It’s noon. Two cups of coffee into the deal, running behind and I haven’t even started yet. I am embracing the luxury of ignoring the notion of organizational thought. I’ll deal with things as they come up, for today.
I didn’t know that there is a Thirst N’ Howl gig tonight. I didn’t find out until the second set last night that we are playing at Cody’s tonight. So be it. I’m glad to go play.
Last night was kind of a strange trip. The crowd was pretty thin but, they were digging everything we did. The club has a nice, elevated stage and good (JBL?) main speakers that are hung from the ceiling. It’s nice because we don’t have to drag our own speakers in.
So, we got all the stuff set up, pressed for time a bit and, I started running through some guitar stuff to acclimate my ears to the room. I always try to wait until after the P.A. is set up to do this and I didn’t have much time. So, I give all my pedals a quick run through (wah, comp, delay), play some clean stuff, some dirty stuff and, the woman that owns the place walks up to the stage and says; “If you’re testing to see if it’s loud enough, believe me, it’s plenty loud.” The thing is, at this point, I know that Allen has the mains up so my guitar is going out front and, I know that he will also be turning it down. I know all that. But, she’s just probably stressed because business is down in general and, she doesn’t want to lose what crowd she has blah, blah, blah…Anyway, what she’s hearing for those 30 seconds or so, isn’t going to reflect the level that it’s going to be. But, I have to do it to see if everything is working. It was an awkward moment and, I don’t like starting the night that way.
Here’s the deal on the stage volume, here’s what I’ve figured out after 30 years; you find the level where your amp starts to sing and, don’t push past that. Leave yourself some headroom for when the drummer gets happy and that’s it. I use the same volume settings at every venue and I never turn up during the night. If it needs to be louder for the room, bring it up through the mains.
I’m getting to appreciate these Joe Barden pickups more and more, by the way. I can have my guitar’s volume knob on around 3/4 and it still sounds good for lead stuff. It’s a little brighter when you do that but, roll off the highs on the guitar’s tone knob and you get pretty much the same tonal thing as when the volume is full on. So, I’m able to control all that I need to without ever touching the amp. There is an amazing tonal palette between the two pickups with the Barden’s. I have more options, for good usable sounds, than on any guitar I’ve ever had.
So, we played the gig, loaded up and got out of there about 1:30. I rode with Allen last night and he asked me if I wanted to drive back to his house in Branson, where my car was parked. It’s about a 40 minute drive. As I took the exit off of 65, I got pulled over by a cop. Beautiful. The guy walks up, shines the flashlight in my bleary eyes; “Do you know why I pulled you over this morning?” I really didn’t and he told me that I was speeding, the limit is 65 at the city line. “How fast was I going?” He told me I was doing 75. I didn’t have my license with me because, I left it in my car. I got kind of a George Costanza wallet thing going on and I don’t like to tote it around if I don’t have to.
The cop wrote down my vital info and went back to the cruiser. Allen says, “I don’t think you were speeding, I was keeping an eye on the speedometer.” I didn’t think I was either and the cop was coming from the other direction as I was hitting the exit. I’m pretty sure I wasn’t hitting 75 on the ramp. Meanwhile another cruiser shows up and there’s two sets of flashing lights behind us.
We sit there for 20 minutes or so while the guy checks my bona fides and it just sucks waiting there with the lights flashing. It’s the longest 20 minutes, you know? The cop comes back and says; “I smelled alcohol when I pulled you over, Have either of you been drinking?” Allen had a few beers at the club but, none for me. So, the guy gives me the “follow my finger with your eyes” test and says, “good enough for me”. Let’s me go with no ticket for speeding, nothing. “Just casting the net” as Allen says.
I got to Allen’s, got in my car and a few blocks out of his place, I see the same two cruisers with another victim. Rave on Branson PD, keep castin’ that net.
I stopped at a quick shop to buy some smokes and a lighter because I left that stuff in Allen’s truck after the shuffle. And, oh yeah, last night for some reason I decided to wear my 44-year-old-guy-who could stand to lose a few pounds, version of rock and roll jeans. I got this one pair of faded black jeans that have a hole worn above the knee that looks like it’s meant to be there. I haven’t worn them in forever but, all night long I kept thinking, “damn these jeans a comfortable, I got to wear these more often.”
I went to take a leak and as I was buttoning back up, the damn button goes flying across the floor. What do you do in that situation? Well, here’s what I did; pulled the zipper up as far as I could, without the button being there anymore, tightened my belt as tight as I could, pulled my shirt down, went out in to the store, grabbed a half-gallon of Blue Bunny “Bunny Tracks” ice cream (screw it, just blew out my last rock and roll jeans, why the hell not?), bought a mini Bic lighter and a pack of Pall Mall’s, all while inconspicuously holding my belt with my left hand and hit the road. Got back to the Winnebago about 3:45 and the ice cream was getting just a bit melty which, is exactly how it’s best in my opinion, ate a little right out of the carton and then slept like a rock.
We’ll go and give it another shot tonight.
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Tags: Guitar, Joe Barden pickups, Thirst n' Howl, Winnebago
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