Music Before the Money

Everyone has seen music videos in which the stereotypical band vehicle- usually a brand-new MCI coach with customized interior- pulls up to the back door of a club and disgorges the boys in the band, their roadies, a couple of girlfriends and a dog. (Willie Nelson’s “Honeysuckle Rose” was a perfect example but Willie used an old early 60’s bus.)

Although buses aren’t new to the music business they weren’t the only mode of conveyance at first. They became popular as roads became more prominent across North America – and coincided with the demise of the Big Band Era when trains carried almost everything. When the followers of Jack Kerouac and TV’s Route 66 began their own voyages on the roads more and more bands – ones which basically haunted local venues – began to tour, school bus-type coaches began to appear. (Jefferson Airplane is the perfect example of a group that, according to Grace Slick, was happy to stay in California and record. But they were the exception.)

The band bus was brought to folklore by the TV show, The Partridge Family, where the fictional family (based on The Cowsills) painted up an old school bus in cute colors and used it to truck their gear, and themselves, around. This, however, was not the first such usage. If you watch then opening of Woodstock you’ll see a school bus packed with concert goers plodding onto Yasgur’s farm.

The real truth about bands using school buses was that they were cheap to buy. Why? In essence, school boards got rid of them when it was no longer financially wise to keep repairing them. But this did not deter many bandsmen – and women. So, in the 70’s and ’80’s, it was not unusual to see one broken down on the road – any road.

And the cost for repairs? Big bus tires, even retreads, were more expensive than ordinary car tires and there were more of them. What about brakes? Way more expensive. Broken axles. The list goes on-and-on. And not to mention that, even when gas was cheap, school buses were as aerodynamic as a brick.

Also,i f you’ve ever been out on the lone prairie in a an old school bus at night, the middle of January, you’ll find out in a hurry that the heaters were never even adquate and neither was that little fan that was supposed to act as a defroster.

Except for the first few New Year’s gigs I didn’t like doing them much. Oh the money was great but, like many a gig, the people on the floor were having the good time. And I wanted to join them.

New Year’s gigs are hard work especially if you’ve never been to the venue before. There is such a chain of things that can go south, from the contact person being an idiot to the job itself. And then there are the botch-ups that happen in between. That said, most of the times it went over well.

As in a wedding the band and the food make the occasion. I have never been to a New Year’s job where the food was bad. In a few occasions there was lobster and each member of the band got one. Not bad, huh?

You always had to have a time-keeper because no one wanted the responsibility of screwing up the countdown to the New Year. I have heard where the guy in the band dedicated to keeping time lost time and had people in the crowd start the countdown without the band. Can you imaging having to switch to Auld Lang Sine in the middle of a song because you were on the wrong time?

I’ve seen one fight and one woman rushed to the hospital where she had the 2nd baby born in the New Year. On one occasion the power went out just after midnight and didn’t come back on. The band was sidelined but the people partied anyway.

In 1995 i was on a cruise ship sitting on the docks in Newcastle, England. The ship left shortly after the fireworks went off. On New Year’s Day we were in sub-hurricane winds and waves. In Bergen, Norway, nine ambulances showed up to get people with broken limbs and other maladies off the ship.

In 1980 I split my pants when I stretched to pick up the drummer’s stick. I heard the rip and was glad I was a keyboard player because I never went out from beyond the boards until the gig was over.

From 1996 to 2004  I was at White Point Beach Resort and we would all go out to the ocean afterward. In all those years January 1st was always calm and moonlit.

I lied. I really liked playing New Years. Because now, I just watch the band!

Happy New Year and I hope things begin to calm down out there.

In a previous blog I gave you a chilling account on how we used to learn songs before the advent of the tape machine. We would dump a couple of quarters in the jukebox and play the same song 6 times. Then, we would compare notes and fill in the blanks with whatever we thought would fit. To learn the solos took a lot more concentration. For this we really needed the record.

