# First gig in 25 years this weekend!



## Big_Daddy (Apr 2, 2009)

I hung it up in 1986 after 15 years on the road, got married, got a job, had a couple of kids, settled into a career, yada, yada, yada. A couple of years ago I started thinking maybe it was time to get out there again and after a couple of false starts and failures to launch, I landed with a fun group of musicians last November. We've been working hard since then to get our act together. This is the first 9-piece band I've ever been in and it has been a challenge, kind of like herding cats. The line-up is...2 guitars, bass, drums, keys, 2 sax players and 2 female vocalists. Classic rock, rhythm & blues and Motown from the '60s, '70s and '80s with 3- and 4-part vocals is our shtick and the band is called "Green T". What with varying schedules, a drummer replacement 4 months into it, multiple strong personalities, etc., etc. (you guys know what I'm talking about), it has been a lot of work. We were recently approached by the owner of The Light Bar in Windsor to be the house band for the month of May and we kick it off tomorrow night. So, if anyone is in the Windsor area this month, we will be there every Friday and Saturday. Please drop in and say HI! I'm the tall, old, skinny guitar player (as opposed to the short, fat one, LOL).:rockon2:


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## marcos (Jan 13, 2009)

Good luck Big Daddy on your gig.Sounds like a lot of fun with a full band but I agree,it must be challenging to say the least.


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## Macki (Jun 14, 2010)

Awesome! Good luck - great you are back behind the wheel so to speak....I kind of went through the same thing you did. I didn't play too much for the last 10 years with family and work, but really started playing heavily last year.


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

That's so cool! Good luck and have fun.

I too took a long break from gigging, but when I returned to it, it was so much better, less hassle, more fun, more mature personalities. 

Peace, Mooh.


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## Big_Daddy (Apr 2, 2009)

Thanks, guys! It's going to be a blast.


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## allthumbs56 (Jul 24, 2006)

That's great news!

I hung up playing out 9 years ago after some major surgery and that wa supposed to be it. This past September I got asked by an old bandmate to suit up with a real mishmash for a 2-gig obligation he had. We've been going non-stop ever since and I'm loving it again!


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## faracaster (Mar 9, 2006)

Best of luck there Big Daddy. Hope you enjoy the hell out of your residency there.
Our singer in my band (11STEPS) was in a similar situation. Until he started playing with us, he hadn't done a gig in about the same length of time.
He's sure diggin' it now.

Cheers
pete


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## 4321 (Nov 25, 2008)

Sounds great!!! Break a string.....er, I mean a leg......oh hell scratch that, just have a rockin good gig


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## jazzmaster61 (Oct 17, 2010)

That,s great Big daddy you,ll do just fine


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## Big_Daddy (Apr 2, 2009)

The owner let us in last night ( they are only open on Fridays and Saturdays) so we could set up, do a sound check and rehearse for a couple of hours. When we were done they poured a couple of pitchers and we sat around til midnight and BS'ed. This is going to be fun!


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## urko99 (Mar 30, 2009)

Good on Ya Big Daddy! Hoping on getting out to see you next Friday Night. We're gigging out in Belle River at "Biggs" next saturday. Looking forward to seeing the fruits of your labor! Congratulations!


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## Big_Daddy (Apr 2, 2009)

I'd forgotten about this thread so thought I would update it. This gig was a real eye-opener. It turns out you really don't know people until you play with them on stage, lol. The first night went pretty well, considering all the jittery people on stage. There were a few obvious blunders and a couple of re-starts, sloppy endings, etc. The Saturday night went better and the owner and staff were very complimentary. The band leader, Bob, took us all aside after the second set and told us all how un-professional it was if we "turned our back" on the audience or had a drink with us on stage and that we needed to be aware of these things (I think this was mostly directed towards me as I was constantly having to turn around and coach the bass player on what key we were in and give the drummer a nod when the song was going to end. I also had a rye and coke on my amp. WTF?). Just as a footnote, before our first night, he had instituted a dress code... no jeans, no T-shirts. This lecture on "professionalism" had me shaking my head because Bob had been telling sexist, profane jokes on stage from the get-go, introduced each song as a tune from the 30's, 40's 50's, making up stupid names for them on the spot, and basically confusing the hell out of us and the audience. Despite all of this, we still sounded pretty good and the crowd enjoyed themselves. Week three was a different story entirely. Friday night was a disaster. We had rehearsed for almost 6 months, getting our arrangements tight and that basically all went out the window from the start. Bob, the other guitarist/band leader/lead vocalist changed every arrangement on virtually every song, soloed over top of other solos by the keyboardist, sax players and me. Our carefully thought-out set lists also went out the window and he called out each song as he felt like it, often neglecting to tell the rest of us what we were going to play and then just starting into it. Some of the people in the band, the horn players in particular, had carefully written sheets for each tune and they were completely lost most of the time. Our "bass" player forgot how to play just about everything so just faked his way through most of it or just stopped playing sometimes. At the end of the second set, Bob came over to the bass player, said, "Give me your bass and go sit down". He then proceeded to tell the rest of us that the last song was "Superstition" and he was going to play bass on it...and a 1, and a 2.....and the train-wreck began. Bob quickly realized he didn't know how to play bass on the song, so, between vocals, gestured for his wife, one of our backup singers, to come over and play the bass. She looked at me, rolled her eyes, and proceeded to ignore him. Things didn't get much better after that. I went home having serious doubts about how long this was going to last. Saturday night, Bob and his wife arrived to the gig dressed in dirty jeans, t-shirts/sweat shirts. So much for the dress-code. One of the sax players made a comment about it and got told to "f*ck off". Things continued to go downhill from there. We actually had to start the last set without Bob coz he was nowhere to be found. Those were the best two songs of the night, btw. The final weekend, one of our backup singers, Jodi, "couldn't make it" as well as our best sax player. Jodi quit the following week due to "family commitments". The sax player followed a couple weeks later. The words to a country song come to mind here, "you didn't leave me, you just beat me to the door" and I gave my notice a week later. Wow, what a soap opera. I have to laugh about it now. I quickly found another group to hook up with, 2 guitars, bass, drums and girl singer who plays harmonica. In a month, we have 25 tight tunes and will be easily ready for our first gig in two weeks. No drama either. 

So, anyone else have some fun band stories to tell?


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## GuitarsCanada (Dec 30, 2005)

It appears that "Bob" is in the mix there a little too much.


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## Big_Daddy (Apr 2, 2009)

GuitarsCanada said:


> It appears that "Bob" is in the mix there a little too much.


LOL, yeah.


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## allthumbs56 (Jul 24, 2006)

I believe my bass player is Bob's cousin ......


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## Chubba (Aug 23, 2009)

Nothing quite so dramatic as the Bob Saga for me, although I was once kicked out of a band because I wouldn't commit to a summer tour after we had had 2 gigs...I listened to the tape of the second gig, and I probably didn't make the wrong decision (I wanted to keep playing with these guys, we had a lot of fun hanging out, but I figured we needed to be, what's the word? good, in order to consider the next steps - some recorded material, and the beginnings of a following would not have hurt either!)


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## urko99 (Mar 30, 2009)

Wow There Big Daddy! What a disaster! I feel for ya on that trainwreck of a month. It's great that your out of that picture and moving in a better direction. The best of luck with the new project and I'm still looking forward to seeing your new group!


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## Big_Daddy (Apr 2, 2009)

allthumbs56 said:


> I believe my bass player is Bob's cousin ......


Ha ha...now that's funny....(well, maybe not for you).


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