I have a story to tell

[tnjazz]

Sorry, the last few 2 days have been very hectic.

OK, on with the show!

At almost exactly midnight, the band takes the stage. The first song is, of all things, a cover of "Maneater" by Hall & Oates...

Around the 10 minute mark, the semi-reggae treatment has morphed into a jammy and kind of spacey textured palette, and the band appears to be grooving. Everything looks great on the recorder and it sounds pretty good out in the house too.

From out of nowhere, the sound engineer appears and tells me he's going to run out and grab some food and come back. Not really sure why he came to tell me that (I'm side stage, nowhere near FOH) but I guess it was good to know the aircraft would be on autopilot for a short while. The sound engineer who handled the initial setup has already gone home for the night and won't be back, so I ask him who's going to cover the board and he says in case of emergency the lighting guys will cover it but he'll be right back anyway. I guess he hadn't eaten all day, and maybe he thought food would be provided to us?

So about 10 uneventful minutes later I look out and he's behind the board talking to the lighting guys. OK...maybe he changed his mind about running out.

I look over again about 2 minutes later...nope, nobody home. So the sound guy has left to get some food, apparently. About 5 minutes after that, the band wraps up the Hall & Oates cover (yes, 27 minutes worth of "woh-oh here she comes..." ) and suddenly starts wanting adjustments made to their monitors. Apparently no-one can hear anything up there. Not sure why it took them 27 minutes to come to that conclusion, but nonetheless there are a bunch of requests to adjust monitors.

Except the requests are falling on deaf ears. Or rather, absent ears. The sound man is nowhere to be found. I guess he figured all was well and he could cut out for a few minutes. Now I'm not going to comment on whether or not he should have stayed put or not, but I will say it kind of surprised me that the band would go nearly half an hour before wanting everything in their wedges adjusted.

So chaos ensues. No one knows where the soundman has gone (he told me McDonald's, but I have no idea where there might be one in that part of town). I go out front to try to help out and the house soundman has come out to try to help as well. A somewhat angry mob has formed around him, demanding to know why the music has stopped and to get him to start it up again.

Not being familiar with the board, the house soundman is trying to figure out how the mixes are set up. There aren't even enough channels for a talkback mic, so we unplug the "noise machine" (whatever that's going to be) for a temporary talkback. He instructs the band to move the monitors (physically) to their liking and to tell him what's coming out of each monitor so he can figure out what the individual mixes are. While this is going on, several people are trying to assist (not really) by complaining about the lack of music.

One gentleman in particular was rather insistent that things get going and he was going to take care of the soundman when he returned, or something like that. I told him to settle down, which he was none too pleased about. We finally had to tell him we're working on it. Just then a girl standing near the board says this "I think they should quit being such sissies and just play. It sounds good out here." The house engineer and I look at each other (speechless, yes) then he says to her "the sound out here has nothing to do with it, they can't play if they can't hear each other up on the stage." to which she gives us a blank stare and reiterates "well, it sounds good out here."

The band is yelling "where's the soundman?", the house engineer is trying to get the monitors working properly, band and crew members are moving monitors and creating serious cable hazards, and I'm just standing back taking it all in.

Near the end of the whole sordid saga of the soundcheck, the sound engineer returns. There is no bloodshed (luckily!) - everyone is past that point thank goodness. He quickly jumps in and gets the mixes up and running, and the band seems reasonably happy with what they're hearing. Everything is great. Perfect time to take a break right? Naturally. The band leaves the stage in preparation for their actual start.

In the meantime, we've identified a brutal buzzing coming from the second snare mic. There's no good reason for it, but it's the only channel making noise. So we yank the 201 from the second drum kit and replace it with an e609 (not really by choice - we had very few mics left to choose from and this was the best option). Check the line and the buzz is gone. Hooray! Time to rock! It's now edging towards 1am...

[bobwarren]

Originally Posted by tnjazz

At almost exactly midnight, the band takes the stage. The first song is, of all things, a cover of "Maneater" by Hall & Oates...

That's it!! End of story for me. I'm outta here. It can't get any worse than that!

J/K, please continue.

[Jules]

This long and spun out yarn is officially endorsed by Gearslutz.com

[mr.gefell]

mr.gefell loves hall & oates

[HEADROOM]

Reading this I have a serious Deja Vu.........

[bobwarren]

Dude, I can't let the sun go down tonight without more!

Oh yeah, thanks, Jules!

[tnjazz]

OK, so I think it's time to try to wrap this story up.

