Conference napalm::guitar

    My old band (2EZ) played a 4th of July gig on the front steps of a 200
    year old southern plantation mansion.  It was a wild feeling ... there
    were pictures inside of the house as it stood many years before,
    including cotton fields in the background and slave quarters off to the
    side.  BTW, it was *supposedly* haunted too !  The owner even had some
    proffesional ghostbuster types come in there and photograph the spook
    as she sat in a 200 year old chair .... hmmmmm ...
    
    Scary

    
    I had the opportunity to play in a maximum security prison once.  This
    place was built in the 1800s and didn't even have flush toilets!!!  The
    room we played in was incredibly live, all the walls were stone and so
    it was a sonic nightmare.  I was sure glad when it was time to leave 
    8^)  8^)  8^)
    
    							Brian 

    I remember playing in a bar in Hudson on a Friday night with about
    a dozen or so Hells Angels tearing up the dance floor.
    
    We must'a gotten around a half dozen requests to play "Born to be
    Wild"!
    
    strange night, indeed!
    
    Mike

    I played in an old Air Force hanger once...for an Air Force party...
    it was just like Spinal Tap, I swear!

I dunno if this should go here or not...Perhaps it needs to be in the 
gig-from-hell topic...Aw, here goes.

Just this past Friday evening at about 6pm, we got a call from this guy
who needed a band BAD to play at the Greenville Shrine Club (as in Shriners).
Apparently, the band booked to play couldn't make it due to an illness.
Well, we didn't have a our normal (bad choice of words ;) guitar player 
(Bulldawg), and in fact our band has pretty much ceased to exist...
But for a 3 hour gig at $500, we couldn't resist !  I called up Jerry 
(aka-Scary) and asked if he wanted to sit in and make some quick cash.
Okay, no problem he sez.  Anyway, one hour later we pulled up to an 
impressive looking hall (I mean this place is BIG, Steve Morse had just
played there a few weeks before).

We set up our stuff, and in comes the "manager" of the Shrine Club, and
he informs us that if we get caught drinking, we're out.  He tells us not
to make any racket because people are eating on the other side of the club.
Thinking this guy is the biggest Woodie I'd ever met, I swallowed my 
nasty expletives, since I did want to get paid.  A little later, we were
playing with the stage-lights, trying to figure out which lights were
connected to which switch.  In comes 'Woodie' again.  Yelling at us to leave
the lights alone.  Sez we can use the lights when we play, but we're not 
playing, so leave them alone.  

Anyhow, thinking it can't much worse (I mean, we didn't know WHO we were
playing for!) In comes a sorority (hey, this won't be bad!) in their gowns
and such...Now remember, this is Greenville, and here they have sororities
in High School...So these girls are young.

Okay, so there is NO organization at all, we're all anxious to play, and 
finally this little 17 year old philly (We'll call her Muffy; you know the
type) comes up to us and tells us to play something slow so she can bring up 
the "candidates".  Well the whole damn class of about 300 girls is nominated
and each girl gets a rose, one at a time, while we play an instrumental
version of Knockin' On Heavens Door (Hey!  We were wingin' it !) After the
400th lead break, we stop while Muffy passes on the wand of leadership to
the next years queen (or whatever).

Finally we get to play.  We open with Can't Get Enough, and by the time
the harmony solo comes up the place is empty.  All the kids are outside in the
parking lot drinking (and whatever).  Well, we don't care, because Jerry and
I haven't jammed together in a couple years, so we just finish our set for
the 1/2 dozen tea-totallers that are left.

Halfway into set two, Muffy apparently informs the drummers wife that we won't 
be paid because we're not the band she hired.  Well she The drummers wife, who
happens to have a mouth like a sailor) comes storming to the stage holloring
and cussing saying we're not being paid.  Anyhow, we stop and I confront
Muffy (she's half in the bag by now; she was in the parking lot, pissed
off that they wouldn't let her drink in the club) and tell ask her if
she'd ever been to court for breech of contract.

Anyhow, after an hour of convincing her that she should pay us she decides
she probably better, and we finish the night out.  

All in all a pretty wacky night.  Probably one of RnR's better performances too.
Hats off to Scary for filling in.  He did a great job, and the Kitty60-Strat-GP8
combo sounded great !

Definately one of RnR's most memorable evenings.

jc

I can relate to the Biker bar scene.  

