Cover Combo Caveats No. 1

Hi y'all. This may be my last post for a bit - I'm actually supposed to be packing stuff into boxes right now ready for our move, which starts tomorrow. So, apologies for any "outages" until we get moved in and I can get my DSL up-and-a-going. Meanwhile, I thought I'd go ahead and start the little series I promised on the joys of being a cover band, the kind of things that seem to happen to you constantly when you're on the road, warnings, advice, etc. Obviously, most of this will be strictly tongue-in-cheek, but I may end up throwing in the odd word of seriousness for good measure. So, here goes:

(This pic courtesy of hollywoodteenmovies.com)

Rule 1 "Request-a-mess": At every wedding, birthday, barmitzvah, wine fest or other event you play, there will be a minimum of one person who will come up and have a request for the band to play. This is particularly true of events where you, the band, have been given a set schedule of songs/styles/sheet music to play and are clearly in no position to take requests. The key thing about the request is; regardless of what you're playing (style, etc.), what time of the evening it is (dinner, late evening, after midnight, next morning over breakfast) or how talented/prepared/well-equipped in terms of sheet music you are, the request is GUARANTEED to be one that you could not, for the life of you, satisfy. Personal favourites of mine include the lady who came up to me on a night where I'd been booked to play the piano (the "real thing", a black grand, not a fancy bells-whistles-and-drum-machines synthesizer/MIDI monster, just to make myself clear. Oh, and for those of you who didn't know this, all you can reasonably achieve sonically with a piano is a sound that will be, well, piano-like in nature.) at a posh dinner event asking for "a big drum roll" to help her announce something. Others were the bunch of rowdy-looking, half-drunk rockers at a wedding who insisted we play "something by AC/DC, or at least Led Zeppelin". Our brief for the evening, given to us by the rockers' best buddy, the groom, was expressly to play "light jazz, nothing too exciting or loud". Oh yeah, and there wasn't a single guitar anywhere in sight in our piano/double bass/drums jazz trio, either... There's more to be told on the topic of requests; the manner in which requests are delivered, for instance, is crucial and never, ever varies. This, however, will have to wait until the next post. Meanwhile, I leave you with the immortal words well-beknown and feared by many a fine musician; "can you play 'Lady In Red', please?"

Never saw you looking so lovely as you did tonight

...Mumble. Ooh ooh ow its Sunday evening and I am officially knackered beyond recognition. Somewhat surprisingly, this has triggered an idea for a (short) series of blog posts. Let me explain; yesterday evening I played another of the countless wedding/birthday/anniversary gigs that have formed the backbone of my musical activities for several years now (admittedly its a somewhat sleazy-looking, sheepishly mooching-in-corners in a black suit sort of backbone, but hey - at least it makes a living for itself). The funny thing about these gigs is that, while the music we play, the venues, audiences, etc. vary quite significantly, my fellow harlots, err, band members ("good evening ladies and gents, we're all just Slaves To The Rythm here, so go ahead, relax and enjoy the show...") and I believe we have noted and observed a series of occurances that seem to repeat themselves at almost every single gig we play. Feel free to make clever-clogs observations at this point about what you think might be the cause for such phenomena. On afterthoughts, please don't. Unless your observations are witty and flattering, in which case please don't hesitate to post them as comments... Where was I?

(Not me, but check out my flickr account by clikking the picc for pixx of mii)

Oh yes, based on the aforementioned insights gathered, I will try to put out a series of Cover Gig Essentials (or some similarly glib title, if I can think of one) wherein I will state one or several of the things that "always happen". Obviously, Que Sera, Sera and I may not manage more than a few posts but Perhaps, Perhaps... Sorry, got carried away. Should you wish to add any points, correct or modify statements I make, please do not hesitate to write a comment. It's Not Unusual, after all (darn! There goes another one). Okay, enjoy. P.S.: Sorry no pictures of the new pad so far - at the minute, I simply can't be bothered to hook my cell phone up to the compewter. D'aargh.

Isn't she lovely, isn't she wonderful

Hi-dey-ho y'all! Good news time in the hood. Two announcements for y'alls. Firstly, friend and fellow blog contributor Kneecaps is very proud to announce the birth of his second child, the beautiful, bouncy Erin Eileen. Yay! We're happy to report that all is well with mother and child and both have returned home from hospital already. Point Two on the agenda is to tell y'alls that C and I have finally, finally found a new flat and will sign the contract for it tomorrow. As aforementioned (I believe - in earlier posts, that would be), we're moving to Ebersbach an der Fils, located in Southern Germany about 20 minutes' drive from Stuttgart. Shoot me an e-mail if you want address details and weren't on the "press release" e-mail list. Pictures of the place as soon as I have some (watch this blogspace).

There's something wrong with the world today...

...and I do know what it is. I think. Or not. Anyway, new shtuff to tell you about.

(courtesy of hollandsentinel.com)

A) I have become a member of OpenBC, a business contacts network site. A friend invited me and I couldn't think of any sensible reasons why not to join. Turns out there's quite a few people I know already "there", which is nice. Weird is being checked out by people from former customer companies. It gives me the creeps somehow - I dunno, maybe part of being a trainer is to develop a mild form of personal-information-related paranoia. For the life of me, I couldn't think what there might be that someone checking the website could learn about me that I would not want them to know. I have no closet skeletons I'm aware of, and even if I did they wouldn't be online, that's for sure! Why is it then that I almost retired my entry from the website after finding several former customers had checked out my file (within a very short time after going online)? I don't know, but watching my own reactions to this will be reason enough to keep the entry up for a bit. Did that make sense? Not sure...

