The story of, and behind THE BIG SHOW

The Tale of Zorch/Jack

Wow, what a day. What a series of challenges and I'm currently sitting here with a wet sock on my forehead because I set my hair on fire.

The story of the show is easy to tell, Veni,Vidi, Rawked. That is Latin for we came, we saw, we RAWKED.

The house was sold out standing room only, and that is always cool. But our mission was not only to RAWK the good citizens of the city of brotherly love, but send the Mojo out to our friends via the Internet. Had the pre-show sound check ran flawlessly it would have still proved a challenge that would have CRUSHED any sensitive folk music type, but when Lexie Plugged in her Guitar There was no sound. This isn't good. We jacked around with that for... well ever it seemed. Then the sound guy Larry suggested Lexie play her guitar into a microphone.

If you have ever played an acoustic guitar into a microphone, you are currently breaking in to a cold sweat . Yes, it's old school, yes it's very Join Michel, but there is a reason they put pick ups in acoustic guitars and that reason is playing into a microphone sucks ass.

Just as Lexie is wrapping her mind around the whole Microphone thang, Ben moans, “There is no Internet”. Lexie looks a bit concerned, and I tell her, “Don't worry Lexie Luan/Lexie Smith. With a competent sound man playing into a mic is like being safe in your mother's arms. And I'm sure the Internet will be back in a few moments”.

I was right about the Internet coming back up.

We got the stream going, the video going and the show... hey where is the show? In real life, shows don't go off a minuet or two late. The time for the show came and went, and everybody is going,”Hey how you doing there”. When does the show start? Nobody is sure. The video rolls for 27 minuets with out an actual performance.

I checked out the chat screen on the video fee and it seems we've got a pretty good crowd waiting for the show to start. Much thanks for your patience and support. Harrie is doing the spam for the show, and she asks what time the show is going to start so she can spam in earnest. Just about then one of the organizers says the show is going to start in about 5 minutes. Gee only 40 some odd minutes late.

The organizers spend another 15 minutes thanking their sponsors and talking about their cause. Then Lexie and I get up on stage and start playing... we are accompanied by a barrage of feedback. Lexie just quips, “Feedback is so Rock and Roll”. She is now the official matron saint of Rock and Roll for the year 2010.

After about 3 minuets of failing about, Larry the sound guy finally stops the feedback. But Lexie had practically no monitors at all. So she is playing into a mic, with no monitors and playing as if nothing at all is wrong. I can hear me fine, my guitars are fine, and Lexie's sound is a faint murmur in the monitors.

If things were perfect, the performance she gave would have been amazing. But considering the technical problems, I'm really, really impressed. I'm proud to count her among my fellow musicians and my dear friend. Good job Lexie.

While the sound on stage was grim, the front of the house mix was fine. Everybody was RAWKED, and the mission was accomplished and not in a George Bush kind of way.

The stream into Second Life was fine. The video feed was well attended, and it was a win for the good guys.

Our online friend Oak even showed up at the venue with his lovely wife. Now Oak is a tall fellow in real life, dang near tall as me. For the record Lexie isn't a midget I'm just a tall drink of water.

Now the show was “Standing Room only”, and the event organizers said if they sold out they would get Mohawks shaved into their heads in front of the audience. That was kind of cool really. Seeing people take one in the follicles for their cause just makes me all teary eyed.

After the show Lexie took me to “Pats” for Philly cheese-stake sandwiches. So I scored another free meal for my efforts. When you are a starving artist, free meals mean a lot.

A packed house, online presence via audio and video streams. What could we have done to make things more successful ?

So I set my hair on fire. Seemed like the right thing to do.


The Tale of Lexie/Lexie

More tales from the dark side of band camp (Above risque....)

The benefit was extremely successful, totally sold out.... The gig was good for so many reasons.... and completely frustrating! Playing with Zorch aka Jack is way fun, his rock and roll moves totally make me smile....but my damn guitar decided not to work an hour before show time. Seriously , I have to wonder.... did the guitar Gods swoop down and say … everyone gets to have good sound but Lexie?

My pick up decided not to work so we mic'd the guitar. Now micing the guitar is ok , if you wanna stand still and play, but I don't even sit still when I play, how was I to stand still? And then to make matters worse, I couldn't hear myself. Three monitors on stage, and I couldn't hear myself in any of them. But..... that's live music right? If it was supposed to be perfect then I guess we would have been listening to Cd's.

I dont know how many of you all got to see the video, actually I don't even know how the video turned out, but If you saw me on it, im not as short as I looked...really I'm not, IM way taller, its just that Zorch was standing on a platform and it made me look way shorter than I am... ok he wasn't standing on a platform, hes extremely tall, and I'm not extremely tall.

God I love playing to an audience and then meeting them after.... I met the most interesting people tonight... I actually met people I already thought I knew and re met people I hadn't seen in 100 yrs.. Boy have they gotten older... I on the other hand look completely the same.... Ha (that's my story and im sticking to it. )
Oak came to the show tonight... hes almost as tall as zorch ! It was really lovely meeting him and I am so excited about the tour as I am hoping I get to meet lots of people in real life.
Well, I have tons more to say, but Im kinda sleepy and truthfully its a little hard to concentrate while looking at zorch sitting there with a wet sock on his head... (don't ask, I didn't do it). More tales from band camp to follow but for now ...we rocked , we rolled and we lost control.... in the pinkest way xoxo