When Sheep Cannot Sleep

Well, it was destined to be a great show. For those who missed it, here’s the play by play of my night:

8pm: Load up gear and leave for venue. Yes, the halfstack does fit in a Civic! You unbelievers!!
8.03pm: Go back to apartment cause I forgot to put Foo in his cage. Wascally wabbit…
8.07pm: Leave for venue again.
8.15pm: Mum calls with Birthday wishes!! Pull to the side of the road for a conversation about my plans for the future.What timing!!
8.34pm: Resume driving to venue. Again.
8.45pm: Pull into Locals Only, unload my guitar, talk to host, Jethro about when we are scheduled. Fourth act, around 10pm.
9.00pm: 1st phonecall from Aaron and Shayne. They’re lost. Pass phone to Belinda so she can direct them.
9.15pm: 2nd phonecall. Aaron and Shayne are on the Westside of town. We’re on the Northeast. Again, pass phone to Belinda cause I hate giving directions.
9.30pm: 3rd phonecall. Aaron and Shayne are on the right street. Pass phone to Belinda out of habit. Beth shows up (after work), carrying a cupcake-cake for my birthday. Sadly, no pics cause it was devoured instantly.
10pm: Aaron and Shayne arrive. Unload drums and bass amp.
10.15pm: Set up on stage. Begin performance with Firewater (mp3s coming soon!). Great crowd reaction, lots of "woo hoo"s.
10.20pm: Second song, Prufrock goes well, to mixed audience reaction. Reactions ranged from "what the hell??" looks, faux-moshing in the back (from Pacerdude and friends) to utter disbelief. Partly cause the song is in 3/5 and switches to 6/8 in the middle.
10.26pm: Everything goes to hell. Start Vitiate. By the time we broke into the first chorus, I was thrashing about and heard something odd. My notes sounded really sharp. Looking down, I realized I broke my A string. WHO THE HELL BREAKS THE A-STRING?

Walk over to Belinda, mouth the words "broke a string". She looks at me quizically, then continues with the song. I try to compensate but all the other strings have gone sharp and the loose string was rattling against the other, causing major buzzing noises.
By this time, everyone seems to have noticed. Aaron looks at me and I make a throat-cutting gesture, walk up to the mike and say " Sorry guys, I seem to have broken a string…"
"I guess the sets over," someone says to a chorus of "aaaw" sounds from the audience. Some guys make a comment about carrying on, but not without my beloved A-string!! It’s my favorite! Plus, all the songs we have require heavy use of it (for octaves and such).
10.30pm: Tear down stuff. Jethro walks over and gives his sympathy. Pacerdude said I should have asked to borrow his guitar. I don’t think an acoustic would have cut it, but thanks for the offer.
The rest of the band don’t seem too pissed. It’s about this time that I wish I had a guitar tech to blame it on…haha. We hung out for a while to watch the rest of the performers.
11.15pm: WE WERE REWARDED WITH GOOD NEWS: The clubs owner offers us a place on the stage tommorow night (the 19th), but Shayne, Aaron and I can’t make it. The clubs booker says he’ll book us again but asks for a demo so we can be paired with similar bands (you should have seen the other performers: from emo-boys with acoustics to solo artists on the piano). So, I guess we impressed the people that counted.
12am: HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME… cupcake-made cakes are the bomb!

Found this on the net: The Toilet Snorkel Too good to be true!

Also found the best internet game/time waster ever: Dodge the Dot It’s possible to cheat, but you geniuses have to figure it out yourselves, and besides, it takes all the fun away.

More time wasters as I find them/get sent to me. Enjoy…

Quick plug: The Threshold at Locals Only - 10pm tonight!

It’s been a while and I’ve been busy looking for a job, so happy belated new year. Now to the main rants:

The Colts just lost to the Steelers. The "Super Season" ended on a not so super note. Everything seemed to be going to plan… first round bye, home ground advantage, favourites to breeze through the playoffs, even the referees were giving them a chance to get back in the game. Colts 18 - Steelers 21. Guess Manning and co will have to wait one more year to get their Superbowl rings. And Vanderjagt needs more practice anyway. The plays were as weird as the weather in Indy. At least tommorow is a holiday…everyone might want to drink their sorrow away.

On a lighter note, Wyoming was awesome. Snowed everyday and the riding was great. Posted some pics here. I never saw a real cowboy though. Lots of elk and buffalo/bison, but no cowboys. Was planning to hit a ski spot near Indy to keep my olympic goal alive but no snow=no fun.

The Threshold will be playing at Locals Only this Wednesday (Jan. 18). It’s an open stage and will serve as our audition for the bookers/owners. If we do well, they might let us play there again (and maybe pay us..woo hoo!!). There’ll be no cover. They also have the best PB&J sandwiches in town. Check localsonlyindy.com for more info and directions. If you’re gonna show up, we’re planning on playing around 10pm. Sorry kids…21+ only.

I smell my dinner burning, so I’ll catch ya later…