P-Nutz
Gold Supporting Member
- Joined
- Dec 3, 2007
- Messages
- 1,681
- Reaction score
- 5,420
A couple of our profs (one my dissertation chair, the other a former ESPN investigative reporter who I helped hire) started a highly-regarded and locally-successful jump blues band. Last night they had a gig at a great local dive music bar. My chair has asked me to sit in before with them, but I’ve declined, as A. I don;t like to horn in on other people’s gigs, and 2. I’ve played ‘70s funk covers with my band for the last 25 years, so not super familiar with the genre.
Earlier this week, my chair knew I was coming to the show (the venue’s seven blocks away, so I walk down there a lot) and stopped in my office, saying, “You’re playing with us Friday.” “uh, okay … “ I texted him for a couple of songs to woodshed, and he told me the Hank Ballard version of Look at Little Sister in E, and an original he had written in A , saying it had a “Jump, Jive, and Wail sound like Brian Setzer.” So, I woodshedded LaLS and to some JJaW-type backing tracks all week.
Get to the gig, and it’s packed; the place is maybe 400 sf, and maybe 80-100 people. It’s a dive, opened in 1933, with no stage (you’re tucked into a corner), little seating, and similar to an old honky tonk. I hang with some folks for the first set, and with about a half-hour left in the show, he calls me up, introducing me as a local celebrity-type, mentioning my band (huge cheers), and we dig into the two songs. Great stand up bass player, drummer’s keeping the solid beat, it was awesome!
I start to take off the guitar and he looks at me and says “One more, in E” … umm … okay, and launches into another tune which I had never heard. I figure it out, we end, and he says “One more, in C” and we launch into another … this goes on for six songs. We get finished, and he says, “now you know jump blues.” FAAACK!
He tells the crowd it’s my birthday (it is, I’m 64 today) and the drinks start flowing; I play shows sober. Walked home after closing, and needless to say I was a hurtin’ f’ckin unit this morning … and now I’m going to wander down to our CelebrAsian festival, where my nephew who’s getting ready to open an Indonesian restaurant, has a booth.
Still kinda f’ckin’ hurtin’, though ...
Earlier this week, my chair knew I was coming to the show (the venue’s seven blocks away, so I walk down there a lot) and stopped in my office, saying, “You’re playing with us Friday.” “uh, okay … “ I texted him for a couple of songs to woodshed, and he told me the Hank Ballard version of Look at Little Sister in E, and an original he had written in A , saying it had a “Jump, Jive, and Wail sound like Brian Setzer.” So, I woodshedded LaLS and to some JJaW-type backing tracks all week.
Get to the gig, and it’s packed; the place is maybe 400 sf, and maybe 80-100 people. It’s a dive, opened in 1933, with no stage (you’re tucked into a corner), little seating, and similar to an old honky tonk. I hang with some folks for the first set, and with about a half-hour left in the show, he calls me up, introducing me as a local celebrity-type, mentioning my band (huge cheers), and we dig into the two songs. Great stand up bass player, drummer’s keeping the solid beat, it was awesome!
I start to take off the guitar and he looks at me and says “One more, in E” … umm … okay, and launches into another tune which I had never heard. I figure it out, we end, and he says “One more, in C” and we launch into another … this goes on for six songs. We get finished, and he says, “now you know jump blues.” FAAACK!
He tells the crowd it’s my birthday (it is, I’m 64 today) and the drinks start flowing; I play shows sober. Walked home after closing, and needless to say I was a hurtin’ f’ckin unit this morning … and now I’m going to wander down to our CelebrAsian festival, where my nephew who’s getting ready to open an Indonesian restaurant, has a booth.
Still kinda f’ckin’ hurtin’, though ...