RnR's first gig was in a biker bar.  There were fights all night long 
between the men AND women.  Broken bottles for weapons etc...  And I was 
wireless;  Everytime I stepped off stage I got molested by the Motorcycle
Mamas.  I left stage twice.  ;)  Scary stuff eh kids ?


jc

the year,, 1975

the place,, fort devens..

the job,, Summer Social..

the crowd,, Fort devens underpriviledge learners..  (For lack of a better term)
most of the kids had severe learning disabilities...

Needless to say, a memorable evening..  I even sign a few dozen autographs..


The there was the Lobster Pond in Spencer....  Don't ask...

When's it all gonna end ???

    
    
    
                   The "ZOO" in Manchester ...10 years ago.
    
                   What a place!!   Drunks, druggies and hookers marketing
                   their wares.  Some old guy was standing right over
                   one fo the flash pots...BOOM..he staggered and slammed
                   right into a wall and fell behind the P.A.  The cables
                   got hold of him like a giant squid.
    
    
                   The Tigers Den in Lowell Ma.
    
                   Same kinda crowd only add two dozen bikers.  We played
                   there six weekends in a row and I swear there was
                   BIG fight EVERY night.  I mean bottles, tables and
                   chairs flying with a smattering of blood.
    
                   These two places made quite an impression on this
                   16 year old kid.  
    
                   Then there was the gig for the dead guy.....
                                                               

    In 1974, The band I was in was booked to play the Sitzmark in
    Westminster, Ma. The owner of the Sitzmark was a well known mafioso
    type that also owned the Sitzmark II (on Cape Cod) the Cinema
    Lounge in Leominster Ma. and the Westminster Abby.
     
    The deal was we would play Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night and
    be payed a flat fee, plus $1.00/head at the door (to be paid at the 
    end of each evening). A friend of the band agreed to count heads at 
    the door to make sure we were paid fairly. Thursday was a fairly slow 
    night, but we still counted about 150 "heads". At the end of the
    Thursday night gig, we went looking for the manager to be paid, and
    found out he had left. We would have to wait until the next night to
    be paid. The next night we showed up and were told that the Cinema
    lounge in Leominster had closed it's doors for good, and signs had
    been posted in the windows directing people to the Sitzmark, so they
    were expecting a great evening. We were told the manager would pay us
    as soon as he arrived, but he never did show up that night. We counted 
    close to 400 "heads" that night. The next night when we showed up we
    demanded to be paid for the two nights, and refused to play unless they
    paid us all the money they owed us beforehand. We told them that we
    had counted 550 "heads" between Thursday and Friday. The manager didn't
    dispute the head count, but refused to honor the $1.00/head cover he
    originally promised us, on the grounds that he never expected that 
    large a crowd, and he felt we would be grossly overpaid if he honored
    it. We were disgruntled and threatened not to go on unless he honored
    the original commitment (which we had in writing). He had several body-
    gaurd types breathing down our necks during this discussion. He countered 
    that unless we promised to play the entire evening, he wouldn't pay us
    a dime, and we could see him in court. He paid us (substantially less
    than we were owed) but promised we wouldn't be leaving with our equipment 
    until the end of the evening. 
    
    Our bass player took the money and made his way to the pay-phone and
    made a call to a local sports bar in Fitchburg. We went to the stage
    and made it look like we were tuning up, but we were really packing up
    all our small stuff to make a quick getaway. Just before 9:00 as the
    crowd thickened, in walked the entire Fitchburg Hornets hockey team
    (our bass player was captain), complete with hockey sticks, face masks, 
    etc. I've never seen amplifiers, PA. drums, etc. get packed up so 
    quick in all my life. None of the bouncers dared to interfere. We
    flipped them the bird, and left. 
    
    	That night marked the end of the Sitzmark. They closed their doors
    that night, never reopened, and burned to the ground about a week
    later. By some strange coincidence, so did the Sitzmark II on Cape cod. 
    
    
    
    	Another strange gig was about 8 years ago at a small quiet lounge
    in Acton called the Mail Coach. They booked us for Thursday to Saturday.
    Thursday was about average for the bar. Two of the guys in the band
    worked for Genrad in nearby Concord, and mentioned that Genrad was
    laying off it's entire workforce for 30 days. Friday was the last day
    of work for over 1000 people. Many people went to the Mail Coach at 
    lunchtime and never went back to work. They stayed there from lunchtime
    till closing. I have never been in a bar packed as tight as they were
    that night. The bar has exposed beams and people were literally
    swinging from the beams. People were cutting across the stage to get
    to the dance floor. We tried to take a break, but could not get away
    from the stage. The crowd simply would not let us by. We ended up
    opening windows behind the stage and climbed out the windows so we
    could get a breath of fresh air. By closing time there was not one
    beer, or one drop of booze to make a drink. The bar was completely
    sold out of everything. The owner did not hire us back. He was afraid
    we might bring the same following, and he simply could not handle that
    big of a crowd.
    
