Lord knows we've had our share - Mal's car getting torched during the gig, Carl and the Orang-u-tan, the Bikers in Beechworth, Tooheys Box of Silence, getting assigned a Hallway as a dressing room, the dry humping from that drunk guy in Wagga...the list goes on...and this weekend, it got longer :-)
At the Kurnell rec club friday night and the badge draw was generating some interest.
Now, with great anecdotes comes great responsibility.
We have tried to maintain an 'if ya cant say anything nice, dont blog' approach, but I am not sure on the rules about 'if its funny as hell but you dont wish to offend the poor wretch who might come across a description of his/her moment of fallibility after one too many Adult Beverages'...After all, beer is fleeting, blogs are eternal (thanks to Google Cache). So I am going to have to tread lightly as I try to figure out how to share some of the weekends amusing items.
That said, we had a great weekend with some absolutely cracking moments.
We started Friday at the Kurnell Rec Club where the member badge draw has jackpotted to $5700. You better believe there were plenty of folks there.
As new songs creep into the repertoire ('suit yourself' is back but in need of more work, 'she keeps you moving on' is working fine, 'Texas Rosie' is sitting nicely) it has forced a shuffling of the set order and we've taken to starting the show with the material from Carl's Chair.
At the KRC, the dancing started straight away. By the last set, one chap in particular was dancing to his own beat, in a distinguished fashion that called to mind
I know theres a psychologist trick about conditioning people with images or phrases that alter the next thing they say. In the middle of 7 days, this particular chaps dancing caused me to inadvertantly alter the lyrics in 7 days from: 'Day three I start thinking, I sure got it bad' to :'Day Three I'm an enthusiast....of modern dance'
It was quite a Freudian slip. Once i realised I had said it, this occasioned the problem of not bursting out laughing. I gotta say, this guy was dancing for the sheer pleasure, so full credit but it was like I had stepped into Interpretive Dance class, or maybe The Big Lebowski.
On a sadder note,we send our condolences to Trav for the recent sudden passing of his Dad.
We ended the night well and were packing out when another t shirt moment occurred. This ones related by Theo.
As the final patrons were shooed from the bar into the cold night, the temperature change caused a chap to suddenly need....relief.
He was relieving himself against a helpful tree and decided to rest his head against the tree. As they say in the classics, he was tired and emotional (tired and emotional as a newt) and proceeded to smack his head into the tree. Theo walked past loading stuff into the car and the the Dazed Guy turned around, saw Theo, gave him a good hearted thank-you-for-the-music wave, slipped on the newly wet grass and toppled bass ackwards into the Recently Watered area.
See my dilemma? On the one hand, aww, poor guy. On the other hand...BAHAHAHAHA.. torn between sympathy and hilarity, not fair!
The next day was our trip up to Nelson Bay for the Blue Water Festival. I realy gotta read my Band Bulletins more thoroughly. I thought we werre playing during a Fishing Tournament, not a Country Music Festival. Ye gods!
In fact, we were playing at:
( a big RSL, get it?)
Here's some scenery on the way up:
The truck stops along the way were getting ready to feed the masses.
The speed patrol were out in significant numbers on the highway - we saw at least five people getting pulled over for speeding, or other misdemeanours. It felt very Mad Max, as Highway Interceptors lurked behind bushes, swimming in and out of traffic looking for the next Ticket. I for one, am glad of cruise control. You would have had to be very keen to speed during this Double Demerit long weekend.
Nonetheless, we made it to Nelson Bay in good order and found, as previously noted, a large RSL, they kindly gave us a large room...
Yikes. Little did we know we'd fill it by by the middle of the first set. They started arriving well before we had finished unloading the Van....
We were very glad to be joined by some very special visitors. Patsy, Kristi, Billy & friends and their Carers had come out on an excursion for the evening and were highly enthusiastic about the music. They clapped constantly, cheered, danced and made my night. It was a beautiful thing. I think they helped to get the rest of the audience in the mood.
No fooling, that was one of the biggest crowds we've played to, esepcially given that they were there to actually hear us.
There was line dancing (???) boot scooting, you name it. What a great night.
As we ended the gig and commenced the usual pack up (rolling cables and singing 'The Load Out', no one else gets it :-) we had another anecdotal moment. As I carried two speakers out to Carls Van, two guys were walking through the carpark. One of them gave me a funny look, so I smiled and he walked off. Really, I am not that scary. A moment later, the car next to where we had the van parked started flashing. I thought the alarm was going off. One of the two chaps walked back and said 'oh, there's the car'.
I humourously suggested 'If you're wandering around the carpark pressing the alarm button and waiting for something to flash so you know which car is yours, you may not be safe to drive'. I was being cute, but the chap looked at me and said. 'Jeez mate, you're bloody right!' turned to his friend and said 'let's get a cab, thanks mate'
Friends dont let friends drive drunk :-) Thats what we're all about. Music and Public Safety.
As we had another gig the following day, it was time to head back to Sydney, but by now the weather had closed in. 100 on the speed limit and we were crawling along at 40Kph, in the rain. listening to Wish You Were Here :-)
Home by 4am, bed by 5am and back up to play a gig at the Fitzroy in Windsor on Sunday where we once again proved popular with the under 5 crowd. I'm not sure what it is about the songs from Carl's Chair, but they appear to be soothing for kids under a certain age and we had plenty of mothers dancing with babies in their arms, or holding hands with the kids and dancing with them.
After three gigs, late nights and many miles, I was a little scattered so i didnt take any pix, but a good afternoon was had, in spite of some teething problems with the in House PA.
All in all, a great weekend, with other anecdotes that will remain only in our memories, as what Goes On At The Pub, Stays at the Pub :-). A big thanks to all the folks that spent some time with us this weekend.
MJEB