I had occasion to visit the famous (or infamous) Glasgow Barrowlands last week for a Celtic Connections concert. I found it quite inappropriate, although attempts had been made to set it out "cabaret style" with scabby tables and candles. There was an over abundance of "security people" there and, when the artistes came on stage, the heating was turned off and cold air blown about the place. I had to put my coat back on !! Apparently, "it's the rules, pal" just in case any of the audience collapse with heat exhaustion !! Now, The Barrowlands is famous for "stand up gigs" but I thought they might adopt a different approach for seated events.
I might upset some people who love the Barrowlands for rock gigs and it's also OK, I suppose, for bands like Shooglenifty, La Bottine etc but I really thought it was a bit of a sleazy hole and you have to wipe your feet on the way out. I wouldn't advise a visit to the local pubs for a pre concert pint either. I know lots of famous people have apeared there e.g. David Bowie, Runrig, Texas, even Bible John :>)) but it's far from ideal for your average traditional music gig-- and I have to go back there on Thursday to see Ale Moller (Great Swedish musician) !!
What is the worst or most inappropriate venue that you have been to for a concert either to listen or play? Let's hear your most horrific or amusing stories.
We once did a gig for the city council of a small town outside of Oslo, that was having some sort of festival. As we were driving out there, the guitar-player mentioned that the gig was open-air, in fact on the back of a lorry....we got there, and the weather (that wasn't great to start with) quickly deteriorated. When we plugged in the third mic on the PA, there wasn't enough power and when we finally started, there were about 15 people there (including the comittee arranging the whole thing) and it rained a bit. The nearest pub/chipper was a good bit down the road, but we still had to go there between sets to warm our hands, because the wind had gotten rather cold. I finished the last set in wool and my Berghaus anorak (against the wind),playing reels like slow airs, and was finally informed that since the payment was coming from the council, we wouldn't get cash in hand. In fact it took two months to get it, and then the'd deducted way to much tax. A brilliant gig!
I was also at Blazin' Fiddles last Thursday. I have been to the Barrowlands a million times before, but that is the first time I have seen it looking like that! I didn't really understand the reasoning behind it - the whole point of the Barrowlands (and the only reason for going to such a mingin' old dive at all) is its legendary atmosphere, sprung floor and all. When they put out tables with candles in wine bottles on them, it rather cancels out any benefits!
The concert was great, but I would agree that somewhere like the Concert Hall would have been more appropriate
So the Barrowlands is still standing? And hosting sessions?!? (albeit for a unique occasion) - in my youth it was the place most certainly not to go to, unless you wanted to contract an incurable social disease or have your facial features rearranged by one of the many resident enthusiastic amateur cosmetic surgeons. Still got your fiddle, John? or your fingers?
Whilst playing with a band in Riga, Latvia, we had a gig at a trade fair in a vast exhibition hall, promoting, I think, the Irish Tourist Board, or perhaps a pub chain or brewery - I can't remember exactly. For a few hours, we were required to play acoustically at the company's exhibition stand. But the hall was so huge, and the acoustics so dry (the way they are in exhibition halls), the sound was completely swallowed up, so we were struggling to hear ourselves above the ambient white noise. Later on, we were included as part of the line up in an onstage gig, alongside Latvia's Oasis and Blur impersonators. Ill-equipped for such a venture (playing my very quiet mandolin into an ordinary vocal mike didn't cut the mustard), the audience couldn't hear us, even with x-kilowatts of amplification, so we were scrapped halfway through our set.
I saw Dick Gaughan (trad singer extraordinaire and original BOL member) perform at a typical midwest USA tourist town tavern about 6 or 7 years ago. To make a bad situation worse, he was performing outside on the patio. The stage was literally 8 ft. from a four lane highway intersection with traffic lights. All nite long 18 wheeler trucks were stopping at the red lite and starting off again on the green. Halfway thru one of his sets a fireworks display went off for about 15 minutes about 100 yards behind the stage. Apparently some local celebration. I spoke to him about a year later and mentioned to him that I was at that 'brave' performance and he admitted that it wasn't the worst gig he'd ever had but that it was certainly the wierdest.