    You gotta admit, it can be a strange way of making a living at times.
    Some people think being a musician is easy money. If only they could
    walk a mile in our shoes during one of these crazy gigs, they would
    think differantly.
    
    Mark
    

     Being in strange band, there is even a greater chance of being
    booked into strange places. The most artistically successful band 
    I was in - (record deal, lots of travel, got played on radio & TV, -
    made NO money) was called GNP (Gross National Productions)(Boston 1970-75).
     To celebrate the release of our album and one of their other recording
    artists (Tim Davis - drummer for Steve Miller), Metromedia Records had 2
    lavish parties. The first party was held at the ritzy St. Francis Hotel
    in San Franciso. But that was not the STRANGE gig - a few days before
    the show, we played a warm up gig with Jimmmy Cipolina's band ....
    at  converted synagogue....which was later the home of Jim Jones'
    PEOPLE'S TEMPLE.
      About a month later, the second promotional party was held. This
    one on the East Coast at the Crane Mansion in Ipswich, MA. This is
    the place that was used for a lot of the scenes in the movie "The
    Witches of Eastwick". Very decadent.
    
    A few years later, different band, different music. The band was
    called "Smokin' Joe". It was KIck AS** Rock -  60/40 original. Lots of 
    tough bars ....Like the after hours club somewhere in Pennsylvania -
    The gig is 1:oo AM to 4:oo AM.  At 1:00 AM the place is EMPTY, we
    think its a joke ! The band sets up on a circular stage with a bar
    around it - in the middle of this club or hall.
    Within an hour the place is PACKED ! The night shift from the COAL
    MINE has arrived ! By three o'clock, the place was a raging nuthouse
    with fights and bottles flying.
    
     And just one more ... good ole Massachusetts Correctional Institution
    at Framingham. First, a very detailed search of our equipment, right
    down to the guitar string pouches inside our guitar cases. We were
    led into the green room (every thing in there was painted green)
    for final instructions. We had been told not have anything in our
    pockets. Our apparently deaf lead singer pulled out a comb for some
    final touch up and was promptly read the riot act by a very unpleasant
    prison official ! The first band (that great oldies band ... the
    SHITTONS) were lead out and wished us luck. When we get on stage (in
    the gym)  our Main Mouth, as we affectionately called him made some
    remark about Freedom that had to do with a song. A large mean looking 
    lady instantly stood up and began to challenge him .... 
     thank God for amplifiers !
    After our set, we were treated to some of The Worst, well it was
    the ONLY prison food we had ever tasted.
    
      Martin Mull has a great song about "these kind of Gigs."
    
    AJ

              <<< BANZAI::DVD12:[NOTES$LIBRARY]WAR_STORY.NOTE;1 >>>
                          -<  Computer War Stories  >-
================================================================================
Note 94.25                  The livewire electrician!                   25 of 35
COOKIE::WITHERS "Fixed in a Prior Release"           69 lines  25-OCT-1989 23:09
                           -< Legionaire's Disease >-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Not computer related, but very recent and close...

Sometime recently, I played sound man for a Celtic band at a festival. 
It actually ended up that I was sound person for another band too, but
that's a different story.

Anyway, I was responsible for six sets worth of music at three different
venues over the weekend.  Things went fine at the concert at a high
school.  Aside from fighting wind, bagpipes, and stray sources of
60-cycle interference, things went acceptably for four other sets.

But, then there was the setup for the gig at the American Legion Hall...

I had this really LONG extension cord that I used to power the PA and
one of the band members' synth.  The band all gets there and the setup
starts very smoothly.  We had the set and cables and instruments layed
out in a standard arrangement so that putting up the set should take no
more than 1/2 hour.  That worked until we went to plug ourselves in.

I ran the extension cord to the wall plug nearest the sound board, about
40 feet away.  After that was set, another band member found an
extension cord with 3-prong outlets in a metal box on the far side of
the stage.  Great!  That means dancers won't be tripping all over my
power cord.  A good look at this thing made me suspicious.  The box with
the plugs was sort of dangling.