The key was to take a 45 and put the speed at 33rpm or an LP down to 16. Then you could hear the individual notes of a fast player like Alvin Lee or Johnny Winter. But it was not a perfect art and there were still gaps to fill.

Seen an artist in concert was a good way to see how the guitar player commanded certain licks. (Eddie Van Halen used to protect his unique style from other LA guitarists by turning his back on the audience) I saw Gordon Lightfoot in 1976 and sat up front so I could watch him play Don Quixote.

In Concert and Don Kirschner’s Rock Concert night on T.V. was another way to get the lowdown on licks. Because it was live sometimes the artists never played it like the record but you got to see how they held their guitar and even what pickup position they were using ontheir Strat ot Les Paul. However, there was really no way to see what the keyboardist was doing because he was always surrounded by banks of keyboards. For the most part each one only did one thing.

The came the videos and DVDs which are really great. If you live in a decent-sized town you can even borrow them from the library. I got an instructional video showing how to play Jerry Lee Lewis chops and it opened up my rock piano style immeasurably.

A few weeks ago my daughter showed me how she plays a Five for Fighting song. I was really impressed and asked her where she learned it and she pointed me to You-Tube. As it turned out there were 5 or 6 entries on the band and one lone guy from Sweden who was demonstrating how to play the step-by-step. This was the guy who taught her how to play the tune.

I wanted some more Jerry Lee and there are dozens of videos showing him performing in all stages of his career and other piano players demonstrating his style. Of course I watched a few of these and it perked up my playing again. Then I went on to Floyd Cramer and Chuck Berry. In all I blew 5 hours watching You-Tube and and running to the piano.

This is a great site for instruction. In fact there are a few teachers who give demo and then ask you to subscribe to their instructional videos. The prices are nominal, like a year’s worth of grabbing whatever you want for the price of a month’s lessons in a studio – and you get to learn what you want.

My next pedagogical endeavor will be the piano solo in The Way It Is by Bruce Hornsby.

Tonight, this is the greatest place in the world!”

- How Jerry Lee Lewis greets his audience in almost every show.

There’s an old saying that goes something like this: “There’s only one chance for a first impression.” So that’s why the first song of the night should be something with which you can set the pace of the night, or afternoon.

So many times I go out to see an act and he, she or they start out mellow or bluesy and when the first song is finished half the audience is gone. I know this very well because it’s happened to me – and the sight never gets easier to bear. You can blame it on the mental appreciation of the crowd in the place, or you can pat yourself on the back because you “got rid of the deadwood (I’ve honestly done this in the past), but it all comes down to this: Do you know your audience?

I played an average of 6 nights a week, 45 weeks a year for 29 years. That’s from 1975 to 2004. The vehicles used for this marathon were 3 rock bands, 2 showbands, 1 duo and just myself. With bands is simpler because people expect you to start out with a bang. With the showbands we tended to “warm up the audience” because they were there to see a show. But with a single, especially a piano player, it’s a lot tougher. You have to have the song and the talk coordinated.

Greet Them Like They Are Your Your Best Friends

However, the first point I want to make is your arrival. I suggest you come into the room with a big smile and make eye contact with as many people as you can. Make them feel that this is the only place you’d rather be. Then sit down at the piano – or take the stage – like the venue is your own front room. Remember, if the audience doesn’t know who you are they are as tentative of you as you are of them. Get a few of them on you side right off the bat with, “How’re you doing?” or “That’s a great tie!” A few well-placed remarks, accompanied by a gracious smile, goes a ong way to warming up the crowd.

Make the First Song Count

For example, if you have a rowdy bunch who are ready to party they don’t want to hear how witty you are or that you can play a very busy version of Scotch and Soda. They want party music. So I would give them Jerry Lee Lewis, fast Beatles (I Saw Her Standing There) or some ’80′s stuff like Dire Straits. Then I would fire off a few more remarks, “It’s great to see you all here tonight!”

Remember, the people want a show. They can get great music off the web anytime they want and their iPods are constantly streaming tunes. But you are live, an entertainment form that people rarely see anymore.