I once saw The Who (pre-Tommy) perform in a rural Illinois farm that had been converted into a 'teen club'. The electrical sytem was not up to the task at hand. Just when the band would really start to crank it up the circuits would blow. The circuits must have blown about a dozen times during the performance, leaving the barnyard dark and silent except for the audible cursing from both audience and performers. This was still in the days when the Who's gimmick was destroying their equipment after each performance. On this particular nite the destruction at the end of the performance was not just a gimmick, it was real, they were *angry*. Nobody got hurt
In good auld Galway times (3 years ago), when I was playing at sessions, not at Virtual Session, we were asked to play in a dance club. They placed us in one of the rooms with a bar - in all the others dance and techno music was pounding on, we had no mics. We could barely hear ourselves; the place was painted spooky darkish violet, with some strange patterns on the wall (possibly after you took acid they made some sense altogether, I dunno); all around, stoned adolescents were leaning next to walls or stumbling towards the bar; no one paid any notice to us, except for some p*ssed girls, who would stagger to our corner and ask the boys whether they would like to have some sex with them. We left the place half deaf. A totally bizzare experience.
Actually, I'm thinking about writing a book "Most horrible and unsuitable stages and venues where I danced, collected by Janek" - I suppose I should squeeze my experiences into 900-something pages. It's gonna beat "Harry Potter", dead sure. But this site is devoted to ITM, not Polish Folk Trad Dancing, so I will remain silent on the subject.
Outside in a Montana thunderstorm, roadies hanging on to keep the scaffolding-cum-stage from blowing over, temperature plummeting, no wind screens on the mics, horizontal rain--for no pay.
A big marquee, in the height of the summer, baking hot, no seating, loads of people 6 " taller standing right in front of you, can't see the band, eventually squeeze your way close enough to see them properly, all the while ignoring the sound-check.
Then some loud-mouthed middle-class librarian behind you, in weekend *casual* gear (smirk), socks and sandals, starts waffling on in a loud annoying voice about how the band "were so much better at the last venue blah blah blah..... and when we did gigging support with the Floyd etc etc..."
Your fingers become sticky because you've been holding your warm beer in a cracked plastic glass. With a wasp in it. Then the band starts, ignoring the volume of the sound-check, and blasts your eardrums to kingdom come.
And you just went along because everyone else did, and shelled out dosh for a ticket, and you decided to check out the band because you never heard them before. Well you've heard them now. And they're crap. By any standards.
Hey David - don't forget the float done out like an Irish pub, going from Catford to Lewisham and back again, last St. Patrick's day with Conan, you and I on board, playing a session! God, how our fingers were cold! Great craic though.
Sharing the stage (or porch, more precisely) with an Elvis impersonator, complete with rhinestone studded white jumpsuit and gold chains. I had played intro music as the guests took their seats for an outdoor wedding last summer. After the bride and groom exchanged their vows, the organ on the far side of the porch started playing (I had thought it would be, oh, I don't know, something vaguely expected like "Here Comes the Bride", but no....) the organ started playing "I Can't Help Falling in Love" and from around the corner came Elvis in full voice.
Fortunately the wedding guests were as amused as I was, or I'm quite sure I would have hurt myself trying not to laugh.
Jocklet - must be? surely you'd know if you're getting old?
Anyway, the *Barras* have been there as a market for ...erm, centuries, I'd guess. The Barrowlands as a dance hall has been there since the 1940's at least as it was around in my parents' heydays.
o.k., i played for the groundbreaking ceremony of a shopping mall in march in the northwest u.s. under an unheated canopy with the wind blowing with no p.a. help, i had my mandola for the gig, my fingers got so cold that i played most of it with cotten gloves on both hands, a little muffled but no one cared, they were all congragulating each other on spending millions to build the place, i think we got $75 a piece. not worth it.
Two summers ago. The Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire. On a very big stage (for just 2 harpers anyway) No canopy. No shade at all. Facing into the setting sun. Quite hot. We are wearing bodices and loads of heavy skirts. No one can hear us. (because of course they didn't have microphones and PA's in the 16th century, right?) (They also didn't have Irish dance music back then either) Then we had to *race* to the gazebo for our next set which was immediately after. Running in costumes with harps and chairs and other crap we needed. Definitely not worth what we were paid.
