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Another #gigstory. The recent death of Gary Wright—may he Rest in Peace-- spurred a distant memory. Deep in the winter of 1975 I was 18 and had just graduated from high school that Spring. Through a contact, I got a call from an agency telling me about an audition for a touring show band that was desperately looking for a guitarist. Their guitarist had suddenly quit over some relationship drama with one of the woman singers.

#musicians #gigs

I'll file this as a #gigstory, but it's actually an extracurricular activity story. It's an absolutely true story.

In 1974 I was a senior in high school (think Dazed and Confused as a pretty good approximation). I was playing in a couple of bands, so my cohort was all musicians. One summer afternoon these friends and I decided to go cruising around the rural outskirts of Allentown, PA. The guy who was driving, let's call him "Harry," had a beat up early 60s Pontiac.

#musicians #gigs 1/

A short #gigstory. In the 70s there was a popular club in Bethlehem, PA called The Lighthouse. A lot of our heroes played there. We had a very good rock band at the time but we were all in our late teens and weren’t very well established.

One day in mid-December we were thrilled to get a call from that club asking if we could play there on New Years. We were over the moon about it!
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#musicians #gigs

After action review of the Stonehenge Fest 2023 gig on #Vashon, which wasn't terrible (maybe) but could have been a lot better.

(not as good as @mikebabyak gig stories)

http://venya.sdf.org/posts/stonehenge/

#BassGuitar #GigStory #LiveMusic

Another short theft #gigstory. In the early 80s I had a regular duo gig in Allentown PA at a downtown bar called Cannon's. A long narrow room, with the entrance up at one end.

Walking in, looking to the right you’d see the store room and restrooms, and looking to the left you'd see the long barroom.

The bar had a decent PA system, with the board on a table just to the right of the main door. IIRC was something like a 12 channel Tapco, so not insubstantial.

#musicians #gigs
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Another #gigstory from the Jersey dance clubs in the late 70s. A while back, I posted an equipment theft story that took place at the #RedRooster, one of the string of dance clubs on the PA-Jersey border.

At the time, Jersey's drinking age was 18, while PA's was 21, so the places just over the border were big night spots for PA kids. This story took place not far down the road from the Red Rooster.

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#musicians #gigs #ThievesSuck

Another #doublebooking #gigstory. Four or five years ago we were booked at a local club that had double booked us once before, but we wrote that off as an honest mistake.

We had a monthly Thursday night gig there which was always fun. At one point the manager asked if we’d fill in for a Saturday slot the next month that had opened up due to a cancellation. I said sure!

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#gigs #musicians

#gigstory. A short one. Double booking nightmare.

Not my band, but knew one of the bands involved. This is how it was told to me.

There was a a great local venue that had wonderful ownership for some years. Eventually, they gave it up, afterwhich it changed hands several times.

The last owner had never managed a club before. She was terribly disorganized and double bookings were not unusual.
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#musicians #gigs

Another #gigstory. Just a short one. Back in the 80s I had career as a decent classical guitarist. I could do some of the big repertoire reasonably well, did lots of solo recitals, played with some local chamber orchestras and early music groups.

At some point I was asked to perform on a show at the local college radio station. It was fun. I'd do a 6-8 minute piece or set of short pieces, the host would interview me, I'd play some more, etc.

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#musicians #gigs

Another #gigstory. Late 1970s at one of those drinking dance clubs in Phillipsburgh, NJ. Drinking age in PA was 21, but only 18 in NJ--there was a string of clubs along the border that drew the PA kids.

We were playing a Sunday night gig at a place called The Red Rooster. For whatever reason, the crowd was unusually light even for a Sunday. After the first set the club owner said might as well close up.

So we leave the club carrying our guitars.

#musicians #gigs
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Another #gigstory, or at least one related to working as a musician. I won’t recount my long winding road from full time musician after high school to going back to college. Suffice to say I started by taking a few course at the community college when I was 25. My English course was taught by a young guy, maybe in his mid 30s.

I’ve always been a compulsive reader, so going in to those courses I was well-read and had a good vocabulary.

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#musicians #gigs

Another #gigstory

When I was in high school, long before I could read music or even a chord chart, I was jamming in the basement of a friend. At some point, his dad, who was a pro musician, came down in a sort of panic.

He said he had a contract for a trio to play a high paying gig the next night playing standards at a large retirement community outside NYC. Their guitarist had just had a bad accident—could I fill in?
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Another #gigstory. In the late 70s we played a place in Phillipsburg pretty regularly.

The bartender there (can't recall his name) pulled us aside one night and told us he was opening a new club in White House NJ and he'd like us to have a regular slot there, playing a 4 night run once a month.

Best part was that he was doubling our pay compared to the old place.

So, we started doing it. The money was great and the atmosphere was popping--always a huge party.

#mastomusic #band

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Another #gigstory. Years ago I was an officer in the local classical guitar society. At each monthly meeting members could volunteer to come up in front of everyone and play a piece.

Like most such organizations, the range of skill and experience was pretty wide, from beginners to very accomplished players.

It was an unspoken policy to be very encouraging and supportive of the performances, especially when it came to beginners.
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Another #gigstory.

Every year we play a nice club near the beach that’s a little over a 2 1/2 hour drive from my place in Chapel Hill. We don’t finish till the wee hours so we usually get a couple of cheap motel rooms to crash in after the show.

A great keys player who guests with us from time to time agreed to do the gig, even though he’s based about 3 hours from us in the direction opposite to the beach club.

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#mastomusic