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4/18/08 OK, so it's been a while since I last wrote in the "Tales" section. Doesn't mean nothing has been going on. I've just been busy as hell. Well, last night's Whiskey Sweet/Fully Loaded gig at Pavinci's, in Hopatcong, NJ certainly warrants me to take a few minutes and update the page. Drunken debauchery and drama. Need I say more. Actually, I feel compelled to say more.
The gig started out with Whiskey Sweet playing a softer set of rock and roll, for our dining guests. By the end of the set, people were already starting to "get in the groove". Shortly there after, Fully Loaded took the stage and had people dancing from the first song. As the night went on, the lesbians (or lesbian wanna-bees) we on the dance floor (yeah, I like getting entertained at a gig too). People were digging it.
Mid-way through the 3rd set, some blond hottie and her boyfriend were all over each other on the dance floor ( I was informed later that they were both discovered in a men's room stall and later a women's room stall - hmmmmm I wonder what was going on in there...). Yeah, the booze was really kicking in at this point and blondie was giving the band a sneak preview of her aqua blue panties while dancing the night away. She had her hands down his pants and his hands were in her shirt. Nothing like public display of groping. I love it.
That was the debauchery. Now comes the drama. After the gig, while the band was loading out, we saw that blondie didn't have her keys. Apparently, the venue took them from her because she was too drunk to drive, but offered to drive her home, in her own car. She would have no part of that. She was offered a cab ride with other patrons. That was a no go. She refused to leave without her car. She claimed she needed to be at work at 8:00 the next morning and didn't want to get fired for not showing up. So blondie and the boyfriend start arguing about what they are going to do and from there, the name calling starts. Who's a scumbag boyfriend, who's a druggie, who's a bitch, F you, no, F you A-hole, etc.... With all of this arguing going on, I felt compelled to ask blondie "excuse me, would it be too much trouble for me to get one last look at those aqua panties?" I didn't have the heart to ask and kept my question to myself. Actually, I was too tired to become a part of the drama and figured I'd just continue to be a spectator.
I love my job..... Until next time.....
12/1/07 So in the Kevin Costner movie Field of Dreams, the tag line was "build it and they will come". Apparently the concept was the same last night, at Cloud 9 in Patterson, NJ. Just prior to show time, the club was pretty darn empty. No sooner did Fully Loaded kick off their first set, the people showed up. So in the Fully Loaded world, the tag line would sound something like this - "Play rock and Roll and they will come".
11/30/07 Whiskey Sweet rocks Backstreets - A packed house was in attendance for Whiskey Sweet's headlining debut. WS had a successful show and left the crowd wanting more. WS rocks Backstreets again on Friday, 12/21/07 with a X-Mas show that guarantees to satisfy.
11/24/07 OK, I know this section is intended for me to tell you about the funny, weird or just plain outrageous things that happened either before, during or after a gig, when I'm out playing. I'm going to abuse that authority a little here and stretch the boundaries a bit.
Friday, 11/23/07, I went to see one of my favorite bands ever - TT Quick. For those of you who don't know TT Quick, they were an 80's metal band. Straight ahead hard rock/heavy metal. Raw and the real deal. They released a few albums over the years, but never made it to the big-time.
They were playing at Starland Ballroom, in Sayreville, NJ, at the Monica L. Massaro Memorial Concert. I don't know all of the details nor did I know her, but Monica was murdered last summer and Friday night was a benefit for her and a chance for her family and friends to get together and celebrate her life.
There were five bands on the bill. All were good, including Edgar Cacey, but none was better than TT Quick. These guys rocked like it was 1986. I little older and wiser - a little gray in the hair and the hair was not quite as long as I recall. TT Quick was on the money. Mark, Dave, Walt and ERock - You guys need to regroup and put out some new TT Quick.
TT Quick Rules. Always Did. Always Will. Cheers to the TT Quick Heavy Metal Olympic Drinking Team.
