Onward and Upward

So, the LGBT dance was totally awesome!  Over one hundred people attended including our good friends Deb and Lee from St. Catherines – what a huge surprise!  I walked in to Fiddlehead’s to meet friends for dinner and who was sitting there grinning from ear to ear but Deb.  I am still in shock over that whole,  awesome surprise

The evening in general was a huge success but I have to say that I could have been much happier with the band’s sound and performance.  Starting a new project is always such a humbling experience – so many factors to address and align.  It is easy to forget ten years into a project how difficult this phase of development is but I think that this is where the heart of the band is – in the struggle required to ‘get it right’!

Now don’t get me wrong, everybody dug deep and played hard – we put a lot of work into preparing for the evening – but when you are standing in front of the world and being bold enough to say, ‘hey everybody, I’m going to put together a Janis Joplin tribute band!’ then you had better work your ass off and pay attention to detail.

Our list of items to iron out for next time:

• enhance the sound system for better performance – the system we used was certainly loud enough but totally not clear or crisp for the size or shape of the room – bad sound will kill a band every time
• don’t let the boys dress themselves   I smile when I say this but it turns out to be true – Patty and I are going to take measurements on all the guys and put together outfits for them ourselves – I love you John but that hawaiian shirt has got to go
• replace the band members who have parted ways

It looks like the biggest job though will be replacing the two band members I lost after that gig (and you wondered what took me so long to get around to posting – I was busy picking myself up off the ground!)

Keyboard player Cam realized he was not comfortable enough on keys to put himself out there in this capacity (he usually plays bass) and drummer Matt is pretty busy with other commitments.  A pretty harsh blow to need to replace two musicians at once (not to mention that my original drummer who I replaced for this gig in the first place decided that he was too busy as well to proceed with the group) but this is not really unusual for the early days of a band – especially one with such a demanding repertoire.

So, after licking my wounds for a few days (ok, it was at least a week) I started thinking about who I might want to approach to fill the slots.  And then I remembered, my friend Janet met a guy online who has made his living over the years playing in cover bands – I want to meet that guy!

A quick call to Janet and I have a name and a number – Quinn Bordeaux, plays lead guitar in a ZZ Top tribute band and a professional blues band.  Turns out that Quinn is very interested in this opportunity as is his drummer.  In fact, we are all going over to Quinn’s on the 20th to meet and rehearse!  I could not be happier.

I feel like the universe gave me a little bitch-slap lesson – never be afraid to step outside your self-imposed box – I was looking for resources only within my network and my town but I may have found the best possible resource right there just outside the box.

Until later, peace out.