I had an interesting experience Friday night.
As some of you know, I used to have my own club, in a motel, for some seven years.
A month or so ago, the new owners of the motel called to ask if I could do a special Mardi Gras night for them. Since I was off that night, I agreed.
What I didn't realize is that in the past few months, the club has gone totally Karaoke six nights a week.
I went down the day before to be sure they knew that I don't do Karaoke. They did. A large group of customers from out of town had asked for me.
Anyway, I was to play from 8:00 til midnight.
I arrived about 6:45 to set up, but the Karaoke guy was going. The place was jam-packed with people and I could hear the music before I got out of the car. Huge speakers, with sound level so high your ears would bleed. This place seats 56 people max.
I went to the office and the manager said that at 5:00 the place was full so he asked the K guy to work for awhile. He said he would be out of the way by 8:00.
I told him I needed a minimum of 30 minutes to set up, so he said no problem, start when you get ready.
It took me about 10 minutes to set up and try to follow the K guy's act. He did have them rockin'.
Well I pumped up the bass a little and set the L1 at close to "noon". Hadn't played that loud indoors ever. I kicked off with Jambalaya, to a rock beat and the place erupted. Haven't heard cheers that loud in a while. I went right into Old Time Rock n Roll, then Honky-Tonk Woman (Stones).
After that I said "I hope ya'll like Country because that's what you're gonna get for a while". Again the loud cheers.
Most of the crowd was from Texas, so I did T for Texas, Texas when I die, Ft. Worth, All My Exes--the usual assortment of Texas songs, again at really loud levels.
It was fun to play loud for a change, but by the end of the night I was totally exhausted from expending all that energy. When the crowd is into it, it's really contagious.
People kept coming up and saying stuff like "That's our kind of music". The younger people even got into it. You would think Brown-eyed Girl would be so trite, but no, it never fails.
Anyway, the Bose did everything the big K setup did, but with more clarity and better coverage in the back of the room. On the dance floor you could get into the bass, but the mids and highs weren't painful as they were before I got there.
I have played everything from living rooms to outdoors for 300 people with the L1, and it never fails to do the job, and get plenty of compliments. The K guy stayed around for about an hour and when I took a break, he wanted to know all about the Bose.
I'm really glad more acts around here don't have one. My demand (and price) has gone up since I was "converted".
Amazingly enough, DNJ and Gary D. convinced me to give it a try. Donny praised it so highly I had to get one. Thanks, my friend, even though you have changed your tune!
DonM