9/17/07 So let me start out by saying that I have no problem with county folk (ass-backwards as they may be). Two country fellows seem to stand out in my mind after playing a gig up in "God's Country" West Milford, NJ. "Rockin'" Randy (as he so forwardly introduced himself to me) and "smelly-white-t-shirt guy" Terry were two good ole' boys that joined us for a night of rock and roll.
These two good ole' boys hit the bottle real hard, if you know what I mean. And Rockin' Randy..... well he must have smoked a pack of Marlboro's just before he came up to sing in my mic with me. I damn near passed out from the "aroma".
Terry had "an effect" on both of my singers, Sue and Annie. So this evening will be burnt into my mind..... next time I play there, bring a ventilator system with me.
I'm just blabbering.... its all good. We really had a good time with Rockin' Randy and Terry. Don't ever change, guys (somehow, I don't believe they will).
8/17/07 I'm sitting here, the morning after playing the Colt's Neck County Fair. Going into this gig, I felt that I was taking a big step up the ladder, so to speak. We had a fairly secured backstage area with a private trailer. Finally, some place at a gig where I can get changed in peace and quite (sometimes before a gig, I wind up getting changed in the club's bathroom or kitchen or office area or the basement and even in the parking lot). So this was something to look forward to and enjoy.
August 16th, 2007, Colt's Neck, NJ - Sweltering hot and humid. You can break a sweat just from thinking too hard. Anyway, after loading our backline gear on and around the stage, it was time to hit the trailer to relax a little bit and enjoy the cool, comfortable air conditioning. How about no! It was hotter in the trailer than it was outside. Yeah, the A/C was on full blast, but it just wasn't doing the job.
So much for hanging out in the trailer. So much for my peace and tranquility. So much for my walk up the ladder..... I'm grounded once again..... Anyway, the gig went off well despite the temperature. I have a new name for this gig. You've heard of Ozz-Fest. How about the Colt's Neck Swelter-Fest. No?
Until next time.....
6/9/07 I do believe this is a first for me. Show up at a gig and the establishment is closed for business. Yep, The Rail on Main Street is officially closed. Way to go guys.... Thanks for the heads up.
After speaking to some local pedestrians and the local police, we got some conflicting stories. But thanks to the Bound Brook police, we seem to have gotten the correct story. We found out that The Rail closed for business about a week ago. Apparently they are selling the place and I would guess that since they are currently closed, they are selling due to financial difficulties.
I hate to see venues close down. It makes it that much harder for bands to get work. Hopefully the new owners will continue providing entertainment there.
Until next time....
10/21/06 Well, nothing really strange about this gig - other than it was my last gig with If 6 Was 9. It turned out to be a good night, I had some friends come out, etc, etc....
The only weird thing was we never got to play a third set. Things were kind of winding down and the club decide to close up early. So much for those New York clubs staying open late.
Anyway, thanks as always to those of you who came out to support the band. Much appreciated.
See you soon... DB
8/5/06 I must say, last night's birthday bash really lived up to its hype. We were at Coyote's Cove in West Milford and a couple of buses pulled into the venue parking lot. These buses were full of drunk, rowdy, hyped up guys and girls and when they stumbled off the bus, I knew we were in for a good night.
No sooner did these folks arrive, they started to mosh right in front of the stage. Who was falling over each other, who was falling over the monitors, my pedal-board and anything else that was in the way.... totally out of control - it was great. Drinks were splashing everywhere. George, the singer had a full cup of beer inadvertently dumped on him by a crazy fan. That's how it goes in the pit (mosh pit, that is)....
Security had to step in however, for the safety of the band, the equipment and our fans. They just wanted to be a part of it all, but some of these people could hardly stand and really were a hazard to themselves and others around them.
I saw some bloody paper towels later on, so I'm sure someone got a bloody nose or something. Ah... the dangers of the pit. I don't think anyone was seriously hurt last night, although I'm sure today, there are a lot of hangovers.
