Friday, September 22, 2006

Gig Stories, Part 1

Here are some quotes I’ve heard over the years when playing gigs:

•“You guys are too loud; Could you turn it down an octave or two?”
•“Is this one of those ‘My-dee’ setups?” (he meant MIDI. A similar one a friend at Guitar Center shared with me recently: “Could I get an M-one-D-one cable?”)
•“Do you guys know _____________?” (insert one of the following: Freebird, Stairway to Heaven, Macarena, Electric Boogie, Achy Breaky Heart, Old Time Rock And Roll, Brown-Eyed Girl, Misty, etc.
•“Do you take requests? What songs do you play?” (This is a weird one. They basically want me to tell them our entire song list, so they can pick which song they want us to play next)
•“Play something else!”

The following usually start with the line “I’m a musician,” which usually prompts me to think “then why aren’t you working on a Saturday night?”:
•“Can I sit in with you? Do you know ‘Freebird’?” (This one often ends in disaster)
•“Can I play your guitar?”
•“I think there are some problems with your mix. The ________ isn’t loud enough.” (insert vocals, guitar, bass, or keyboards. They never say this about drums.)

Many of the above quotes are shouted at me while I’m in the middle of playing a guitar solo! More to come…..
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3 comments:

Ben Makinen said...

Here are some more "Do you know_____?"quotes, but this time from the band stand.

"Do you know_____?"

"... when our break is?"

"... the singer"s name?"

"... if I'm in the house mix?"

"... how much this gig pays?"

"... if we're getting fed on this one?"

"... that your girlfriend is dancing with some dude?"

Rod Kim said...

There could be an entire blog of this topic...here's my contributions from a keyboard/singer/songwriter from the East Coast:

"Play Piano Man!"

"You were amazing, I'm an agent and would like to talk to you about some serious opportunities, I currently represent an artist that is friends with the brother of a girl that is the president of the fan club for that other guy in N'Sync."

"I'm a musician too...oh...well, I don't play any instruments...no I don't really know how to read music, but man, isn't music about the soul? We should collaborate sometime."

I also especially find it amusing when your booking manager leaves the show 2 songs into a set drunk to go home with one of the guys playing pool.

Ben Makinen said...

This just in from the other night, as the tune was being counted off:

"Do you have a rain stick?"

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