Joined: 21 Jul 2003 Posts: 401 Location: College Station, TX
Posted: Fri Apr 29, 2005 11:41 am Post subject: Elvis gig
I am off to do an hour and 15 minute Elvis gig opening for David Allan Coe tonight in front of 30,000 at a Harley rally here is Central Texas. If there are no more posts from me after this one you can assume that Elvis did not go over well with this crowd...
Posted: Sat Apr 30, 2005 10:07 am Post subject: Re: Elvis gig
telefunk1 wrote:
I am off to do an hour and 15 minute Elvis gig opening for David Allan Coe tonight in front of 30,000 at a Harley rally here is Central Texas. If there are no more posts from me after this one you can assume that Elvis did not go over well with this crowd...
Joined: 14 Nov 2003 Posts: 142 Location: Melbourne, Australia
Posted: Sat Apr 30, 2005 6:53 pm Post subject:
Hope you didn't get any criticism like this...
Quote:
You are a truly talentless bunch of utter losers, please stop this nonsense as soon as possible and play some real music without your dischordant interference. Stan.
(note passed up to us last night during an otherwise successful gig)
Proof that even during a great gig with happy customers and a top professional band that you can't keep everyone happy! Hope you went better with 30000 Harley fans.
Chris _________________ because I rock, and that's important.
Joined: 21 Jul 2003 Posts: 401 Location: College Station, TX
Posted: Sun May 01, 2005 11:16 am Post subject:
Survived the Elvis gig - went quite well, actually. Good crowd response. The bass player is also the owner of a local music store and he did all the band promotion and booking. He told me I did not need to bring an amp since he was going to have a huge backline available for the headliners. So my choices where several Marshall rigs or a Hiwatt 50 watt. I used the Hiwatt with my am standard tele with Lace pickups and it sounded great. Had never used a Hiwatt before, not sure what Elvis would have thought (or James Burton), but it did the trick.
Ed - if you mean funny as in strange, yes Texas is funny.
StratCat - what a great note! A real classic - hope you get it framed!
Question for the list. I hate playing outside - hot and muggy. It was 90 degrees with about 90 percent humidty at the Elvis gig (outside by a lake). My fingers felt like I had stuck them in glue. Fortunately there were not many solos in the set so I did not suck too bad trying to play single notes, chords were tough enough. Any suggestions on dealing with this? Anybody have any good tricks for coping in this kind of situation?
Joined: 29 Jan 2004 Posts: 1504 Location: Methuen, MA
Posted: Sun May 01, 2005 12:56 pm Post subject:
telefunk1 wrote:
Question for the list. I hate playing outside - hot and muggy. It was 90 degrees with about 90 percent humidty at the Elvis gig (outside by a lake). My fingers felt like I had stuck them in glue. Fortunately there were not many solos in the set so I did not suck too bad trying to play single notes, chords were tough enough. Any suggestions on dealing with this? Anybody have any good tricks for coping in this kind of situation?
Well, you could move to New England. Yesterday it was in the 50's, maybe even hit 60 degrees, rainy and wicked foggy. No heat problem up here!
Glad the gig went well, tf. And, Stratcat- definitely frame that note- it's a classic! Reminds me of a Johnny A. show I went to where a woman placed a note at Johnny's feet about 2/3's of the way through his performance. He leaned over, still playing, read the note, then kicked it off the stage with a really disgusted look on his face. Someone close was able to read it, then the word got around that she asked him if he can play anything by the Doors! Oh my- what planet did she arrive from!?! Now that note would've been a great keepsake if I'd thought of having JA to autograph it!
Joined: 08 Aug 2003 Posts: 943 Location: Terra Firma, Ether Sea
Posted: Sun May 01, 2005 1:12 pm Post subject:
Rain, especially in the performing area, is the absolute worst!!!!!
Followed very, very closely by high humidity, especially coupled with high heat... condensation problems, gear problems, comfort problems, electrical problems, flexing guitar-neck problems, cleaning problems, exhaustion problems... I HATE it!
High humidity can be such an omnipresent annoyance when it exists, that there is really not a whole lot you can do other than focus on how good it's gonna feel when you can finally get yourself, and your gear, inside to the air conditioning.
One suggestion... just before you go on, if you can, give your hands and forearms (at least the part which is most likely to touch the body of your ax) a good scrubbing with soap and hot water and rinse thoroughly , then run them under cold water for a minute or two (to close up the pores) before drying them.
This won't stop the yuck that happens when performing, but you will start off feeling better and, as your hands begin to perspire, the sweat you work up will be 'clean', less annoying, moisture and body oils which, even if you possess a corrosive chemistry, are less likely to immediately & severely "gum-up" your playing surfaces with a paste of dirt and foreign substances.
Another... be sure to keep an absorbant, soft hand towel close by and, besides drying your hands and arms often, quickly run it over the strings and/or neck and/or bridge & tailpiece as often as you comfortably can (during the solos of others, between songs, etc).
Don't expect to do a thorough cleaning... just keep as much of the excess moisture off of the metal/vibrating/electrial components as you can, when you can... every little bit helps!
And, if you are in an especially problematic high-humidity situation or location, I might even suggest the use of either a chamois (get them at any auto-part-&-supply store) or one of the new super-absorbent-micro-fiber cloths (PlanetWaves)... both of which pickup lots of moistures and oils, almost instantly, and can be rung-out easily to keep them actively absorbant.
OK, actually, one more.... in these very humid/rainy situations, be very careful when unplugging/plugging your cable to your guitar whilst switching axes! Sweaty hands or drippy plugs can short out cables with moisture inside of the female jack. This happens way more often than you would think.
