Obviously the holiday spirit has gotten to all of us here at S-Z ... (or is that holiday SPIRITS !!!) ... and usually at this time of year we reflect on the past, hopefully with more good thoughts than bad ...

I am sure that all of us, especially those of you who play gigs every day, have some experiences that stick out in your mind ...

In the spirit of sharing for the holidays, why not share some of your most memorable musical moments with the rest of us ...

(I'm certain for Scott Yee one would be his decision to share "Home" with the rest of us ... )
SCOTT - JUST TRYING TO LIGHTEN THINGS UP, FRIEND ... NO HARM INTENDED

I'll start with two of mine ... the first happened when I was playing accordion at about 17 yrs old and our "World Champion" Accordion Orchestra played a concert in Carnegie Hall - an absolute thrill ...

The second was when I was playing steady at an Italian restaurant ... coming back from break a young guy, who was having dinner with a young lady, asked if I could play and sing "Unchained Melody" ... when I said yes, he asked if I would wait until they came to the piano bar ... They came over a few minutes later, and as I am singing the song, he leans over and says something in her ear ... she gets this shocked look on her face, and he pulls out an engagement ring ... To my knowledge it was the first time anyone proposed while I provided the musical background ...

Next???

t.
PS: ... anyone know the origin of the title "Unchained Melody" ?????

My first organ recital as a young teen: When introduced and took stage, I asked if I could remove my left shoe because I kick pedals barefoot, and still do.

zuki

...and while singing acappella to the end of Bee Gee's 'words', my voice cracked, bringing down the house in utter laughter. Very embarrasing.

I remember very well the day me and my choir performed at the "annual night of choirs" in the opera house in Kiel, Germany. All other choirs were obediently doing just their program, but I involved the audience *gasp* talking to them and making them being a part. We actually got pulled off the stage before doing our last song, because that hadn't been part of the rehearsal night. But a lot of people liked us better than the other choirs, and we had fun.

Btw, unsurprisingly we didn't get invited the next year.

Markus

[This message has been edited by Haku (edited 12-01-2006).]

Some good . . . some funny . . . some bad.

Good: Our band being asked to record the theme music for a movie and getting an appearance. Bonus - finding a DVD of it some 40 years later.

Good: Our record producer saying the song needed a guitar solo so he'd bring in a session guy. It turned out the 'session guy' was Jimmy Page.

Funny: While playing a U.S. Air Force base in eastern Europe, the club manager asking me to take some photographs of some visting top USAF brass, full-bird colonels and such, and having no film in the camera and having them pose.

Bad: Doing the original arrangements for a song titled Black Is Black which we received as a scratchy demo and, due to a dust-up between our A&R man and the record company our mastered, ready-to-press recording being scrapped and within weeks it being released by Los Bravos on another label. Indelible memories surface every time I hear the song on oldies radio.

It's said that variety is the spice of life, well there's no shortag of it in this wonderful game of music.

The good...kindness and direction from Ray Brown and others of his era in the 60's. Later, mentoring by my long-time music partner Tom Johnston. In general, the great collaborations and friendships of the players I've been associated with.

The BAD. Getting caught in the middle of a riot croud in California. The bandstand was rushed...total panic situation. Had to defend myself. Split a guy's head wide open with a Stratocaster. Numerous people seriously hurt that night.

Will never stop regretting that, even though I had no choice but to defend myself and othes.


That's one reason why the rescent pettiness here seems so useless!


Russ

When I was 9 yrs old, I used to go the the Home Theatre Organ Society Recitals at the local organ store with my folks, then would go to the owners house after to socialize. Everyone would have a "go" at the organ or piano. All the adults would get drunk! Then would come the time for me to play. They would say "Scotty, get up here and play "Little Brown Jug" on the organ. I would get up there and do it time after time, they would clap and laugh. This went on for months. It was always play "Little Brown Jug". I hated it !!!! Finally when they made me get up there to play one time I just played a really killer rendition of Georgia on my Mind, and every says "Wow that was really great why do you always play "little Brown Jug" when you can play something like this. AAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHH. I sure would have liked to have been able to say something articulate back then, however I think I just pouted and really did'nt want to go back there anymore. Anyways, I am still friends with the family and just bought my G-70 from them at just over cost and really love(hate) the memories.

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Scotty

That's a very cool story Scotty. I can just picture their faces when you pulled out Georgia.

We were playing at an Elks lodge, four-piece band, drums, sax, B3 with pedals and my self on Guitar. I was newly married and for some reason my wife wanted to sit right up on the bandstand. She sat in a high back chair toward the rear. As people past they would stare in anticipation, wondering when she would do whatever she does. I never understood why she wanted to sit up there.
An hour into the job and a man asked me if I would play for his son’s Bar Mitzah , we were open on that date, I said yes. He said that he would not hire the band without the girl singer. Aaaaah, she never sang a song in her life. I looked at him and said that would be an additional $150, he said yes. She was booked on every job after that. Her voice was almost fair, but she looked good.

The saddest job laced with some sick humor;
A wedding; I was bringing in the wedding party, as the father of the bride was announced he took a few steps and fell to the ground. He was taken to the hospital. For the next half-hour we played music while reports of his condition came in. It was the most difficult thing that I have ever done. The call came, he had past away. There was a deafening silence, people crying, the music stopped, it was a place I never want to be again. The bride was sitting on the floor cryiing.
The Mother of the bride insisting on paying for the band, I said I would take half to just to pay the men for coming.

