Rooster Tales

Wow. Seems like we just spent a weekend working. We had back to back nights jamming at the American Legion in Zimmerman. The weekend served its purpose in many ways as we not only made some cash and had some fun, we also once again became aware of more “lessons to be learned” in “Rock Gigging LIVE 101”. Playing back to back nights has mostly many benefits. Poses some added challenges as well. Usually going to a gig involves tearing down the practice space, loading into two or more vehicles, driving to the gig, unloading at the gig site, setting it all back up, checking everything out, sound check, playing the gig, Milling About Smartly, tearing it all back down, loading it all back up (for some odd reason it doesn’t seem to fit as well) (We’re sure it has NOTHING to do with the lateness of the hour or or favorite beverage consumption or old age!) driving back to the practice space, unloading again. With back to back nights when you’re done with the first night you can kick back and do way more Milling About Smartly, pack up the guitars and mic’s and away you go. (of course you still get home late due to the Perkin’s breakfast stop.) The 2nd night you can show up an hour early, ease into it, fine tune from the night before and jam. It’s the same amount of roadie grunt work, with twice the pay with twice the playing time.

Our first night was pretty good we thought. Not a huge crowd of course but we were thankful for the friends that did make the trip. (see pics) We hadn’t played live for awhile, had tons of energy, some new songs and a great set list. Everything pretty much went as planned except later in the night one “happy camper” decided she was just in awe of Pete and just had to get up on stage and feel the vibe. So now we’re a hobby band that needs SECURITY? j/k…… Ended up no big deal after Dawn coaxed her back offstage.

We were a bit out of synch the 2nd night. You would think it would be easier. We’re only doing 5 songs different from the night before. We just got through playing most of the material the night before. We started out OK, but not quite as much energy. Andy broke a string within the first couple songs, but swapped to the Flying V just in time for his solo which ended up being kind of cool. By the end of the night Andy and Lonzo each had at least one more string break. A couple of the lyrics in the same songs we had just done the night before got “forgot”. (Lonzo = normal)(Pete = unusual). The cover of the wall air conditioner on the wall behind the stage just fell off by itself and knocked over one of Pete’s guitars. Didn’t seem like the AC was working anyway and Kinger got WAY overheated in the 2nd set and was feeling his age.
(maybe we should do a slow song once in awhile huh Kinger!)
But WE WERE STILL HAVING FUN !!!!!!!!!!!!

During our second break when we were Milling About Smartly we were talking with one of the patrons and they wondered if Rooster could get up and sing one. He had seen a copy of our set list and was wondering if he could sing “Born to be Wild”. It was late, we were tired, it was a small crowd, everyone sitting back at the bar would be happy so we said “what the heck”. Come on up. It will be the 4th song this last set. Rooster came up. Rooster sang it and had some fun. He did OK. “It was a little pitchy but he brought it home in the end DAWG”. woof woof. The locals loved it. It got the most applause all night from the “way backs”. (Lava Lords translation = locals sitting way back at the bar on bar stools and that’s as close as they get all night when what we want is them in our face yelling U GUYS ROCK !!!) At the end of the night as we often do we decided to close it out with FreeBird. If you have any energy left after 2 nights of jamming this is THE SONG to finish you off!! We weren’t far into it when onstage appeared Rooster. (OK we let you come onstage once and now you own it?) We still aren’t sure what happened to Rooster between Born to be Wild and FreeBird in that set but if you take the two song titles, apply it to Rooster, mix in a few too many shots (assumed) you might get a clue what happened next. Somehow Rooster…..while fumbling with a mic and cord….well he never really did fall off stage but did a slow motion teapot over the monitor with his hands on the floor and his ass mooning the band. Ended up there frozen in time not able to push himself back up but too proud to just let it go and fall off the fricking stage!! (like the time in college you drank too much tequila and for every step you are going forward, you’re also going a half step sideways) The band jammed on!! It was right out of a surreal scene from Outer Limits or Mad TV!! “You just can’t make this stuff up”. We had a good laugh but what could we do? Stop Playing? Kick his ASS?? (Andy could have easily moved his foot OFF the Stomp Box effects pedal to Rooster’s ass and all it would have took was a nudge to send him sprawling out on the dance floor.) Hey, but we’re here to win over fans and after all it was pretty entertaining so we just let it go!! Guess we need to amend the rules of engagement. That’s easy. If we don’t know you or you haven’t jammed with us before don’t be offended when we say NO WAY when you want to get up and sing one!!!!!!!!! (unless you look good in Spandex of course…)

What do bands do? If somebody decides they are coming onstage……hmm….maybe that would be a good question for a random thought at Musicscene.org???? Maybe we have only ourselves to blame. WE ROCK!! IT”S ROCK N ROLL!!!

10 hours of driving, hauling and setting up gear = $500
8 hours of jamming = $300
1 appearance by Rooster = Priceless