Hmmm...there're a lot to choose from. Here's a first installment, approx mid-70s to mid-80s:
1974: playing guitar-and-harmonica duets, standing up in 3rd class, for the entire Britrail trip from Edinburgh to London.
Around 1976: persuading an Italian restaurant with a lot of funny "deliveries" being made to the back loading dock that what they really wanted was the half-dozen Irish tunes we knew...and then falling back on flamenco when we ran out of tunes.
Around 1979: playing bass for folkie singer-songwriter Bob Franke live on Boston's WERS radio. We hit the first chord, and Bob went into spasms, shaking his head violently while continuing to play. Turned out the student engineers had a 2-second delay on the vocal feed into his headphones, and he was trying to shake them off...
Around 1980: pulling up to a roadhouse in Western Massachusetts and finding that the promoter had summarily re-spelled and broken the one-word band name into two: the marquee listed us as "Ray Nardine"...we drew a country crowd that night.
Around 1981: playing original quasi-Celtic tunes and songs with a full four-piece band in the Young Misses' department at Filene's because it would be "good exposure."
Also around 1981: playing fiddle tunes in a tiny waterfront bar in Salem, Massachusetts called "In a Pig's Eye" and trying to ignore the boozer who yelled for "Drunken Sailor" for 3 straight hours. I was such a folkie prima donna that I refused to play it..what an idiot!
Around 1985: rehearsing (for months!) in a rehab center in East Boston with a 9-piece funk band, 1/3 of whose players were just out of the joint on drug charges and 2/3 of whom were about to head in. Never played a gig.
Same era: "hard-rock" gigs in Chinese restaurants up and down the New England coastal towns: about the only small-town venues that were still booking live music at that time.
The wife once did a chanteys-and-fiddle tunes duo gig on the USS Constitution for a bunch of Tennessee conventioneers who eventually started saying "if'n y'all don't play somethin' that RAWKS, somebody's gon' get their ass kicked!" When they started putting out cigarettes on the amps, wife and fiddler split.
Don't remember what year, but immediately post-"Braveheart": a gig at a medieval-themed wedding, at which the bridal party all wore SCA-esque versions of kilts, bodices, tartans, etc, and all the men in the bridal party had their faces painting half-blue a la Mel Gibson...
Same era: wedding gig with a "general-business" or "casuals" band ("Never be Another You," "Daddy's Little Girl," cha-cha-chas, etc) in a very romantic setting with a lovely sandy beach as the backdrop. Problem was, it was low tide, and the sand fleas came out. As we were breaking down, the bride came up behind me and said "If I hadn't gotten married today, I'd go home with you tonight." I said "Congratulations!"
Was in the Arches to here Flook and Danu's Gig. It was stand up rather than seated, thank goodness, and the atmosphere was absolutely superb. Flook's sound man, particularly, did a wicked job of getting the balance right in what turned out to be a great concert. Unfortunately, Flook got overlooked for Danu in the Celtic Connections guide, but Danu, one of my favourite bands, were out played. It was if they were trying to make the same big sound as Flook, but the instruments became merged or lost together in the sound that came across. They were nevertheless very good.
So does anyone else think this might have been an inappropriate match? Any other inappropriate matches in concerts gone by?
Although I was born in Glasgow ,I haven't been there since 1967.In my innocence I assumed that the market I used to visit as a child had long disappeared and been converted to music venue.By the way,Domhniaill,"I must be getting old" is a purely phatic or colloquial expression.
A wedding.It was late summer,I think,and outdoors,right near a river.It was very hot and humid,but the worst thing was the flies.They were biting constantly.You'd be standing there trying to play with this huge swarm of flies all over your neck and ankles eating you alive.They were not at all discouraged by the entire contents of two bottles of bug repelent.The poor bride and groom wern't too happy.They were waving thier arms around the whole time.
-Kelly
Kelly, sounds like Michael Flatley meets William Golding: Lord of the Flies.
But a swarm of yellowjackets, crawling between your fingers, into your shirt sleeves and collar, up the pant legs, into open beer bottles--now that's a test of your concentration (not to mention the epinephrine).