Being adventurous, I grabbed the cord, well away from the outlet and
started running it toward my soundboard.  Behind one speaker...good. 
Behind the second speaker...good.  Suddenly, there are sparks and some
smoke coming from the point where the box and the cord meet.  The lights
dimmed several times and actually blinked off and on once.  The smoke
and sparks stopped when the metal box that had been dangling from the
end of the cord fell off, narrowly missing my foot.

Oh yeah, this also left me holding a live power cord with no head.

Carefully, we unplugged the other end and decided that we were not going
to use the Legion's power cord.

But that's not the end of it.  Now the outlet that my PA equipment is
plugged into is dead.  THey check fuses (yes, fuses) and can't find
anything wrong.

Well, "Joe's got a tester in his truck", says one of the legionaires. 
Joe comes in with his tester.  THat's when I decided he was the expert
and I wasn't.  While another legionaire holds two screwdrivers apart,
"Joe" carefully inserts the screwdriver into the power outlet.  He then
tries to clamp in a pair of clamps wired to a third clamp with a light
bulb firmly in the third clamp's grasp.  Yep, the plug's dead.  After
all, he's the "professional".

We finally found another power outlet by the Coke machine at the far end
of the hall.  Joe could tell there was power there because the light was
on in the Coke machine.

So we re-ran my power cord to an outlet out in the hallway that was
opposite the Coke machine.  Luckily, that didn't shut down the ice
machine in the bar (as usually happens when that outlet is used).  It
had to go over several obstacles (inluding the Coke machine).

The concert went well.  Lots of good music and lots of dancing and so on.

The moral of this story is that, when using the wiring in an American
Legion hall, look where you lead.

BobW

PS, we kept an eye on the emergency exits and also the ground-floor
windows nearby.

Everyone who knows me will tell you that I'm pretty in to safety,
and I'll always remind you to be careful with tube amps, electricity,
etc...  And I'll always tell you to never test a mic without touching it
first...

Playing at Studio B one night in Greenville, we about finished sound check
and I plugged in my guit, and walked over to say something to the sound
man thru the mic.  WHHHHAAAAAAP !  Right in the kisser.  I was holding my
ax.  It blew the pick out of my hand, dimmed the lights and could be heard 
thru the mains.  This was 20 minutes before "curtain".

I was shaking like a leaf thru the SECOND set.  The owner sez: "Oh, I forgot 
to tell you...Don't use 'that' outlet, it acts funny..."

I was not happy about the near-electrocution.
Brrrrr

     -played 1-1/2 sets and got tossed out by irate nuns because the
    drummer took off his shirt and was playing in a tank-top !!!!!
    -Bill

    
    -In 1971, my group played a 'Hot Pants Rally' (that's right...) in
    the Ironbound Section of Newark N.J. from about 7 to 9 p.m...and
    played a second gig (an affiliated 'Hot Pants Rally') the same night 
    at St. Rocco's High School in Union City, NJ from 10:30 to about 12.
    ...Funny thing was, all the attendees wore gowns....
       
    -Played a place called Rova Farms (where else ? in Rova Farms, NJ),
    way down in Piney Barren country. It was a small hall, with a bar.
    We set up on the hall stage, sound check, and start at 8:00. At
    8:01, this curtain backdrop behind the stage opens up to reveal...
    another bar...in an adjoining room. And it's packed. No one in front
    of us, just empty hall space. We decided to do the gig backwards, not 
    even turning ourselves around...but the vocalist did a lot of running 
    amongst the stacks tripping over cables....
                
    -Back around 1970 we played a dance at St. Aloysius' High School
    in Jersey City, in an environment much like that described in the
    last note. Our keyboardist, an iconoclastic sort with long stringy
    hair and a beard, would oft root around and explore the stage wings
    during tunes that he didn't play in. During (I think) 'Runaway Child' 
    (a Buddy Miles tune that uses the 'Death March' theme in the intro), he
    staggers with a grossly exaggerated limp out from the left side of 
    the stage, wearing a white sheet he had found, and dragging, over his 
    shoulder, this HUGE cross that must have been a prop from an Easter 
    pageant or something. He just slowly drags the thing out to the front
    of and across the stage where we are playing and desparately trying
    to keep cool, and continued, cross in tow, off the other side of the
    stage. I believe I saw kids stop dancing to stare and a nun stand 
    slack-jawed. Needless to say, we never played there again.
    
    ...Peter

        I used to play with a band called FREEWAY, back in 82, we
    played a dance at the Manchester girls club, for which i signed
    my first autograph, recieved $10 in McDonald's gift certificates,
    $12.50, ( $50.00/4 ) and a one year membership ?!@#$%^%