Yet another blast from my past. It is a pretty mellow one but one that brings a smile to my face none the less.
This takes us back to the very early 80's. We have a little 3 piece at the time with Rog on bass, Kahuna (Ron) on drums, & me on guitar. It was in the early years; it was the second real live drummer we had worked with as a group. It was a simple time, we played, we made money… lots for a three piece at the time. It got to the point where I didn't have to cold call places to play; they started to call me. We got the gigs lined up and knew where we were gonna be at least a year in advance. We were weekend warriors and cutting our teeth on some music that was way beyond us (but we did it anyway), live & learn. I think this is what always gave us the edge that we had. Learned a lot from Kahuna, he had been playing for over a decade by the time he met up with us. He added humor, a voice, ability & wit. I had a ball working with him. Looked forward to it. He had used it as an escape from the doldrums of a 40-hour a week job. He was a family man you see, already had four kids & a wife at home. So the weekends were his escape to fuel the artsy fartsy part of him that made him who he was. We kept the traveling within a two-hour radius at the time. We had to, there was no way we could get off work and make it in time to set up, play, tear down, make it home & be back to work with a short nap fit in if there was time. That was how we lived for 5 or 6 years. I believe it is called paying your dues. Little did I know that it was only the prelude to what was to come….. During that time, we got to play for crummy little lounges where people didn't notice you unless you fucked up. We also got some really fun gigs playing for bikers. They have private parties, seasonal ones for Christmas, spring, a new bike, someone's had a baby or someone has died. We played them all. We were sort of a personal band for the Clark County Riders for a few years until we moved away from that area. During that same time period, we would change attire and play for nightclubs and supper clubs, street dances and the all-famous wedding dances. We were a bit different because we talked and included the people that were paying attention. Kahuna had some skits that worked well, he introduced them to us, we used em, then we carried it on from there… bigger, better, nastier, suggestive but not raunchy, all in the name of humor and entertainment. Lets just say it grew.
There is one particular dance that I remember playing in the beginning years as that same trio. I had my girlfriend Jilly visiting us for a few days. She didn't get to visit often, mother of two, recently divorced at the time, the little kids with the ex mother in law for the weekend. She lived maybe 8 hours from me, but back then it may as well have been 800. (Hell long distance phone calls were once a year then too…. Oh my the expense). LOL. So on this rare occasion of her visit, we had a wedding dance to play. Loaded up the van, Kahuna showed up, we piled in and off we went. I had the directions to a gymnasium.. ick. Those places sound so crappy, especially when you are first learning about sound and manipulating it. Roger did a great job considering we had just got a new (used) to us P.A. system. We got there, rushed to set up, which with the new P.A. was a big deal to us at the time. We didn't have any lights to set up except one, that we brought from home just to set up so we wouldn't trip on things. We turned it off during the show time, cause it started to look corny to me to have a lamp WITH shade be the only lighting we had. This lighting detail is very important to this story; it is what the memory is based on actually. So bare with me as I set the scene. The gymnasium had bleachers on one side and was used as a basketball court also. There was a huge stage that we set up on. It had drapes in front for plays and anything else that was stage able there. It was decent; it had the beige lighter drapes hanging on the two sides and back of the main stage. Theater effect. There was a back stage area and places for props of all kinds. At the time of this gig however, all that was behind the back stage curtain was a big over stuffed chair and a table with an ashtray & table lamp, it was plugged in and worked. We started out our night, the bride and groom were there, rednecks in love, and the people started comin in. Jilly was out on the floor listening for a while, moved all over the gym to see if there was any spots that really sucked for sound so that she could give us a heads up. She didn't mingle much but sort of hung out like the eccentric groupie. They would come over to her and ask requests and expect her to deliver the oh so important message up to us.
She tired of this game very fast, so she went back stage after our first break. She made her home in the big overstuffed chair back stage. At this time I need to explain Jilly as best I can to you. She is not a shy woman. She loves to dance. She is an artist. She is tall and thin (Vogue Model material here), she laughs LOUD and does not hold back. She smoked like a house on fire and would have a beer, or two but didn't get real loaded. I have known her since way before kindergarten. Mine AND hers. So with that, I shall continue to set the scene.
Second set, Jilly is back stage sitting in the over stuffed big chair. We shut off our lamp where we were and the stage was lit, but not very well and the house lights were up because they were checking for alcohol with the teenagers… (Really a joyful wedding dance). So we could see, but we were not lit up as much as the dance floor…(might I add that, THAT is a big taboo in my book). Anyway, since it was poorly lit on stage, it was very dark backstage where Jilly was. So, instead of sitting in the dark, she turned on the lamp beside the chair. This is where it gets interesting. We are playing away to our underage wedding party; people were shy but starting to have a good time slowly if at all. Then it happened. Someone had requested Bob Segars "ol time rock & roll". At the time, it was not that old and very very popular for a band to throw out at any given time.
We were just happy that they wanted to rock…. Maybe it would be a good night after all.
Un known to us…. Something bigger was happening. The audience was dancing.. But they were looking at us like we were bigger than life. I thought damn… we must sound really great!!!! They were looking up with mouths open.. Big smiles, and then they started pointing. Now.. I don't know about you, but laughing is one thing but when you add pointing to that, I get paranoid. It was not one or two.. But twenty to fifty people that were looking at the stage and cracking up. So I look at Roger, not a clue, I look at Ron who was in the middle and towards the back of Roger & myself…. That is when I saw what they were looking at. The stage curtain had a silhouette that was bigger than life of an over stuffed chair, a table, a lamp, smoke coming up from an ashtray & a beer can. You could actually see the smoke rise. When we had started the song, Jilly turned the light on to see, took a drag from her cig, stood up, stretched, took a drink from the can, and proceeded to rock out. Dancing like a wild ass go go dancer all by herself behind the curtain. However little did she know or even think about it, but her shadow was clear as day and bigger than life. It looked like we had a maniac go go dancer back stage. We started laughing with the audience.. amazed at the effect. When we ended the song. Jilly stopped dancing, took a drink of beer and sat back in the big over stuffed chair. Waiting & smoking. Whenever we did a song she liked, she would get up and shake it. Lol.. You have to realize that it was very bigger than life and the fact that she had no idea that her private dancing was very very very public and also popular to the crowd it was a magical moment in time. We didn't tell her till the night was over lol.. It was great. I will never forget it. If she was a bit embarrassed, it did not last long and it would have only been because she didn't realize that people were watching. She was probably thinking… oh shit did I scratch myself???????? Hahah.. You have to know her to realize that it was a minor thing to her, but a memory that has lasted me over 25 years.
It was just so .. Us. Bad lighting but a kick ass go go girl in the back. The early years, ya gotta do em. Later……. Tune it or Die.
P.S. This Picture is of her in my current back yard one morning in 2008. She has on rollerstakes, there are a buffalo... coffee and loud laughter just sayin.. some things never change.
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