I once played for a wedding on the banks of the American River in California. When the best man handed the ring to the (well soaked) groom, the groom dropped it and it rolled into--not the river (that would have been better) a tangle of poison oak. Unawares, the groom groped around for it a good ten minutes. By next morning, the happy couple had calamine lotion all over their hands and, um, many other parts that had been well handled on their wedding night.
Inappropriate venues
Inappropriate venues
I had occasion to visit the famous (or infamous) Glasgow Barrowlands last week for a Celtic Connections concert. I found it quite inappropriate, although attempts had been made to set it out "cabaret style" with scabby tables and candles. There was an over abundance of "security people" there and, when the artistes came on stage, the heating was turned off and cold air blown about the place. I had to put my coat back on !! Apparently, "it's the rules, pal" just in case any of the audience collapse with heat exhaustion !! Now, The Barrowlands is famous for "stand up gigs" but I thought they might adopt a different approach for seated events.
I might upset some people who love the Barrowlands for rock gigs and it's also OK, I suppose, for bands like Shooglenifty, La Bottine etc but I really thought it was a bit of a sleazy hole and you have to wipe your feet on the way out. I wouldn't advise a visit to the local pubs for a pre concert pint either. I know lots of famous people have apeared there e.g. David Bowie, Runrig, Texas, even Bible John :>)) but it's far from ideal for your average traditional music gig-- and I have to go back there on Thursday to see Ale Moller (Great Swedish musician) !!
What is the worst or most inappropriate venue that you have been to for a concert either to listen or play? Let's hear your most horrific or amusing stories.
John
# Posted on January 26th 2004 by Johnny Jay
Re: Inappropriate venues
We once did a gig for the city council of a small town outside of Oslo, that was having some sort of festival. As we were driving out there, the guitar-player mentioned that the gig was open-air, in fact on the back of a lorry....we got there, and the weather (that wasn't great to start with) quickly deteriorated. When we plugged in the third mic on the PA, there wasn't enough power and when we finally started, there were about 15 people there (including the comittee arranging the whole thing) and it rained a bit. The nearest pub/chipper was a good bit down the road, but we still had to go there between sets to warm our hands, because the wind had gotten rather cold. I finished the last set in wool and my Berghaus anorak (against the wind),playing reels like slow airs, and was finally informed that since the payment was coming from the council, we wouldn't get cash in hand. In fact it took two months to get it, and then the'd deducted way to much tax. A brilliant gig!
Snorre
# Posted on January 26th 2004 by snorre
Re: Inappropriate venues
I remember that in the year of 1979 (or 1980), in Rome we used to meet and reharse in the gar
# Posted on January 26th 2004 by Luigi Giuliani
Re: Inappropriate venues
I was also at Blazin' Fiddles last Thursday. I have been to the Barrowlands a million times before, but that is the first time I have seen it looking like that! I didn't really understand the reasoning behind it - the whole point of the Barrowlands (and the only reason for going to such a mingin' old dive at all) is its legendary atmosphere, sprung floor and all. When they put out tables with candles in wine bottles on them, it rather cancels out any benefits!
The concert was great, but I would agree that somewhere like the Concert Hall would have been more appropriate
# Posted on January 27th 2004 by alidowney
Re: Inappropriate venues
So the Barrowlands is still standing? And hosting sessions?!? (albeit for a unique occasion) - in my youth it was the place most certainly not to go to, unless you wanted to contract an incurable social disease or have your facial features rearranged by one of the many resident enthusiastic amateur cosmetic surgeons. Still got your fiddle, John? or your fingers?
Danny.
# Posted on January 27th 2004 by Rudall the time
Re: Inappropriate venues
Whilst playing with a band in Riga, Latvia, we had a gig at a trade fair in a vast exhibition hall, promoting, I think, the Irish Tourist Board, or perhaps a pub chain or brewery - I can't remember exactly. For a few hours, we were required to play acoustically at the company's exhibition stand. But the hall was so huge, and the acoustics so dry (the way they are in exhibition halls), the sound was completely swallowed up, so we were struggling to hear ourselves above the ambient white noise. Later on, we were included as part of the line up in an onstage gig, alongside Latvia's Oasis and Blur impersonators. Ill-equipped for such a venture (playing my very quiet mandolin into an ordinary vocal mike didn't cut the mustard), the audience couldn't hear us, even with x-kilowatts of amplification, so we were scrapped halfway through our set.