YOU GUYS ROCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can't wait to see you again in West Milford at Coyote's Cove.
715/06 Just when I thought I saw it all.... We played a gig last night at The Orange Lantern, in Paramus, NJ. It will be the last time we play there. The owner apparently has a bug up his ass about volume. He thinks that by turning things up a bit (to get a good sound) people are going to be turned off by that and leave. Listen, I've been in this business a long time. I'm not in the business of scaring people away.
This guy is such an a-hole, he was literally adjusting volumes on the house console. That's why we have a soundman - to control that stuff. This guy stuck around for the first 2 sets. Therefore, the first 2 sets we sounded like an AM radio. After he split, the band agreed that we were not coming back to this establishment so we said, let's show them how its done. We turned it up for sets 3 and 4 and it sounded pretty good. At least we had bottom-end and there was some substance to the sound.
The bartender started complaining that there was too much bass and that it was shaking the glasses right off the shelves. Another rocket scientist, for ya. During the 4th set, I actually saw the bartender bring over a broken glass to the soundman to "show him" that the glasses were falling off the shelves. Another a-hole.
It helped that Screaming Ink was there doing a tattoo contest. That gave the band a much needed outlet. That provided some good entertainment for everyone, including the band. Oh yeah, there were some really cool tats there too.
You know, the owner of this establishment is a recovering alcoholic. What the hell is he doing owning and running a club. She should be working on a farm or something. Go screw, you a-hole!!!!
7/9/06 OK, so I haven't written an entry here is a while. Doesn't mean nothing has been going on, just pretty much the usually stuff.... drunken debauchery and everything that goes along with that.
Well, last night, at our gig at The Grasshopper Off The Green, in Morristown, NJ, I saw something that I don't think I've seen anywhere else.
Let me give you a little background. When the band arrives at a venue, we usually load our equipment in from the rear of the facility. Every once in a while, we have to load-in from the main entrance (where customers are going in and out of the establishment).
Well, last night, we were at the rear of the venue, on the basement level.... and we were playing on the 2nd floor. People... we have lots of heavy equipment. The venue told us we could use the dumb waiter to get our equipment up to the 2nd floor. Yeah, the dumb waiter was barely large enough for Mini-Me to use it as an elevator.
We usually load-in in about 15 to 20 minutes. It took us over an hour to load in. Every time we would send the dumb waiter down from the 2nd floor to the basement, it would stop on the first floor. So by time it arrived in the basement, there were dirty dishes and trays that the guys had to pull out of there before they could load more of our equipment in. It was pretty strange.
Undaunted, we set up and began the show in record time. However, when it was time to load-out, we brought the trucks around front and walked the equipment down one flight of stairs. It was so much quicker than loading just a few items in the dumb waiter and waiting for it to return for another trip. Plus, who wants to wait around for that at 2:30 in the morning.
2/27/06 Hey
everyone. Just wanted to give you all a big thanks for supporting the band over
the last 3 months or so.
1/14/06 Last night was Friday the 13th and we played at Butch Kowal's in Rahway. The day started out a little weird because I heard through the grapevine that the venue had booked some other band. Upon checking into it further, we were assured that the mix up was resolved. After we got to the venue, set up and was ready for our sound check, we found out that the other band had just arrived. Oops.... Needless to say, they were pissed. I guess the morale of the story is get to the gig early, just in case....
The weirdness didn't end there. Friday night was Smirnoff night at Butch Kowal's. There were two Smirnoff girls walking through the crowd, with giveaways. Other than being really hot, they were quite boring. They didn't want to dance, they didn't want to drink, they didn't socialize at all. Very strange.
That's OK, we had strippers. Yep, a few of our audience members turned out to be strippers and if I didn't know better, I'd say Butch Kowal's turned into a strip club for the night. These girls were dancing on the bar, flashing the crowd, flashing the band, getting dollar tips, grinding each other and then some..... Talk about freaky Friday. I love it when girls get out of control..... So much for a hard night's work.
