call him again for one of these gigs.
Friday, 06 May 2005
The party celebrating the Battle of Puebla (not Mexican independence as some incorrectly assume) continued the following night at the Chevy’s mexican restaurant in the St. Louis Mills shopping mall. (If you’ve never been there, this mall is freaking HUGE!) We played on a stage erected outside at the end if the patio area. It was rather small. They said it was 10’x12’. I estimated it more like 8’x12’...at the most. Bobby had to set up his drums in one corner, and Carlos set up his guitar rig in the other, which, with the stairs coming up in the middle back, left me nowhere to put my bass amp. So I crammed it into the front corner next to Bobby’s drums, and stood sideways all night with cymbals crashing in my left ear.
This night was a little different than the previous. I guess everyone got there fill of partying the night before, because the place was dead all night. We had in our contract an additional hour at the end of the night if necessary. Needless to say, it wasn’t necessary. Mike had a better night, though. Load-in was much easier – right from the curb next to the patio. The manager came out during sound check to tell us that we were rattling the glassware on the shelves inside. Later in the evening, a waitress told us that he was sitting in his office – which was just the other side if the wall from the PA – holding on to everything and keeping the plugs for the computer and security systems from shaking out of the sockets on the wall. This news pleased Mike immensely, as he was heard saying, “My work here is done.” He just sat there and grinned the rest of the night. Well, except when we butchered a song we don’t play much, and he popped off over the monitors with “You really sliced that one deli-thin!” Uhh, yah.....thanks, Mike.
We stuck around at the end of the night to help Mike load out the PA. Then Carlos and I stood around for awhile in front of the NASCAR Speed Park shooting the bull about I-don’t-remember-what. I stopped off at White Castle on the way home for some of their fine cuisine, and didn’t get home until after 02:00 Saturday morning.
Saturday, 07 May 2005
Rusty’s in Edwardsville, IL was the venue for BenWahBob on this night. We have traditionally not had a good go at this place. This night was little exception. I rolled in a little early to get set up with plenty of time left to eat. Rusty’s has exceptionally good food, and I planned to partake of some. Unfortunately, I blew most of my spare time talking with the soundman. I knew Mike wasn’t going to do it, but wasn’t sure of the arrangements otherwise. I thought we might be doing it ourselves, but Mike set us up with a buddy of his. It turns out that it was Paul Finch, who was a sound tester in the Final Assembly Department at St. Louis Music when I started there. Some of the stories about Paul were legend at that place – some I even witnessed for myself (I’ll never forget the giant shrimp platter in the test booth). After initial introductions – I didn’t even recognize him at first because he has since shaved his head – we shot the bull for quite awhile, reliving old stories and talking about old co-workers.
I suddenly realized that I needed to eat. I also realized that I had forgotten to stop at the bank on the way there. So, off to the nearest ATM I went. When I got back, I settled on the chicken strips and fries; not particularly glamorous, considering it would be my last real meal for the next two weeks. My pushing of maximum density lately has prompted me to re-enter the Atkins diet Induction Phase this Sunday. So, no more carbs for two weeks. The lack of Dr. Pepper is going to kill me.
I finished my meal with just enough time to wash my hands, check the tuning on my bass, and start playing the first set. We started into the same sets we had played the two previous nights, and decided that later we would do some stuff we didn’t normally get to play. This was probably a mistake. We were...well...we were awful this night. Carlos and I both noticed the progression from night to night of us getting steadily worse. We were messing up simple stuff; forgetting where we were in songs, forgetting parts.....we looked and sounded like rank amateurs. Sad.
The crowd – and I use that term loosely – was sparse at best. There were some younger groups there early in the evening, but after midnight it was pretty much dead. The lack of crowd feedback two nights in a row was starting to wear on us, not to mention just playing three night in a row when we’re use to playing only twice a month. We even began at one point to bicker over tempo issues. We were like an old married couple.
Fortunately, the night did seem to go by pretty quickly, and was over before I realized it was already 02:00. A quick tear-down of my small rig and light trees and I was out of there. No Waffle House or McDonald’s this time. It was now Sunday morning...time to start eating fat and protein. I decided to just go to bed and eat something greasy in the morning.
Next weekend is another three-nighter, with Fairmount Park Ultra Thursdays (BWB) and Club 501 in Wood River, IL (KH) Friday and Saturday. It’s starting to feel like I’m back in Those1Guys again. Oh, well...maybe I can use the money from this month to buy a Chapman Stick.....maybe.
posted by Paul J. Smith | 12:36
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home