# Posted on January 27th 2004 by CreadurMawnOrganig
Re: Inappropriate venues
I saw Dick Gaughan (trad singer extraordinaire and original BOL member) perform at a typical midwest USA tourist town tavern about 6 or 7 years ago. To make a bad situation worse, he was performing outside on the patio. The stage was literally 8 ft. from a four lane highway intersection with traffic lights. All nite long 18 wheeler trucks were stopping at the red lite and starting off again on the green. Halfway thru one of his sets a fireworks display went off for about 15 minutes about 100 yards behind the stage. Apparently some local celebration. I spoke to him about a year later and mentioned to him that I was at that 'brave' performance and he admitted that it wasn't the worst gig he'd ever had but that it was certainly the wierdest.
I once saw The Who (pre-Tommy) perform in a rural Illinois farm that had been converted into a 'teen club'. The electrical sytem was not up to the task at hand. Just when the band would really start to crank it up the circuits would blow. The circuits must have blown about a dozen times during the performance, leaving the barnyard dark and silent except for the audible cursing from both audience and performers. This was still in the days when the Who's gimmick was destroying their equipment after each performance. On this particular nite the destruction at the end of the performance was not just a gimmick, it was real, they were *angry*. Nobody got hurt
# Posted on January 27th 2004 by Tusong200
Re: Inappropriate venues
In good auld Galway times (3 years ago), when I was playing at sessions, not at Virtual Session, we were asked to play in a dance club. They placed us in one of the rooms with a bar - in all the others dance and techno music was pounding on, we had no mics. We could barely hear ourselves; the place was painted spooky darkish violet, with some strange patterns on the wall (possibly after you took acid they made some sense altogether, I dunno); all around, stoned adolescents were leaning next to walls or stumbling towards the bar; no one paid any notice to us, except for some p*ssed girls, who would stagger to our corner and ask the boys whether they would like to have some sex with them. We left the place half deaf. A totally bizzare experience.
Actually, I'm thinking about writing a book "Most horrible and unsuitable stages and venues where I danced, collected by Janek" - I suppose I should squeeze my experiences into 900-something pages. It's gonna beat "Harry Potter", dead sure. But this site is devoted to ITM, not Polish Folk Trad Dancing, so I will remain silent on the subject.
# Posted on January 27th 2004 by Janek
Two words...
School. Gymnasium.
# Posted on January 27th 2004 by Zina Lee
Re: Inappropriate venues
at a shopping mall with the Texas Mens Harp Ensemble.
10 male harpers, in a mall, at the crossroads of two hallways.
Not good.
# Posted on January 27th 2004 by bpfrocket
Re: Inappropriate venues
Outside in a Montana thunderstorm, roadies hanging on to keep the scaffolding-cum-stage from blowing over, temperature plummeting, no wind screens on the mics, horizontal rain--for no pay.
# Posted on January 27th 2004 by Will Harmon
Re: Inappropriate venues
Men's. Toilets.
# Posted on January 27th 2004 by NickPhelan
Re: Inappropriate venues
playing. me and some mates got excessively drunk at a session in swindon and all high tailed it in to enjoy the acoustics.......and the smell of wee.
# Posted on January 27th 2004 by NickPhelan
Re: Inappropriate venues
A big marquee, in the height of the summer, baking hot, no seating, loads of people 6 " taller standing right in front of you, can't see the band, eventually squeeze your way close enough to see them properly, all the while ignoring the sound-check.
Then some loud-mouthed middle-class librarian behind you, in weekend *casual* gear (smirk), socks and sandals, starts waffling on in a loud annoying voice about how the band "were so much better at the last venue blah blah blah..... and when we did gigging support with the Floyd etc etc..."
Your fingers become sticky because you've been holding your warm beer in a cracked plastic glass. With a wasp in it. Then the band starts, ignoring the volume of the sound-check, and blasts your eardrums to kingdom come.
And you just went along because everyone else did, and shelled out dosh for a ticket, and you decided to check out the band because you never heard them before. Well you've heard them now. And they're crap. By any standards.
