« I ran into Jess today. | Main | Beautiful day »
May 15, 2005
*whew* Two new gigs!
I’m actually a bit surprised I’m not more tired. It’s been quite a day of music. Not the most busy day of music I’ve had, perhaps, but still unique for its first-times.
The short version is that I had two gigs, one with Phil Valko, with whom I haven’t played music in at least three and a half years, and one with Steve Bequette, with whom I’ve never played a gig.
The gig with Phil involved the kind of situation I don’t really enjoy, i.e. totally unprepared improvisations with just a drummer. Now, I enjoy Phil’s drumming, even if he’s a bit rusty (as am I, but I’ll go into that in a bit); he’s a very organic drummer, not afraid to try some new directions, but he always feels the moment well and responds with interesting and appropriate ideas. He’s not a heavy hitter but he’s not timid either, which I think is perfect for the kind of jazz I’d really like to play with him. I hope we can find some other musicians to play with and really try to get together and do some cool stuff.
And that’s really the crux of what was frustrating about this gig. I hate being the only pitched instrument. It’s really more of a responsibility than I’m able to handle. The truth is that few players are both technically proficient enough while at the same time mature enough to be able to play the complex combination of harmony and melody simultaneously. I have some chops (although again, I’m really rusty—I seriously need to resume lessons) although I’m not really up to the technical demands of solo work even yet. But way more glaringly, I’m not mature enough by far. I approach this kind of situation as if I played the sax—lots of fast single note lines that try to outline the harmony while still being melodic. And this fails on two levels: one, I’m just not good enough to pull it off, and two, I’m not a sax player. The guitar’s biggest advantage over horns is it’s multi-timbral ability, and I completely waste it. I should be playing chord-melodies. But that’s really hard to do, both physically and mentally.
So clearly I need to work on it. I emailed Rick Haydon on Monday, but he hasn’t gotten back to me. I’ll email him again this week—I’m going to be persistant about this. I need lessons, and I have confidence he’ll be able to help me.
I came home around 3:30 after playing with Phil and crashed for a bit in preparation for the Steve Bequette gig, for which I needed to leave around 6:30.
We played the high-school graduation party being held for a cousin of Steve’s wife. There’s not much to say, really, about the music—we played our set, which went off without a hitch, and then the grad’s father sat in on the drums and we jammed a little while longer. But what really got me was the party itself. First off all, I guess I should say that I shouldn’t actually be as surprised as I was. I gather that this kind of party is the standard thing for lots of people. But they’re definitely not my kind of people.
Everyone was already drunk, getting drunk, or wishing they could get drunk (Steve’s wife Cory is pregnant and can’t drink for another six months). And again, this was a high-school graduation party, so lots of the people there were seventeen and eighteen. And also again, I gather this is pretty typical for many people. But c’mon. What a terrible example the adults set for their kids. All the smoke, all the alcohol—these kids are going to grow up thinking that this is how adults behave. And I guess for these adults, it is how they behave, but it’s just so gross. All the women looked terrible from a lifetime of smoking cigarettes. Leathery, drawn faces that look so much older than I’d guess their owners really are. And the men didn’t look any better.
The general behavior called for course vulgarities and lewd comments. One of the women there, who’d I guess was about forty-two, works as a stripper at all the main clubs in town: Penthouse, Hustler, etc. She’s done movies, too—great! What a scary person. She was clearly high on coke, and she was equally clearly available to go home with the nearest man who offered her some pot. So sad and pathetic.
On the plus side, Erik and I hung out and bonded over our mutual distaste for the general tenor of the evening. He’s really cool, and I had a good time talking with him. I don’t imagine we’ll hang out much outside of the band, but Steve can be a bit overbearing, so it’ll be nice to have someone I can relax with during the tedious parts of gigging. He helped me bring my amplifier in, so I made sure to help him pack up and load out his drums at the end of the night. He was very appreciative, and I think we’ve established the beginnings of a good working repore.
We’re going to practice again on Monday. Either there are more tunes for me to learn of which I’m still unaware, or we’ll be forced to start writing some new stuff. Which is fine by me. Our current set is really only about forty-five minutes, so it could stand some development and expansion. In the meantime, I’m going to go to bed and rest my ears for tomorrow, when Jeff is perhaps coming into town and going to see this one bluegrass band he’s considering hiring for his wedding.
Posted by alex at May 15, 2005 12:13 AM