In high humidity, you'll often see me carry a towel when swapping guitars with the artist. I wipe the cable end after Robben unplugs and hands it to me, and then I, myself, plug it back in with the hands I dried right before coming onstage.
Always keep your HANDS, PLUGS, and CABLES ENDS DRY whenever you handle them. _________________ B C-ing U!
( }:-Daved
"This boy's diseased with rhythm!" -Bing Crosby (Road To Rio, '49)
Joined: 04 Nov 2003 Posts: 886 Location: SF Bay Area
Posted: Sun May 01, 2005 5:21 pm Post subject:
Great advice Daved. I've got an outdoor festival in a couple of weeks too. I'll definitely bring the towels.
I've never liked FingerEase as it gums up things, but I have found that the Dr. Stringfellow string cleaner leaves a sort of powdery residue that doesn't get gummy. Also the Blitz cloth brass player use to clean their instruments. Another thing I found in a Victor Bailey interview is Hemp Oil from the Body Shop. Great for keeping blisters down without making a mess of things. When I have a bass casual, I keep a cloth moistened with it in a zip-lock bag on top of the amp, and periodically tap the ends of my fingers (or thumb in the case of bass) on the cloth. _________________ There are no such things as wrong notes, there's only the look on your face.
My Stuff: www.stevekirbymusic.com
Joined: 21 Feb 2004 Posts: 243 Location: Rochester, MI
Posted: Mon May 02, 2005 10:37 am Post subject:
Blitz cloth is wonderful stuff! Great for cleaning off the strings and making them feel great. I had one package that lasted me like 15 years!! I tried to find some recently, but no music store carried it. So I bought a case from Blitz. Now, I think I have enough for 4 lifetimes!
Joined: 04 Nov 2003 Posts: 886 Location: SF Bay Area
Posted: Mon May 02, 2005 1:07 pm Post subject:
Another question on the sticky neck senario. Before Daved's tenure, I used to see Jeff Rivera constantly polishing Robben's guitars with that hard wax in the little jars. I can't remember if I've seen Daved doing this but definitely not just before each set. Does Robben have a preference? Is this an individual preference between techs on how to keep the axe clean? I was afraid of buildup, but have found things like the Martin polish sort of clean without noticable build up. I don't know if this eventually wears away the finish, or does it eventually result in a buildup. I've heard of folks who swear by Lemon Pledge too, but I think Daved mentioned in another thread that he found that built up. I keep a clean soft polishing cloth on top of the amp, but there are times when it just doesn't seem to clean off the neck completely. Would a more abrasive cloth like terry be better? But not cut into the finish? Enquiring minds, and sticky palms , want to know. _________________ There are no such things as wrong notes, there's only the look on your face.
My Stuff: www.stevekirbymusic.com
The microfiber cleaning towels (70% polyester, 30% polyamide, 90,000 fibers per square inch) that are available today in any auto supply store are excellent for cleaning guitar necks and bodies without requiring any polishes or solvents; so, there is no build up. Also, they aren't abrasive if washed regularly; so they won't leave scratches unlike an ordinary terry towel. I keep one in each guitar case, my desk drawer, work bench, and my pedal case. If you haven't tried one yet, you should. They really do work well.
Joined: 21 Jul 2003 Posts: 401 Location: College Station, TX
Posted: Tue May 03, 2005 5:32 am Post subject:
Great ideas - many thanks to all for sharing. Daved - I think you hit on the most important one of all: washing up and starting fresh right before you start playing. Unfortunately there was a lack of running water at this particular gig, and somehow beer did not seem like an appropriate alternative!
Joined: 23 Jan 2005 Posts: 15 Location: SouthWest Ohio
Posted: Fri May 06, 2005 7:49 pm Post subject:
I realize I'm late responding to this thread, but so many of the comments brought back a lot of memories of when I was working 6 sets a night , 6 nights a week in Vegas during the early 80's. Some of you will relate directly and others may get a good chuckle.
We never had a problem with humidity in Southern Nevada, but I had the curse of the " SWEATY HANDS"...A new set of strings would last me approx. 2 sets....and the wounds would be totally dead by the end of the night.
Well, someone mentioned that I should try rubbing corn starch on my hands before each set and that might absorb and slow the perspiration pouring from them. So, lame brain me at the time ; got me a little tupper ware bowl and filled it with corn starch and off to work I went.
At the time my gigging guitars were a 50 Broadcaster and a 69 335. Almost all the lacquer was worn off the neck on the broadcaster but the Gibson was pristine.
So I guess you all can picture this guy up on stage dipping his hands every so often in the tupperware bowl and fine white powder going all over the place huh ! Needless to say, there were plenty of comments about the mess and a variety of other comments too . That idea was nixed pretty fast
And in case you're wondering about the guitars.....unfortunately they're both long gone !!! I wasn't wise enough then to imagine prices would be what they are in 2005
Telefunk.... I loved your Elvis story....I've backed up several Elvis impersonators in my time...a few were pretty good...and a couple were hilarious !!!
By the way...James Burton is a fave of mine from way back, a great guy too. He's a Fender Twin or Super kind of guy ,but I bet he would have tried the HIWatt _________________ Then Play On...
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I bet you are going for your Scotty Moore impersonation.
One suggestion... just before you go on, if you can, give your hands and forearms (at least the part which is most likely to touch the body of your ax) a good scrubbing with soap and hot water and rinse thoroughly , then run them under cold water for a minute or two (to close up the pores) before drying them.
I wasn't wise enough then to imagine prices would be what they are in 2005 