Live Muisc is No Place for Romance
If you read this blog, you will know that I used to run a club here in town, part of a company that we had, and I was, at the same time, a pretty decent musician, if not very experienced.
One of the guys in the company had his friends come play this club, and it was the Hole in the Wall, the one that we’re playing this weekend.
They were so enamored with the fact that they were playing there that you could see it in their load-in. They were just hemming and hawing, and laughing, and yucking it up while they set up their equipment. And you just knew they were gonna be terrible.
yep
And afterwards, they were taking pictures all over the place. It was really before the days of social media, kind of. Or else they would have been everywhere, and they would have been profile pics of some lawyer jamming out at a legitimate club.
I say all this because I have no romantic notions about a load-in at this point. I’m just trying to get my stuff set up and ready to go with enough time to sit there and do nothing for a little bit. And test and make sure that everything’s working like I thought it would.
And the gig? Preferably no pictures. Or certainly no composed pictures. Happy to be in a picture that somebody takes. But not looking to memorialize the gig with anything other than a good gig.
I say all this because I’m playing the middle stage, which is the big stage this weekend. And I just want to play well. I want to remember my parts. I want to support the drummer and the other instrumentalists as the bassist. I’ve got to lay the foundation, and that’s kind of it.
I have a DJ set right before it, and the DJ set the day after. So within 24 hours, I’ve got four, five, six, about nine hours of gigging. So I’m gonna be kaput, but I got everything ready already.
My DJ set is ready, anticipating not being able to stream. So all that is ready to go. Way ahead of the game, I think. I’m practiced up.
We have a rehearsal tomorrow for Buckdancer, and it should go well.
And I would guess—I think what I’m trying to say is—I’m very mechanistic about all this, because I’ve done the work, and I just want to show up and do the best job possible.
And I know because of the work I’ve done that it’s probably not possible for me to really shit the bed.
No romanticism of anything.
I’m just really happy to be in the place that I am and be doing what I’m doing this weekend. Somewhat proficiently.
This is not a place I thought I’d be at 55, and I am delighted.
So, a grateful post for September Tuesday.
Onward.