Slow Starting...

Played my monthly gig at Ninfa's Saturday evening and it seemed I couldn't do anything right. I'd been on the road most of the day and returned about two hours before I was to set up. I was tired and to top it off I had a case of the hershey's. I gave thought to cancelling, but decided it would be even crappier to back out, so I went ahead.

The first set was awful. I forgot words to old faithful tunes and mixed up chords where I never mixed them up before. I felt like the proverbial fish out of water for the first several songs. None too soon, I stepped down and joined Pam at the table for a break. As soon as I did, our granddaughter, Maddie (now 5), goes up to the mic and sings the following which she just made up on the fly:

"Time to take a break. Here at Canyon Lake. Time to take a break at Ninfaaaaaaaaa's!". She then belts out "Great Little Night to Chase Kitties" and a couple of dog tunes she had recently composed. Finally applause!!!

I returned to the mic much more relaxed and confident for the second set and to applause and tips that were not there before... The evening actually came off OK... Thanks to Maddie... She got the tips so we're now off to PetSmart to buy the dogs some treats. :wink:

Great stuff Ken.

Remind me to rent a small kid when I play out next. :lol:

Default said:

Remind me to rent a small kid when I play out next. :lol:

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Need a bass player?
I've been told I'm immature for my age...

Hey! Let's see that kid's union card!

Great fun, Scratch!

Scratch said:

I forgot words to old faithful tunes and mixed up chords where I never mixed them up before.

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Story of all my live performances :roll:

JerryR said:

Scratch said:

I forgot words to old faithful tunes and mixed up chords where I never mixed them up before.

Click to expand...

Story of all my live performances :roll:

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Likewise. It's all part of the process.

cheers
R

Last Friday, I tried to do the standard 3 song set at an open mike, songs I've known for years, but (thought) I was just scraping by. Then, after the second song, when i was about to try the third, the MC/soundman said, "Let's hear it for Elrod", which I took as my Gong.
Guess I should have brought a five year old. Anybody got one I can borrow this Friday? :wink:

Least he didn't have to use the long hook :shock:

No, I got the message right away!
Thing is, I've seen several get up & be less than mediocre, & others spend the time a song would take deciding what to do next, or where to put their capo, & not be cut off. I think he probably forgot it had only been two instead of three, but I wasn't really feeling up to it anyway, would rather have stayed home in bed! Should have, too! :roll:

There are days - and days The few good ones keep ya going, and we can always learn from the bad ones :mrgreen: <Hell, I'm getting philosophical in my old age :roll: >

BTW Ken - next Nifa's is sure to go really well now - when is it :?:

Next one is Dec. 6th, Jer... Need to practice some Christmas tunes. We still do those in SC Tejas... :shock:

Give that young lady a big hug for me Kenster! Way to go guy. Reminds me of the day Charles Trois asked me to play hime a song......just him, Mrs. West and my self in the room. I forgor songs I'd played for 30 years! Who can explain? I do notice that we get in a zone when we play, unfortunately we sometimes just as easily forget where that zone is! :shock:

West

Last night I went back to the weekly open mike I mentioned above. After I finished messing up my first song, they asked if anyone had a Ford Escape, so I said "I have a Ford Escape". So instead of finishing my set, I began learning the joy of having someone break my car window! :evil:
Nothing missing, despite 4 boxes of CD's(it pays to have taste outside the mainstream!) & my Breedlove Cascade mandolin being in the vehicle at the time!
Turns out, State Farm is the only insurer that covers glass with no deductible; guess who my insurance is with? Allstate. :roll:

On a positive note, My D25 really cooks from the stage, if you don't set the bass too high!
Otherwise, the 5th & 6th strings overpower the world.

Mando,
What did they take from the car or was it just vandalism?

Turns out, it seems they just rifled through the stuff in the front; didn't apparently bother my 4 boxes of CD's or mandolin(new list about $2.5-2.8K) in the back. Nothing seems to be missing, but they hit 2 or 3 other cars also.
$165-$195 for replacement, can't get the glass until Monday, of course.
I'm thinking of giving up on the open mike!

Sounds like a tough neighborhood!

You know........they changed the law in Texas last year. It used to be that someone really had to be in the act of, or actually in your house. Now, if you catch them on your property....yard, driveway, whatever, doing harm or stealing anything, you can legally shoot them! There's hope for the country yet, at least this state.......for now.

Obviously wasn't on your property. Sounds like some real idiot thieves. Thank God they didn't see the mando.

West

I think they just look for items they know what they can do with, like Cash, computers, ipods, etc. :?: