Friday February 22, 2008
Tasty World
Athens, GA
At almost 10 pm
on this night, I was trying to sleep in my comfy, comfy bed at home. At 11 pm I
was all dressed up and on stage at Tasty World. It was an absolutely strange and
otherworldly sensation. I was so sleepy. It had been three or four days without
rest. I had a fever today too so I guess I've got a little of whatever that
"going around" thing is. The insomnia stacked on top didn't help so I was out of
it. I briefly considered pulling out but I've been wanting to play with
Blue
Flashing Light for a long time. Knowing that it was benefit for the Red
Cross and Great Society was playing only encouraged me more. I did manage to get
a faux-adrenaline going in my mind and guess what? We pulled it off!
There was no
soundcheck with so many bands playing. We just set up and rolled. Unfortunately,
Steve The Soundman wasn't onstage with us to hear the monitor mix which was
absolutely the most unbearably bad sound I've ever had in the whole history of
the whole history of me playing live. So that coupled with my exhaustion and
grogginess didn't make it easy. We survived "The Only Way" and "Sometimes I'm
Sam" despite the fact that the only thing I could hear onstage was my guitar
blaring. And if I'm complaining about my guitar being too loud, you can only
imagine. I couldn't even hear the drums a few feet behind me. So basically, we
mimed our way through the opening.
When we finally
paused, we got a nice round of supportive applause. The sound out front was
apparently pretty good. I asked for a few monitor changes (usually a big no-no
for me but this was unsurviveable). About this time, Joe made it clear that his
humidity-ravaged guitar was utterly and hopelessly out of tune. So I rambled a
bit. It must've been a decent ramble because several people came on down to the
front of the stage.
When Joe was back in the game, we went off into "Rage On" which eventually
landed on "Towel Cape Song". After the ridiculously over-the-top ending, we were
heckled pretty nicely by our wrestling afficionado friend
Lord Bitter. "Not
indulgent at all..." I was proud of that and defended our "indieness" by
pointing out that we'd just spent the better part of a minute pounding out one
single chord in slightly different variations. It worked and pulled a nice laugh
too.
So we're four
songs in and to this point, I haven't heard Joe or Frank and no vocals except
the a capella bit at the end of "Rage On". So I again asked for some slight
adjustments to the stage sound. When we started "Sadder Day", my guitar was
gone. All I could hear was Joe. This was quite frustrating. We still got through
it. It's such a good song that it can withstand so much. I never get tired of
performing it so you'd better get used to it being on the list if I have any
say.
We dug out "Waiting For The Siren" next. Finally the mix was normalized. I could
hear that there were other people on stage with me. It figures that it would
sound best so far for this one as the groove didn't feel quite right on it. It
seemed a bit cluttered.
When we finished "Siren" a voice from the soundboard said 'This will be your
last song." I responded, "You want this to be our last song?". In a slightly
more terse voice I heard, "This WILL be
your last song." I called him on it. It just got where I could hear on this
stage. I was told by the person who invited us to play that I had 10 minutes
more after this song. Nope. I'm digging in. He called back, "Okay but we will
have a talk after you finish." "No
problem", I said, "We will talk then. I'll be glad to." I was absolutely
sincere.
So I ripped out
"I Won't Stand Still" before sliding it into "Phony". I was on the verge of
collapse from my fever-induced state. I could hardly think. I gave everything I
had. About half-way through the song I realized there was a good chance I was
going to faint. I could feel my heart rate and blood pressure and they both felt
dangerously high. Added to my weakness, I was in trouble. I told myself, "Screw
this. I'm up here now. If I'm going out, I'm going out rocking." So I amped it
up even more. It might not have been the best performance of "Phony" ever but I
promise you it was the most intense. It was crazy. The show was being shot with
pro-video cameras. I saw the camera right in front of me and played to it as
much as I could. I hope the footage comes out and someone shares it with us! As
ragged as it may have been, I guarantee you it was over-the-top enough to make
up for it. Frank and I even collided pretty violently in mid-rock.
I looked out and saw the faces. People were wrapped up in it. There were smiles,
rock-faces, dancing and moving along. As the delay rang out at the end, I
realized that it was our last song. I
had nothing left in me. I looked at my watch. We ended exactly when the
sound-man had wanted. So we finished on a high note and got out by his
abbreviated, last minute and DIFFERENT deadline. So cool. We rocked despite the
fact that it was basically a worst case scenario for me. I was proud of us.
Before I managed
to get off the stage, Steve The Soundman had leaped up on stage left and started
yelling at me. He was pissed. This never happens. He had apparently
misunderstood some things but complaining about us making things run late for 10
minutes when we're trying to tear down and make way for Blue Flashing Light
seemed a bit ironic. We ended ahead of when we were told. In fact, it was his
loud conversation that was running things late if anything was.
Oh well, by the end of the conversation, it seemed that he had gotten it off his
chest. We made our peace with each other. He apologized and we left as friends
which was cool since every one seemed so freaked out by it. It was nothing. I'm
sure it looked worse than it was. Steve and I were both just at our limits. He's
a cool guy and I hope we get a chance to work with him again.
After the show, Jonathan (yes, Lord Bitter) helped Amanda and me get out of
there. I had to use biofeedback and every other method I could think of to get
my body re-regulated and functional. I did as well as I could.
I want to send out a special thanks to Karla from the University Union and her
friends for being so supportive. I'm looking forward to playing for you again!
Thanks also to the Tasty World staff and to Blue Flashing Ian for inviting us
out.
Athens, GA Set List
(with Chris’ totally biased ratings for the evening!)
1. The
Only Way **
2. Sometimes I'm Sam ***
3. Rage On ***
4. Towel Cape Song ****
5. Sadder Day ***
6. I Won't Stand Still ****
7. Phony ****