(courtesy of indiewire.com)

B)I just finished reading Cosmopolis by Don Delillo. I tend to struggle with heavy, "involved" sort of literature, so tried this fairly short volume by the bestselling author of Underworld with some trepidation, mainly because it came recommended by Harald Schmidt, Germany's version of David Letterman, whom I admire rather more than I care to admit. Anyway, in an amateur attempt to describe what I read, the style seems very stream-of-consciousness to me, rich with descriptions of sensory experience and word-by-word transcriptions of thought. For me, this gives a very realistic insight into a character's world view and perception as imagined by the author. As a technique, I really like the approach and admire the author's ability to make me feel involved, close to the action and able to relate to the character. Several times, I came across descriptions of thought processes, reactions to input, etc. that surprised me by being similar to my own reactions or behaviour, though I might have been previously unaware of such behaviour in a situation. Touching on nerves of common, yet mostly subliminal or "instinctive" behaviour that may be surprising to the reader is one of the things I always felt the late Douglas Adams was incredibly good at, so its another "like" for me. Plus, the text is rich with metaphor and symbolism, something I enjoy when it is not overdone. Dislikes would be the graphic descriptions of acts of sexuality, though I accept that, from the author's point of view this might simply be a necessary means of advancing the plot and completing the holistic view of a character's experience. Anyway, if you're looking for a rich, complex and, to some degree, thrilling tale of power, wealth, urban madness and the intricacies of the human condition, here's my thumbs up for Don Delillo's Cosmopolis.

(courtesy of amazon.com)

Just made myself a nice, steaming hot cup of tea. Aaaaaaaahhhhhhh! I may only be half a Brit, but hunkered over a cozy mug of splosh on a rainy afternoon, I couldn't imagine wanting to be anything other than British. Speaking of my mother country, though - what shocking news about those threats to US flights out of London. I really don't know what to make of the world we live in sometimes and would struggle to judge who's right and who isn't in many of the questions people are fighting over these days, especially regarding the influence Europe and the US have exerted over large parts of the planet and the people living there. However, I refuse to believe that terrorism and violence are the only means available to individuals or groups seeking to change their environment. Therefore, these people's behaviour (and the behaviour of those who incite and back them in planning such deeds) is wrong and morally reprehensible in my book. I was tempted to write something vaguely pathetic about hoping the people involved might come to a realisation of the wrongness of their deeds, but will refrain. Instead, this may sound even cheesier, but let's all work toward a more peaceful world by fighting injustice in our immediate, day-to-day environments. Sorry if this does sound like Hollywood drivel, but for all its schmaltz, I'm a firm believer in thinking global and acting local. Okay, I'll get down off the soap box now so you can have a good laugh at my naivete... Cheerio!

something beautiful will come your way

Hey y’all. I’m sitting in a park writing this while I wait to play a gig in two hours’ time. I’m here with Beatbetrieb who have invited me along for a show, maybe more if things go well. Which is great as far as I’m concerned. Right now, I’m sat between a couple of fountains, the sound of running water mixing happily with a few early grasshopper chirrups and the conversations of people passing by. Its nice to be at ease every once in a while.

Anyway, what I wanted to tell you about is two things; first, that I have found the best gadget ever online – a robot lawnmower that will sit in a docking station while it waits for a programmed cue. Once this is given, it departs from the dock, goes around your house mowing the lawn (apparently, it can tell the difference between patches of grass, rocks, trees, pet animals and assorted garden paraphernalia) and, upon completion, trundles itself back to home base to recharge its batteries. Now, I realise that liking lawnmowers sounds maybe a little middle-aged and pipe-and-slippers. Still, I’m totally thrilled by the idea of having one of those running around my house one day, scaring the living daylights out of stray cats, the postman and unsuspecting trespassers. Find it here to learn more.

Also, just to make sure I’m not accused of stealing other people’s posts, this is where I found the link originally. Silicon Glen is a really fun techy blog (I know, I know – it really is fun, and no, I’m nobody’s nerd by any definition) with lots of bright ideas and a spark-off website for inventions. So, checkk it outtt! Right, signing off for now, cheerio!

Doo wah diddy diddy

E's back! I've been realising just how misleading or rather, unrepresentative the scribblings on the blog have become recently. See, my last major foray told you about being down at Lake Constance whereas, today, I was going to write about the last week, which I spent on holiday in Alsace. Which must lead you, the reader, into believing mine is a life of luxury and constant respite. How I wish that was correct! Well, anyway... Things have happened and decisions been made while I've been offline for a bit. We finally know where we're going to be living (and working) for the next couple of years. The place is called Ebersbach, and its a small town somewhere near Stuttgart (between Esslingen and Göppingen, for those of you in the know). Its 30-odd miles from Tübingen, where I shall be continuing my studies, meaning I will commute there. Of course we'd really hoped we might end up closer to Tübingen, but hey, at least we finally know where we're going, ending the weeks of nail-biting anxiety that went before. So, Ebersbach it is. Let's see, here's the official town link (nothing much there) and that's it, really. Hicktown! Yay. So here's where I was - or at least, the Etang de Stock in Lorraine was one the places I visited. There's a ton more stuff I'd like to tell you about, but the phone's been ringing incessantly today and is doing so as I write. Gah! The thing is, our landlady is still advertising our flat (although she's hired a realtor) in the local paper and giving people who ring her our telephone number. No, she didn't even ask whether we minded. We, therefore, have resorted to letting the phone ring, with the answer phone telling them to either call the realtor or leave a message. This in turn seems to have infuriated some of the persons interested in the flat to the extent that they've been ringing in 3 minute intervals. Which isn't fun when you haven't worked out how to set the phone to silent mode. Ah well, at least we'll be out of here soon...