Klarinet Archive - Posting 000065.txt from 1995/09

From: John Baetens <jsbtens@-----.COM>
Subj: Re: intonation again
Date: Tue, 5 Sep 1995 14:06:53 -0400

I was not planning to send my story about my "gig from Hell" since it
does not involve the clarinet. However, after reading other stories from
members, I think you are confusing genuine GFH's with Gigs from Heck.
Most people who have ever played in a hard-rock band can relate at least
one bad experience that involves playing to the wrong audience. My story
is such an instance.
When I was much younger, I played Bass Guitar in a rock band that
happened to get a gig at the annual Christmas Party at the local Moose
Lodge. Now it may seem obvious that a Moose Lodge may not be the best
venue for a Rock band, but it so happens that we had already
played several gigs there for the lodge's softball team parties. This
party, however, was for the regular membership, which was an entirely
different group. I knew we were in trouble when, as I was helping my
brother carry in his Fender-Rhodes keyboard, a patron remarked "That
must be the pedal steel guitar". Needless to say, our music was not
appreciated. What made things worse was that after every couple of
songs, the grand poobah would announce the sale of raffle tickets and
kept pointing the grand prize at our heads. This wouldn't have been
so bad except that the grand prize was a 12 guage shotgun!
Well, we made it through the first set okay, and just when I thought
we would be okay, our lead guitarist announced that he could not continue
and was leaving. We could not talk him out of it and we certainly could
not continue without him. We had to tell them we were leaving. Even
though they weren't thrilled with our music, they got really ticked when
we decided to leave in the middle of the gig. Of course, we could not
just walk out, we had to pack up all our equipment amid the jeers of the
crowd. We got our stuff out in record time and never played a Moose Lodge
again!

John Baetens

note the new address. I finally got wise to AOL!