Your Favorite Gig

HectorHeadgear · #1 07-08-2008, 01:17 PM

I've really only been playing out for a couple three years, but I've had some awesome times. I played this wedding at a retreat camp in the mountains above LA a couple months ago. It was a 4 mile hike in to this camp, they fed us, gave us plenty of ice cold beer and put us up in our own bunkhouse for the night. It was incredible. Sunday morning, we woke up and we're evacuated by helicopter due to fires in the canyon! We even got a decent sized tip! It was awesome.

Got a favorite memory from a gig?

min7b5 · #2 07-08-2008, 01:40 PM

Got hired to play at Carlos Santana’s house for a party ten years ago. He came up and said some things after that really made me want to keep going in music.

Bern · #3 07-08-2008, 02:34 PM

Well...I'm not performing anymore, but, in the sixtieth the group I was playing with performed on live radio in front of a live audience. The applause and cheering of 300+ people gave me such a rush, I still remember it to this day. Applause is addicting, I miss it.

jmtitus · #4 07-08-2008, 03:21 PM

Back in '04 I got to play a triple bill with Alex de Grassi, Michael Manring and myself. At the time it was surreal, to say the least. Two of my all-time musical heroes on the same stage was one thing, but the best part was that I got to play the tune I wrote for Manring "Open Michael" with him in my set.

Alex and Michael remain great friends and that kicked-off a whole new era in my musical awareness.

Of course, another one that sticks-out is the Harp Guitar Gathering, version 3.0, up in Portland, OR. First time I met Andy McKee, John Doan, Stephen Bennett, Muriel Anderson and all the rest of the amazing harp guitarists. I came away from those two concerts (one in Portland and one in Salem) floating on a cloud.

rmyAddison · #5 07-08-2008, 03:35 PM

When Eric Clapton and Delaney and Bonnie toured the US they played the Atlantic City Steel Pier, my band was the house band acrosse the boardwalk at a huge former WWII dancehall.

They came in after their concert, partied with us during our break then sat in on our final set. Very cool except they blew a couple speaker cabinets which we did not discover until the next day and they were long gone to California. At that time affording 15" JBL's was like buying a house to my hippie financial situation, but it was a brush with greatness to be sure................

Chicago Sandy · #6 07-08-2008, 08:25 PM

I always love to play Two Way Street Cafe in Downers Grove, IL. It's a very small room, the basement of a UCC church, but it's almost always full for Friday night folk concerts. I always get a good guarantee against the door (and always exceed it). The audiences are there to listen, the PA is small but good, the staff dedicated and genial, the manager Dave Humphreys one of the finest people one could ever hope to meet. (He first booked me 25 years ago strictly on the say-so of a couple of regulars who'd heard me at another gig). Only bummer is that it is SO popular with touring pros that there is now a 3-4-year rotation to gig there!

Close on its heels is Acoustic Sounds Cafe in Little Rock's Second Presbyterian--a huge social hall in a megachurch. Amazing sound system, large and appreciative audiences--and they record you for KUAR (both a pre-show interview and your set), provide a huge deli & pastry tray in the green room, give a lovely thank-you fruit and candy basket and put you up in a nearby Presbyterian retreat lodge--which looks rustic on the outside but is spanking new on the inside with comfy beds, phone and wi-fi (and a little chocolate point Siamese to escort you to your room, meowing all the way).

Bob Womack · #7 07-09-2008, 11:08 AM

Back around 1978 my band played a party for Phil Walden, the president of Capricorn records, and he offered us a deal. Nice memory there.

Other than that, a favorite is a coffee house gig in a 150 year old storefront with my blues band a couple of years back where we were payed in tips and all the coffee drinks we could guzzle. It was good coffee.

Bob

lodi_55 · #8 07-09-2008, 11:32 AM

Two gigs:

Last year's Big Sur Jade Festival. Beautiful spot, mellow people, great music. Absolutely no stress, no worries...

Also, just a few nights ago. We played at our usual spot here in town. There were two tables filled. One was about 6 of our friends (the best money can buy), and the other was three couples we didn't know. The people we didn't know really made our night. They had our eyes on us the whole time, were sort of "dancing" in their seats and were very appreciative of what we were doing. We were really feeding off of their energy. It was very cool. As a musician doing a lot of "background" music, I really love it when I get the chance to connect with my audience, no matter how small!

Chicago Sandy · #9 07-09-2008, 01:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bob Womack

Back around 1978 my band played a party for Phil Walden, the president of Capricorn records, and he offered us a deal. Nice memory there.

Other than that, a favorite is a coffee house gig in a 150 year old storefront with my blues band a couple of years back where we were payed in tips and all the coffee drinks we could guzzle. It was good coffee.

Bob

Where, pray tell (asks the caffeine hound)? My sis lives in NoVA and I get down there every now & then.

Bob Womack · #10 07-09-2008, 02:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chicago Sandy

Where, pray tell (asks the caffeine hound)? My sis lives in NoVA and I get down there every now & then.

This was at the Daily Grind in Portsmouth, down in the town center. They've since changed hands but last I heard the new owners were continuing many of the previous owner's recipe's and policies.

Bob

hansentj · #11 07-09-2008, 02:52 PM

All you guys have favorite gigs with big names. I'm impressed.

Mine...there are probably two. One was my first club gig (as in a captive audience as opposed to 100 drunk bar patrons yelling above the music). About 200 people. The venue was beautiful, the crowd was appreciative and I happened to be playing well.

The other was an Arts Center of about 300 people. I was playing a benefit concert for a local issue that everyone was really invested in and they were into it like I've never experienced. Best version of "A Change is Gonna Come" that I'll ever play.

No big names, no brushes with fame. Just a great time playing music.

fitness1 · #12 07-09-2008, 05:28 PM

about six years ago I was hired to play on the porch at the "world famous" Zehnder's Restaurant in Frankenmuth MI. I think the gig was 4-7 Friday, Saturday and Sunday. They knew they were going to be very busy as it was Labor Day weekend and that there would be more than a normal amount of people waiting in the line outside to get in, so it was my job to keep them entertained while they stood there. Every day someone other than myself put a beer pitcher near me for tips, and it got to be a game for the little ones to come up and put a dollar in the pitcher. The weather was glorious all three days and I was already being paid quite well by the restaurant, but I made more in tip money than the base pay each day.....both fun and profitable, what more can you ask for!?!?!?!?