Sick humor
Now let me set this up; the bass player was an annoying character that was not great with his instrument – the drummer had a sense of humor that never stopped. He turns to the bass player and says, “ I told you that your bass playing was going to kill somebody someday”. Aaaaaaaaaaaegh.

John C.

John - A sad but interesting story ... We had a similar situation, but the brides father was struck before getting to the reception hall ... the party went on amid reports that he was 'resting comfortably' ... it was only later that we heard he had passed sometime during the reception ...

Another time we got to the reception hall only to find out the wedding was cancelled ... The photographer (whom we knew quite well) told us that at the church, after the father handed the bride off to the groom, the groom said something in her ear ... she turned and stormed out of the church, got into one of the limos, and it drove off ... never did find out what was said ... but yes, we did get paid ...


As for your sick humor - sick, but humorous

t.

a lady requested I sing "Summertime" by Porgy and Bess.
i said, sure..if you can tell me which wrote the music and
which wrote the lyrics..

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Miami Mo

Some of my fondest memories were when I had a five-piece band back in Arkansas. We were the house band for a club where we played from 11:00 p.m. to 3:00 a.m. All the other musicians would come there after their jobs, and it was a really wild place.
Back in the 70's there wasn't much that wasn't acceptable, including lots of casual sex and women who didn't wear underwear. (I only remember the good things).
I had a really knocked-out drummer who had played with Rare Earth for a while. He didn't like what he called "commercial" music, although he could play anything, but the money was good so...
At the time, "Wipe Out" was a must-play song at least once a night. All he asked was that I give him a 10-minute warning before we did it. At that time, he would pop a couple of pills-I suppose it was speed-and we would do the song. He would often play it for up to 10 minutes, taking rides on every part of his kit, including just the double kick drums. Then he'd get up with just the sticks and start playing on the top of my organ (no jokes, now), then follow the wall down to the dance floor and all the dancers would form a line behind him as he played Wipe Out on anything that would make noise.
He would finally make his way back to the bandstand and we'd finish the song, then take a break. He would then retreat to a van in the parking lot to "come down" with a left-handed cigarette.
One night he arrived about one minute before "show-time". He had been in the woods in his jeep, and he had on cutoffs and no shirt and was covered in mud.
I met him at the door, and told me he couldn't come in until he cleaned up and put on a shirt. He found a hose outside and sprayed the mud off, then found one of those big green garbage bags and cut arm holes in it. The crowd went crazy when he came in wearing that thing, still shoeless and wearing cutoffs and a big floppy hat.
I could tell endless stories about our adventures in that place. Many times when a big-name act was in town, they would find their way to this club after their show and end up jamming with us. In was really a red-neck place, but one time the Coasters came in. It was probably the one and only time a non-white person ever entered the building. This was not because there was any kind of policy, it just didn't ever happen. Anyway, they ended up on stage with us and did about a thirty-minute set with us backing them. They did have their own guitar player who led us along. They ended up learning to two-step to "Pick Me Up On Your Way Down". A great cultural exchange!
One last thought: this place was where I really started to sing. We had originally had an Elvis impersonater for a front-man. We would come out and play dance music for 45 minutes, then he would come on and do the Elvis Show, complete with all the wardrobe, lights, scarves, etc. He was only an adequate singer, but the show went over fine.
One night he got mad at the owner and told him "we" wouldn't be back. Well, this was the best gig in town, and the rest of us decided to stay. The owner said fine as long as the crowd keeps coming. "Elvis" told us we wouldn't last a week. Well, I was the only other guy in the band who didn't have better sense that to try to sing, and I certainly knew all the words after listening to them every night for months. The next night I strapped on my guitar and some dark glasses and I did the Elvis show, although without the costume, and the audience responded just as they always had. I had an Echo-plex that helped cover up the flaws, or at least I thought it did. We stayed at that place for nearly two more years, and I have been singing ever since! It all started because the real singer quit and we wanted to get paid.
Sorry for the rambling!
DonM

Don
That's not rambling. It's great story-telling. You painted great word pictures. I am enjoying reading all the stories. I have played two gigs where someone died...but Bruno's father of the bride story takes the cake.
Ed

When I had my own club in Bossier City, LA in the late 80s-early 90s, we had seats for only 55 people, and a really small dance floor. We routinely had 75 to 100 people in there and the Fire Marshall looked the other way.
One Saturday night at the peak of the evening an elderly guy had a heart attack on the dance foor.
We turned on the overhead lights and a customer started giving him mouth-to-mouth. The emegency unit from the FD was there in less than three minutes, and they shocked the guy several times and finally got him to come around. By the time they moved him to the hospital an hour had passed. Not one customer left. It so happened the guy from the Fire Dept. in charge of occupancy came in to see what was happening.
Afterward he told me I needed to count my customers to be sure I wasn't over the limit.
There were at least 100 there and he knew that! I was told it was the best show we ever had.
DonM
P.S. The guy that had the heart attack fully recovered.

... great stories ... keep 'em coming ...
... where are the REST of the "Pros" ???
t.

Several years ago I was playing a wedding. During the actual ceremony, something happend with the electronics where it started to pick up a stray radio signal. That signal came in very lightly over the PA and it was the theme from LOVE STORY. The sound was so delicate and beautiful and unobtrusive, and the arrangement was so pretty, I just let it play. After the wedding I got so many compliments from everyone who thanked me for the musical surprise. I never fessed up, until now, that it was God's idea not mine. Russ