Long Weekend. Short Gig

We left on Thursday AM at 6:15 (30 minutes late... I just couldn't get moving!) and drove from McKinney, Texas to Huntsville, AL. We stopped in Memphis for lunch on Beale Street, a quick stop to pay homage at Sun Studio, and a long visit at St. Blues Guitar Workshop. We wanted to stop by the former Stax studios/museum (and Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, AL too) but we spent so much time talking with the guys at St. Blues, we had to cut the pilgrimage short. Seriously great stuff coming out of that little Marshall Ave shop (ha. Marshall... Guitars, Marshall... it drips with irony) So my fellow bottom dwellers are going to scoff, no 5 strings (yet) only PJ configs (but you can get anything you want on the US made basses) but if classic vibe and meaty P-bass on steroids tone is what you're looking for... Look up the Tom's at St. Blues.

We made it into Huntsville and had a short visit with old friends of BHB, and a quick run-through with the whole band (Bill the Cat (drums) had been out of town for a few weeks) After playing set list chess for half an hour, we settled on including one that the band leader had initially wanted us to push to the back burner. No blows were thrown, in the end we all felt very good about the set list we decided on.

Guitar Ron and his Michelle, my Michelle and I left around 10:30 to drive up to Nashvegas (Nashville for you un-jaded types) and got rooms for the night, while BH of BHB, Penny and Drummer Bill stayed behind in Huntsville to drive up on Friday AM where we drove up to Rocketown for a BWAM (Band With A Mission) Showcase. Now I'd heard of groups "like" BWAM before, here's the scenario: Mr. A&R agent contacts band off their Myspace page and gives them some version of "you guys are great! Exactly what my company is looking for! Come out to our showcase and play your best 3 songs/20 minutes and we'll see what we can do for you" Usually the next email is the sign up form and where to send your $500. I signed on with BHB after they had been contacted and made plans to go to the Nashville showcase, so I didn't get a chance to be Jaded Jed and shoot down the idea, and that's probably a good thing.

The contact from the showcase was what drove B of BHB to dust off the material and pull the band out of hiatus. That's good. B of BHB had Guitar Ron in the wings already, and found Bill the Cat around February and immediately clicked. That's good, too. After bass player roulette for 2 months, I signed on. That's good, too. I'm glad to be here. Unfortunately we had 3 weeks to pull together a 3 song set. That's not so good. Well, not so good if we had gone to the Showcase hoping to get a "record deal." Great for BHB since it got us off our duff, let us rip 3 songs we thought showed our potential and finally I think helped set direction for the weeks and months to come.

The A&R type person that was at the showcase told B of BHB that they were looking for "mid 20's, dark hair, acoustic guitar singer/songwriter type". Not rocked up Texas blues... and that's ok. We didn't go into it looking to be discovered. After our set, he gave us an initial review with scores and overall notes, as well as an emailed "in-depth" critique. Both were very helpful, although I have the impression that a lot of the guidance was generic and would apply to many of the groups playing that day. Specific points would have helped more, but all in all it was well received.

So my advice for anyone looking for BWAM to be their big break? It probably won't be. Look at it as a fun road trip to go out and play in front of people that don't have "skin in the game" and take their critiques seriously. Have fun... if you expect anything else, you're going to be disappointed.

Brand New Day

It's a brand new day. I've got a brand new opportunity. I had a really great 3rd (the math's confusing, go with it) rehearsal with a new band yesterday. As I loaded out my gear and packed up, I expected a "tied up in a neat bow" moment... like in an old western where the range boss approaches the dark outsider and sums him up a hard worker and offerers him a job... but it wasn't. It was more like the end of a really awkward date. Awkward doesn't mean 'bad' more like a date with 2 awkward people. You know it was a good date, there's chemistry and attraction, but because they are 2 awkward people they share a "well goodnight" exchange a 'go left, no right, no left, crap... on the cheek' kiss and ass-out hug and walk away while making the phone gesture to you ear and mouthing the words "call me" as the other can't wait to hear the door click to figure out what the hell just happened for the last 3 hours.

See, it wasn't bad at all. Grooves were thick, pockets were tight, the drums, 2 guitars and myself all communicated in that "yeah this is it" musical connection. If you've felt it, you know what I mean... smiles were exchanged, "I like what you're doing" was said, that part just fits was overheard. All good signs right...

So my ego wanted to hear "so can you make it out_____", "We need to get you in for photos", "What size purple velvet tuxedo do you wear" but alas I got nothing... "Thanks for coming out again" was about it. I drove home and was confused. What did that mean? I had talked with a couple of the members before and felt sure that if things went well I'd be asked to be a part of the band, and things had gone very well. Why didn't they wax eloquent on how I was the best fit for their group, how I was their man...

Because I'm not the only person in the world.

The guys wanted to make sure that everyone agreed that I was the choice they wanted to make, and wanted to decide how to address things with the bassist I'd be replacing. It was the best way to handle things both for me, for the group and for my predecessor. Really, would I have been happy down the road if that had been the case? Knowing me I would probably began to doubt things, wonder if they were just blowing smoke or if everyone agreed in my being asked to be there.

All in all it was a good ending, within a half an hour of getting back home I received a call offering me the opportunity. It was a good day, and I'm really looking forward to working with these guys.

Where's The 1?

Another blog? Really? Yes, Really. I've left corpses of inactive blogs (Blorpse? yeah I guess so...) around the internet for years, if you count the websites hosted on Alta Vista and the erickitchens.com or bottomdweller.com domains I held for a while I should be considered an elder of the "pour your thoughts out onto your keyboard as you blather about things you think everyone cares about" culture that is the intarweb tubes. I think the saying goes "if first you don't succeed, you have a natural affinity for failure and should explore other options", so I am.

So here it is for your reading and RSS subscribing pleasure: bottomdweller.blogspot.com Confessions of a Bottom Dweller.

Enjoy.