baja Friday
Whew! I'm just glad there's one more day left in the work-week. Got a gig tomorrow evening with the Trio, a nice 2-hour Happy Hour affair after which hopefully we'll have our apres-gig dinner/beer swillage at my favorite neighborhood restaurant- Bernie n' Betty's. It's always good. We have nice conversation, much of it about the gig we just played and our various performances both individual and group. No doubt they'll tell me I rushed on something we'd played, although I have also been known to keep it 'in there' as well, pocket-wise..
But the critiques are a good thing, a constructive thing. And of course I critique my two bandmates as well. It's all toward a positive end, nothing said with any oneupsmanship or other hidden agendas. I've worked in bands where that happened, and it can be a royal pain in the keester. There was a bass player years ago who used to do that if he'd hired me(unfortunately his prerogative there)or if we were fellow sidemen(not his prerogative here!), which used to really grate on me. In this latter situation I finally went to the person who'd hired us and said basically "shut him the fuck up or I walk". The next gig we had the situation was rectified, at least as far as I was concerned--he was over telling the drummer how to play! I guess the energy has to go someplace..
Well hell, to give credit where credit's due, this same bass player(mainly a trombonist, which almost gives his identity away--well if anybody actually reads my blog here)would also do damn near anything for you as well. He may drive you bugshit in the process, but was still in your corner. Definitely was supportive of me, and at a time when many others weren't - or so it seemed anyway.
Off on a tangent as usual. Yes in this world you do have difficult people. It's all in how it balances out as far as their other qualities. Fortunately no one in this group is difficult like that. Kinda nice when that happens, when everybody is easy to get along with.
So yeah, just glad this week is almost over with. Not a particularly harrowing one as far as any events, just four-going-on-five days of work. By about Wednesday, you're ready for it to be over, and by Friday you're really ready. A gig right after work on Friday sometimes feels like the last thing you want to do, but once you get started(especially one's own gig)it's really the best thing you could be doing.
There is a young guitarist from North Carolina who wrote to me recently asking about some of my tunes. As soon as I get through this damn week in its entirety, I'm gonna send him some. I get a fair amount of spam, both in my guestbook and just silliness sent to me from the contact page on my website(http://www.samcrain.com/ ), so it's very refreshing to get a real, sincere communication like this. Glad to help.
As a musician-with-a-dayjob, I don't get a lot of such requests or communications. But I do get 'em, and they mean a lot. There's a person from Hong Kong who's bought my CDs a bunch at a time, and just bought another 6 this past week on CD Baby. Thanks to them, Hong Kong is my biggest seller as far as a foreign country(Japan is second, followed by Australia).
Well I guess there's no particular theme or idea behind this blog, besides the fact that it's almost Friday, and I'm ready for a break from the rigors of daygig. 3 whole days. Okay then. Thanks for wading through this drivel. More as it happens.
But the critiques are a good thing, a constructive thing. And of course I critique my two bandmates as well. It's all toward a positive end, nothing said with any oneupsmanship or other hidden agendas. I've worked in bands where that happened, and it can be a royal pain in the keester. There was a bass player years ago who used to do that if he'd hired me(unfortunately his prerogative there)or if we were fellow sidemen(not his prerogative here!), which used to really grate on me. In this latter situation I finally went to the person who'd hired us and said basically "shut him the fuck up or I walk". The next gig we had the situation was rectified, at least as far as I was concerned--he was over telling the drummer how to play! I guess the energy has to go someplace..
Well hell, to give credit where credit's due, this same bass player(mainly a trombonist, which almost gives his identity away--well if anybody actually reads my blog here)would also do damn near anything for you as well. He may drive you bugshit in the process, but was still in your corner. Definitely was supportive of me, and at a time when many others weren't - or so it seemed anyway.
Off on a tangent as usual. Yes in this world you do have difficult people. It's all in how it balances out as far as their other qualities. Fortunately no one in this group is difficult like that. Kinda nice when that happens, when everybody is easy to get along with.
So yeah, just glad this week is almost over with. Not a particularly harrowing one as far as any events, just four-going-on-five days of work. By about Wednesday, you're ready for it to be over, and by Friday you're really ready. A gig right after work on Friday sometimes feels like the last thing you want to do, but once you get started(especially one's own gig)it's really the best thing you could be doing.
There is a young guitarist from North Carolina who wrote to me recently asking about some of my tunes. As soon as I get through this damn week in its entirety, I'm gonna send him some. I get a fair amount of spam, both in my guestbook and just silliness sent to me from the contact page on my website(http://www.samcrain.com/ ), so it's very refreshing to get a real, sincere communication like this. Glad to help.
As a musician-with-a-dayjob, I don't get a lot of such requests or communications. But I do get 'em, and they mean a lot. There's a person from Hong Kong who's bought my CDs a bunch at a time, and just bought another 6 this past week on CD Baby. Thanks to them, Hong Kong is my biggest seller as far as a foreign country(Japan is second, followed by Australia).
Well I guess there's no particular theme or idea behind this blog, besides the fact that it's almost Friday, and I'm ready for a break from the rigors of daygig. 3 whole days. Okay then. Thanks for wading through this drivel. More as it happens.
posted by Roger U Roundly at 8:16 PM
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