Last night we had our 12th annual pre-Thanksgiving bash featuring the always irrepressible Alan Griffith.This gig is always loads of fun with plenty of good music, loads of laughs and just a good time.
Bud Carroll was up from Huntington ( he is an absolutely great guitarist, look for a story on him in the spotlight section soon...) sitting in with us, and as usual he delivered the goods.
Opening the evening were a trio comprised of Jamie Adkins on electric guitar, Tom, a standup drummer, and a great bassist named Diane "Dynamite," no last name on either of them. They did a great Rockabilly set complete with truck driving songs, it was wonderful.
The second part of the show,with Alan on acoustic guitar, did his solo pieces and kept us all in stitches...he just ought do stand up comedy as part of his act because I swear, that man is a riot.
Before Alan finished up Jamie and Tom backed him up and they did a bevy of songs, from Dylan to Hasil Adkins.
During their set in walks a friend of mine who had been telling me about her friend who is fairly new in town, and has been searching for a band to be in or play with. Steve,"the bassist" proceeds to tell me that he's ready to play and that he's learned every song from our first CD "Long Live the Queen, and knows them backward and forward." Ok...!!!
I think this is a good spot to insert my disclaimer: what I'm about to say is true, the names won't be changed to protect the innocent, but if you ask anyone in attendance they will bear me out...
One of the greatest lessons that I've learned as a musician is before you just jump up and play with someone, listen to them first so that you'll have an idea of their style.Believe me folks, it ain't about territory.
When you listen, it's fairly easy to see whether a band that recorded a CD almost 10 years ago is still doing their songs the same way, so that if you decided to that you want to show off for your girl you'll at least half way sound credible (are ya gettin' where I'm goin' with this ?).
Well, needless to say, I'm a ham enough for anybody in my band, but we got served a hot dog for Thanksgiving.
Mr.Steve bassman was everywhere and then some, he took over the song list, he took over my chores as frontman, he took my drummer Jupie Little on the "plane ride from Hell," by God he was even a solid gold dancer.
I'm gonna add something that I rarely say publicly but only to a few choice friends...he wore my ass out ( if you could see me right now, I'm sitting on my legs 'cause I have no ass).
If all that weren't horrendous enough,then he wanted to stay on stage...for the duration.
Now don't get me wrong, I ain't some diva, and I'm by no means the greatest of musicians, not even in my warped mind; but I do at least know when it's time to say when, especially if it's not happening with a band. That just makes everyone in the room uncomfortable, and boy you could have cut that tension with your elbow...I've never had peanut butter that thick.
OK back to reality...it wasn't a total loss, there was a young man in the audience who asked us to do his favorite song which as it turned out, to be our song "Cryin' in the Streets," off of our new CD.He said that he was into Hip Hop primarily but this song really means alot to him...he was so moved by it that he purchased a copy of our new CD "Ants In Your Pants,"he was like a little kid on Christmas morning when I gave it to him.
I have alot to be thankful for, but my greatest thanks are for never having to eat hot dogs on Thanksgiving...and hopefully, never having been one.
Support Live music today tomorrow and always.
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Let me start by saying Charlie Tee is one of my favorite people. He's a good friend and great to hang out with, let along take the stage with. He is also one of my favorite musicians. He's a great singer, songwriter, saxaphonist, flutist, and all around entertainer.
I have known about this blog for some time, but had not gotten around to reading much of it. I now realize that I have been missing a lot. Charlie Tee's entries are well thought out, well written, and most of all, very entertaining and informative. There's a lot of stuff here that I truly relate to, being a musician myself. There are a lot of things here that are new information to me, as well. It's always good to get to learn from a more experienced musician's viewpoints.
The long and short of it is that I will spend more time reading this blog.
Can't wait to see you again, Charlie! And thanks for the wonderful comments about the River's Edge.
Phil
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