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Date: Sun 21 Oct, 2001 at 00:00
Headline: Bizarro Week
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Greetings and Salutations!
It was a surprise, to be sure...but a welcome one.
I had been dreading the Spanish Fork gig, for a number of reasons. It was
out of town, and no one in the band had ever heard of the club. It was
the first time we have done our own sound since John quit the band. It was
meant to be a 4 hour night and we only had about 2 dozen songs. And we were
all running EXTREMELY late that day.
OK, technically points 3 and 4 somewhat cancel each other out, but
still...I was riddled with anxiety.
However, it turned out being one of our more enjoyable gigs. The audience, which seemed to increase in size as the
evening wore on (not the usual way these things go), was very enthusiastic
and also helped fill the gaps in our setlist with their numerous requests.
Some we were able to grant, some not-so-much, but it was fun trying.
From the hard looking biker who wanted "anything rockin' and free" (we tried
Skynyrd...he said "not free enough" but still tipped us) to the trenchcoat
mafia-esque guy who wanted Ozzy and we obliged by butchering both "Crazy
Train" and "Paraniod", to the group of girls who who were delighted
to hear Barenaked Ladies' "One Week" (even though we had planned on playing
it anyway), we gave it all a shot.
My favorite part of the evening came when we took the stage while the
jukebox was still playing Shaggy's "Angel" and, noticing its very
stock chord progression, jammed with it while going through renditions of
nearly a half-dozen other pop tunes, including our own "In Between". It
proved to be a great segueway into the last set and kept everybody dancing.
It was also gratifying that our PA, cobbled together from various bits of
John and Tim's gear and never assembled before that night, was extreely low
maintenance and ran without a hitch. Plus, and this is an especially rare
occurence for an ostensibly "originals" band in Utah...we got paid a decent wage. Everyone
was in high spirits, both during and afterwards.
Earlier in the week, we played to a largely invisible crowd at The Urban
Lounge...which also ran counter to our expectations after the last show we
did there. I think two people stopped by to play pool sometime while we were
playing, but otherwise our audience consisted of the opening band, the bar
staff, and chirping insects. Still, the playing was fun.
On a non-musical note, I spent yesterday enjoying a Ultimate Male Rite Of
Passage that I'm told I should have already indulged in many years
ago...namely, watching all three Godfather movies for the first time. Long
story short: I liked the original the best, I didn't see why everyone
kvetched about Sofia Coppolla in the 3rd one, and the whole experience was
extremely cool with the exception of my cousin Travis being given a massive
head wound by a falling piece of statuary which had been pushed off of a
ledge by one of our friend's cats...then again, I suppose there is a
certain relevance to that occurence as well...
Preparations for the Red Cross Benefit are now in
full manic swing. More on that as it develops. If anyone wants advance
tickets to the event, feel free to contact us by clicking on my name below.
Also, we are going to be playing Halloween after all, at a place called Club
Expose. More on that later as well.
Until next time...
your humble correspondent
Thom Bowers
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