Does it get any worse than this?
Jim
# Posted on January 27th 2004 by Worldfiddler
Re: Inappropriate venues
Hey David - don't forget the float done out like an Irish pub, going from Catford to Lewisham and back again, last St. Patrick's day with Conan, you and I on board, playing a session! God, how our fingers were cold! Great craic though.
Danny.
# Posted on January 27th 2004 by Rudall the time
Re: Inappropriate venues
Sharing the stage (or porch, more precisely) with an Elvis impersonator, complete with rhinestone studded white jumpsuit and gold chains. I had played intro music as the guests took their seats for an outdoor wedding last summer. After the bride and groom exchanged their vows, the organ on the far side of the porch started playing (I had thought it would be, oh, I don't know, something vaguely expected like "Here Comes the Bride", but no....) the organ started playing "I Can't Help Falling in Love" and from around the corner came Elvis in full voice.
Fortunately the wedding guests were as amused as I was, or I'm quite sure I would have hurt myself trying not to laugh.
Karen
# Posted on January 27th 2004 by ketida
Re: Inappropriate venues
a school hall, with the stage seperating the audience into two sections. You just don't know which way to face.
# Posted on January 27th 2004 by To-Tretur
Re: Inappropriate venues
My God,I must be getting old,the last time that I was in Barrowlands it was a market.
# Posted on March 1st 2003 by dafydd
Re: Inappropriate venues
Jocklet - must be? surely you'd know if you're getting old?
Anyway, the *Barras* have been there as a market for ...erm, centuries, I'd guess. The Barrowlands as a dance hall has been there since the 1940's at least as it was around in my parents' heydays.
# Posted on January 27th 2004 by Rudall the time
Re: Inappropriate venues
o.k., i played for the groundbreaking ceremony of a shopping mall in march in the northwest u.s. under an unheated canopy with the wind blowing with no p.a. help, i had my mandola for the gig, my fingers got so cold that i played most of it with cotten gloves on both hands, a little muffled but no one cared, they were all congragulating each other on spending millions to build the place, i think we got $75 a piece. not worth it.
# Posted on January 27th 2004 by Dont
Re: Inappropriate venues
In a bar that turned out to be a strip joint (I swear they didn't tell me in advance, but the rest of the guys still don't believe me.)
Nothing funnier than watching the poor dears try to shed to a quick reel. We did some bluegrass too - clogging strippers, what a hoot.
# Posted on January 27th 2004 by ScottC
Re: Inappropriate venues
When I was in a Celtic Harp duo we were booked to play at a local Celtic festival.
"Can you do two extra half hour sets?" (for no extra pay of course - but it was a long standing gig, so I said yes - never again!)
One was on the stairs of a restraurant (where patrons insisted on tryign to squeeze past us, although the upstairs section was clearly marked "Closed"
The second was in the corner of a fried chicken shop.
At least the second one was warm.
# Posted on January 27th 2004 by Ptollemy
Re: Inappropriate venues
Two summers ago. The Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire. On a very big stage (for just 2 harpers anyway) No canopy. No shade at all. Facing into the setting sun. Quite hot. We are wearing bodices and loads of heavy skirts. No one can hear us. (because of course they didn't have microphones and PA's in the 16th century, right?) (They also didn't have Irish dance music back then either) Then we had to *race* to the gazebo for our next set which was immediately after. Running in costumes with harps and chairs and other crap we needed. Definitely not worth what we were paid.
# Posted on January 27th 2004 by Andee
Re: Inappropriate venues
Hmmm...there're a lot to choose from. Here's a first installment, approx mid-70s to mid-80s:
1974: playing guitar-and-harmonica duets, standing up in 3rd class, for the entire Britrail trip from Edinburgh to London.
Around 1976: persuading an Italian restaurant with a lot of funny "deliveries" being made to the back loading dock that what they really wanted was the half-dozen Irish tunes we knew...and then falling back on flamenco when we ran out of tunes.
Around 1979: playing bass for folkie singer-songwriter Bob Franke live on Boston's WERS radio. We hit the first chord, and Bob went into spasms, shaking his head violently while continuing to play. Turned out the student engineers had a 2-second delay on the vocal feed into his headphones, and he was trying to shake them off...
