You've heard us quote Dickens. "It was the best of times. It was the worst of times". Our first ever gig at BeBops probably could not be classified as being the "best of times". We had looked forward to this night. Our gig originally was set for the Fridley Shortstop location. At the last possible moment Ray stated he wanted us to perform at BeBops instead. We scrambled to inform people and change some plans. We're not sure how many people got lost or never showed up due to the change in venue, but thankfully we were very happy to see a couple dozen fan faithfuls (which actually is pretty good for us anyway) to come out and brave the elements. The night itself was 15 BELOW ZERO with a 25 -30 mile an hour wind. Our lead singer The Cuz had been sick for several days already. Wiped out, weak and croaking like a frog we had coaxed him from a sure "snug as a bug in a rug, 3 cup o' tea and to bed early" kind of night, to one of hauling gear (4 times of course) in 50 below gale force winter wind chills, The Show Must Go On kind of a night. We could have really used an appearance of some Hot Lava about this time. If not for the wintry weather conditions and Andy being sick the load in and out could have been a snap. Close to "home", easy access and no furniture to move out of the way. As far as the gig itself our set up area was spacious and there was plenty of room for people to sit close or stay with the "way backs". As it turned out Lonzo and Pete ended up having to sing everything we two knew and some we didn't!! We cut one set several songs short. The Cuz managed to get through a bunch of songs, except some of the real high parts of course. (seems like they are all pretty high parts considering the bands we try to cover !!) We gutted this one out. Usually the set up and tear down is not much fun but the 3/12 hours of playing IS FUN !! Tonight we struggled. We tried our best for our "A" game. It was backs against the wall, gut check time. We still managed to have some fun and those who came out seemed to be enjoying seeing Lonzo, Pete and Kinger "fall on a sword" for the CUZ. More lessons learned in the joys of Wanna Be Rock Stardom. :)