12/26/05 Well, on Friday, 12/23, we played The Arena, in Bayonne, NJ. As far as I can tell, everything went well. I say "as far as I can tell" for a reason. For those of you who know me, you know that I don't drink alcohol when I perform. However, if someone is buying (me) drinks, I find that it would offensive to turn down the drinks, especially, during the X-Mas season. So, I had a few...and a few more.. and so on and so on.... Oh yeah, there was this one girl there, dancing for the band. She wasn't the prettiest in the bunch, if you know what I mean. She had teeth (OK, she only had a few anyway, so what's the big deal?) ... her teeth were about as dark as my black pants... At least she provided some entertainment to the band.
12/18/05 We just played the Doghouse in Washington Township, NJ. What a nightmare. In case you guys didn't know, I'm a big NY Giants fan. The Giants were playing at 5:00pm. So I figured I'd get to the gig early, load in, watch the game, have some dinner there, do a sound check, wait for a little while for show time and then play my ass off all night.
Not quite. The venue booked the room for a private party, which wasn't breaking up until 10:00pm. At that time, we were finally allowed to begin loading in. Needless to say that the show didn't start on time.
We had no sound check. We just went on and played and the soundman had to "wing-it" as did we, on-stage. We played a short set of about 45 minutes and took a break to tweak the sound. Then we came back with a killer 100 minute set and we totally rocked the place.
Never in my life have I experienced anything like what took place at the Doghouse. The waiting was just nuts. But life goes on....
12/16/05 Well, I guess I'm going to busier with Tales From The Road than I originally thought. We just finished the show at Hummer's in South River, NJ and it was a pretty straight forward gig. However, after the gig, on my way home, I stopped at a local Dunkin Donuts, only to find the best of South River's weird and creepy.
There was one dude who thought he was surfing the waves of Hawaii (while waiting in line to be served), complete with sounds of waves crashing over head and fighting off sharks. If that wasn't bad enough, he than began a conversation with Capt. Kirk, stating that he was on a foreign planet and there were aliens all around him. He begged with Capt. Kirk to be beamed up to the mother-ship, but apparently, they didn't want him either.
So, after I did my entertaining at Hummer's, I was treated to some local, South River, NJ entertainment. Works for me.
12/11/05 How ironic. We just created Tales From The Road and already, something to write about. If 6 Was 9 was at The SpeakEasy last night. So I get to the gig and what do I find? A stage that's literally on its last leg. This stage couldn't hold up 2 kindergarten students - and its supposed to support the band and its equipment? I could envision a Spinal-Tap moment happening, like the stage crashing down, while we're in the middle of a song.
Luckily, that didn't happen. Actually the stage held up. The rest of the night was pretty regular - you know, drunk chicks grinding each other and feeling each other's tits and asses. Oh, the joys of performing.
12/9/05 - 12/10/05 Well, the time is finally here. We've all been waiting for this moment for a long time. Personally, I've been waiting for this day to arrive since the Yankee gig on July 19th. Its gone from counting months to weeks to days to finally counting hours. Friday night - one night before our first gig back and I'm cranky. I want to fast forward to Saturday night. I'm tired, but can't sleep due to the excitement that I know is 24 hours ahead of me. Finally, I fall asleep. That doesn't last long as I'm awake by 5:30am, Saturday morning. Nervous energy kicks right in and I'm up "doing things", just to past the time by (BTW, does EVERY cable channel have to air the same info-mercials at the same time?). Finally, I drive the van over to my storage facility and begin loading up my equipment. Finally, finally, finally!!! Then I head back home and begin going through my clothes to see what works and what doesn't. You know what? No matter how many clothes I have, I always wind up wearing the same crap. Bag packed and ready to go. Just enough time for a little nap before heading out to The SpeakEasy. |
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