Around 1980: pulling up to a roadhouse in Western Massachusetts and finding that the promoter had summarily re-spelled and broken the one-word band name into two: the marquee listed us as "Ray Nardine"...we drew a country crowd that night.
Around 1981: playing original quasi-Celtic tunes and songs with a full four-piece band in the Young Misses' department at Filene's because it would be "good exposure."
Also around 1981: playing fiddle tunes in a tiny waterfront bar in Salem, Massachusetts called "In a Pig's Eye" and trying to ignore the boozer who yelled for "Drunken Sailor" for 3 straight hours. I was such a folkie prima donna that I refused to play it..what an idiot!
Around 1985: rehearsing (for months!) in a rehab center in East Boston with a 9-piece funk band, 1/3 of whose players were just out of the joint on drug charges and 2/3 of whom were about to head in. Never played a gig.
Same era: "hard-rock" gigs in Chinese restaurants up and down the New England coastal towns: about the only small-town venues that were still booking live music at that time.
The wife once did a chanteys-and-fiddle tunes duo gig on the USS Constitution for a bunch of Tennessee conventioneers who eventually started saying "if'n y'all don't play somethin' that RAWKS, somebody's gon' get their ass kicked!" When they started putting out cigarettes on the amps, wife and fiddler split.
Don't remember what year, but immediately post-"Braveheart": a gig at a medieval-themed wedding, at which the bridal party all wore SCA-esque versions of kilts, bodices, tartans, etc, and all the men in the bridal party had their faces painting half-blue a la Mel Gibson...
Same era: wedding gig with a "general-business" or "casuals" band ("Never be Another You," "Daddy's Little Girl," cha-cha-chas, etc) in a very romantic setting with a lovely sandy beach as the backdrop. Problem was, it was low tide, and the sand fleas came out. As we were breaking down, the bride came up behind me and said "If I hadn't gotten married today, I'd go home with you tonight." I said "Congratulations!"
chris smith
# Posted on January 27th 2004 by coyotebanjo
Re: Inappropriate venues
Was in the Arches to here Flook and Danu's Gig. It was stand up rather than seated, thank goodness, and the atmosphere was absolutely superb. Flook's sound man, particularly, did a wicked job of getting the balance right in what turned out to be a great concert. Unfortunately, Flook got overlooked for Danu in the Celtic Connections guide, but Danu, one of my favourite bands, were out played. It was if they were trying to make the same big sound as Flook, but the instruments became merged or lost together in the sound that came across. They were nevertheless very good.
So does anyone else think this might have been an inappropriate match? Any other inappropriate matches in concerts gone by?
# Posted on January 28th 2004 by Jamie
Re: Inappropriate venues
Although I was born in Glasgow ,I haven't been there since 1967.In my innocence I assumed that the market I used to visit as a child had long disappeared and been converted to music venue.By the way,Domhniaill,"I must be getting old" is a purely phatic or colloquial expression.
# Posted on March 1st 2003 by dafydd
Re: Inappropriate venues
A wedding.It was late summer,I think,and outdoors,right near a river.It was very hot and humid,but the worst thing was the flies.They were biting constantly.You'd be standing there trying to play with this huge swarm of flies all over your neck and ankles eating you alive.They were not at all discouraged by the entire contents of two bottles of bug repelent.The poor bride and groom wern't too happy.They were waving thier arms around the whole time.
-Kelly
# Posted on January 29th 2004 by seisflutes
Re: Inappropriate venues
Kelly, sounds like Michael Flatley meets William Golding: Lord of the Flies.
But a swarm of yellowjackets, crawling between your fingers, into your shirt sleeves and collar, up the pant legs, into open beer bottles--now that's a test of your concentration (not to mention the epinephrine).
I once played for a wedding on the banks of the American River in California. When the best man handed the ring to the (well soaked) groom, the groom dropped it and it rolled into--not the river (that would have been better) a tangle of poison oak. Unawares, the groom groped around for it a good ten minutes. By next morning, the happy couple had calamine lotion all over their hands and, um, many other parts that had been well handled on their wedding night.
# Posted on January 29th 2004 by Will Harmon