So it's a little before 1am and the band hasn't even started yet. I've been told by Jon that they usually play two sets of about an hour to an hour and 20. He's seen them several times in the past so he's the resident "expert" on the band. Wow, two sets starting at 1am? Surely there's a curfew, right? Most of the clubs in the area shut off the music at 2:30 or thereabouts. I guess that's so the folks living under the bridge can get a few Z's before daybreak?

So the band hits the stage, we press record and all is right with the world (except that I'm standing in a parking lot in a rather run down part of town at 1:00 in the morning with about $15,000 in gear in front of me...) In the middle of the first song someone shows up with a Mac and is asking for a DI. Ah, apparently this is the "noisemaker". We give him the last available channel and he falls right in to the swirly psychedelia going on. I run out to FOH to let the engineer know and he repatches the line from the temporary talkback mic.

After the first song comes the dreaded statement. "We're going to play until they shut us down - hopefully that won't be till the sun comes up." Check out the sample for evidence.

Oh boy. The band launches into the next song and I decide to head home for a while (take the g/f home and all, since it was WAY past her bedtime). While I'm gone Jon will be in charge of the rig. I tell him I'll be back in about an hour or so (secretly hoping that maybe by then the show will have come to a premature halt). There are about 20 people there at that point, not counting the band and the crew).

Go home, kick back for a few, get a few things in order for the next day's work and then back in the car to head downtown. As I near the downtown area a swarm of police cars with sirens blaring and lights flashing race past me. Naturally I can't help but think that maybe the party is over. An ambulance races by and immediately I get a bit worried. Cops? OK, no problem. Ambulance? Yikes - I hope no one got shot.

Luckily (I guess?) the cops and the ambulance race past the venue and head downtown. Well that's good news, I guess.

I get there right at set break. It's 2:15 and the band has just stopped playing. There are about 150 people milling around. "Where the hell did all these people come from?" There was a serious population explosion in the time I was gone, that's for sure. Edgar Winter had it right - They Only Come Out At Night. Some very freaky folks walking around in that parking lot. Luckily they were all very peaceful and there was no trouble.

No sooner do I reload the HD24 with a blank project then the band is back on stage for the second set. A 15 minute set break. I like this! The band cranks back up right at 2:30 and barrels through the second set. At various times during the evening, friends of the band came up on stage to freestyle over the textured grooves. It was interesting, for sure.

The band rocks out until about 4am (!) and another announcement is made : "they've told us they're shutting us down at 4:30, so we're going to play one more." I silently thank the Metro Police Department. Not because the band or the show was bad mind you, but because I'd been in that parking lot for 12 hours and we had an early (noon) call for a showcase the next day. We really wouldn't be out of there until the sun came up.

The band ends up playing two more songs, finishing right at 4:30. I press stop and just sit there for a minute (surveying the carnage). If we manage to get out of here with MOST of our gear I'll be happy. Willy nilly patching of cables in the rush to get things ready to go earlier has resulted in a mass tangle of cable all over the stage - some ours, some the property of the sound company. Sorting all this out will be a hell of a chore.

Amazingly enough it only took us about an hour to get everything done. Jon, the FOH engineer and myself coiled every cable and laid it down on the stage for later identification. We immediately packed up the mics of course, and when all was said and done we actually left with EVERYTHING we came with. I could not believe it.

Perhaps the most humorous moment was when Jon went to pull our power. Apparently the people in the front side of the venue thought he was a homeless guy who wanted to earn a few pennies by helping clean up. He went inside and they immediately started telling him "we're all cleaned up already, we don't need any help." Jon, I bet you didn't realize you looked like a homeless guy at 5am, did you?

Driving home at 5:30 am, the sun began to rise in the east and I was driving into the violet glow of dawn. I had a second wind at that point, but I knew it would only last long enough to unload the gear. We needed some sleep because we had a noon call for a 3pm showcase, plus we were supposed to record two sets that evening during the big GMA Week festivities.

Sunday is a whole 'nother story though. It's amazing how that one turned into a 12 hour day... - perhaps I can relay that one next? Promise it will be MUCH shorter. Like I said, Saturday was really the highlight of the entire weekend of craziness.

Attached are links to photos taken by Jon at the gig as well as a very quick rough mix of one of the songs. All photo credit is copyright 2007 by Jon Buffington.

Sample
Photos

The band's name is Corleone, and they are a local band here in Nashville. Live recordings are available on the Internet Archive if this type of music is your thing. Very nice guys and quite good players too. It would not surprise me at all if this band found a niche in the current jamband/trance scene.

So thanks to everyone for bearing with me. I just felt like exercising my creative writing talent (or lack thereof) and I decided the story would make an interesting serial. Hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Comments are welcome.

[JP66]

great story!

[big country]

you should write a book

[bobwarren]

A pleasure!

[Sounds Great]

Originally Posted by tnjazz

As I near the downtown area a swarm of police cars with sirens blaring and lights flashing race past me. Naturally I can't help but think that maybe the party is over.

Hahaaha!!

That alone was worth the entire read.

Thanks for the story.

[midnightsun]

well done

[Berolzheimer]

Great pics but- where are the drummers?

[bcgood]

Three cheers, hip, hip hurray! That was a great read. Very cool to hear the clips and look at the photos as well. Aren't we living in a cool time period? I mean, ten years ago I would have been happy to read about that in a music magazine that I subscribed to. Now I get to read the whole story, hear clips and see photos all for free on the web. Thanks again for posting that.

I thought the band sounded pretty cool. I just wish the drummer played on time, everyone else sounded pretty tight especially the conga player.

bcgood

[tnjazz]

Originally Posted by bcgood

I thought the band sounded pretty cool. I just wish the drummer played on time, everyone else sounded pretty tight especially the conga player.

I think that despite the return of the FOH engineer prior to the set, the drummers were still having a difficult time hearing each other. There were quite a few dropped beats and as we were packing up at the end of the night the band was still grumbling a bit how the monitors were a lot better than they were, but still not where they needed it to be.

Also, this band apparently does not normally play with both drummers together, so that may have also been a contributing factor.

Originally Posted by Berolzheimer

Great pics but- where are the drummers?

I didn't take any photos outside of the 4 or 5 to show the initial setup. Perhaps Jon did take a couple of the drummers and can share one or two. Hopefully he didn't take one of me when the 609 fell onto the snare. I managed to knock over the cymbal stand trying to re-adjust it in the middle of the second set during a long jam (yes I left that part out of the story ...perhaps not one of my finer moments )

[tnjazz]

More photos have been posted, including shots of the drummers, AND one of the World's Largest Adult Bookstore!

http://www.bigpurpledog.com/images/photos2.zip

[Jim vanBergen]

Dirk, love the story. Great work!

I've been doing one of these stupid gigs (except this one HAD a budget!) the last five days...I'm off to sleep. Great to read tine finale!

[Remoteness]

Originally Posted by Jim vanBergen

Dirk, love the story. Great work!

I've been doing one of these stupid gigs (except this one HAD a budget!) the last five days...I'm off to sleep. Great to read tine finale!

Yeah, but it have one of the World's Largest Adult Bookstore?

[gpcramseysoral]

Great Story, unfortunatly sounds familiar.

[Guarnanene]

lol, great story..

I was not expecting that genre of music.......I was expecting some hard-core crap....


what is a decent band like that doing playing a gig in a bad part of town, during the night?

looking at the pictures, that is a seriously nice setup for 150 people in the middle of the night...what a weird gig...

[tnjazz]

I've gotten several PM's about this, and it seems I've left out an important detail.

We were paid after we finished packing up the stage.

In cash.

I continue to welcome comments, both here in the thread and via PM.

Thanks again.

[amost]

Originally Posted by tnjazz

OK, so here's the first question: who plans an outdoor event RIGHT NEXT TO A FREEWAY ONRAMP?

Where was that...like 4th Ave. or something???

[tnjazz]

Originally Posted by amost

Where was that...like 4th Ave. or something???

yes

[Jim vanBergen]

Originally Posted by tnjazz

We were paid after we finished packing up the stage.

In cash.

Then it was an excellent gig after all! Raise your rates for these guys next time, huh?


Glad you did not get the short stick!!

JvB

[Remoteness]

Originally Posted by stirinthesauce

Edit: deleted at the request of revealing too much of the story

Damn, I wish someone quoted you on this one.

[tnjazz]

Originally Posted by Remoteness

Damn, I wish someone quoted you on this one.

Nah. I *eventually* covered everything he mentioned. Unless of course you wanted me to just get on with it too...

You want a real story (nightmare, actually) I should tell you about my video shoot this past Friday night when someone just walked off with the pro DV cam during a short break in the action...

[santibanks]

haha very cool story though I would be scared if everything will be alright. Especially concidering the place and the amount of gear there...

[longfade]

This is what I love about GS: I type in "Ramsa" in the search field and get great stuff like this! Great story, man. I love the fact that you're still able to kind of reflect positively on the whole thing AND say good things about the band. Classy.

[Remoteness]

The glass is always half full until it's half empty!