is it better to burn out or to fade away?
well, the last lowdowns show has come and gone. if there is one thing that i could say that i'll definately miss about not being in school anymore, it would be playing in this band. i only wish that we'd formed earlier, that i'd had more time to practice and come up with better parts, and that we'd played more shows. but even though josh, daniel, and i are all in different places right now and the band has run its course, we feel as though we'll always be lifelong lowdowns members. i'm sure that we'll pull togeter a reunion show at some point down the line.
for our last show, josh was able to get more than 15 people to drive up from jackson to see us, including his parents. some of his friends even donned some 'dapper-wear' to give the crowd an old timey flair. daniel was also able to pull in a fair number of people- moslty young women. at one point josh gave me a nudge and motioned for me to turn around to see about 8 girls surrounding daniel, all laughing and giggling. it was good to see the band's official swoonfodder doing his job... (ironically, daniel is the only bandmember in a relationship). and then there was me. i asked 3 people to come, and two of them showed up. parley, the one who didnt show, had a gig of his own in illinois. despite my shortcomings for drawing a crowd, the artisan was packed.
the show started off without a hitch. we breezed through time of your life and rockytop like there was no tomorrow, and i dare say that even i sounded good on gone for good. we reached a few bumps in the road when josh had to tune his banjo and daniel left the stage to use the bathroom. there i was, standing in front of the crowd like a deer in headlights. usually, i leave the witty banter to josh and daniel because they're really good at it, but now i was faced with a crowd to entertain. my mind went completely blank and i had no idea what to say, and the first things that came to mind were gr's elephant jokes. i got a few pity laughs, but i must say that both the crowd and i were relieved when daniel came back on stage. people often say that i'm the 'mystique' of the band, and i think the illusion is best completed when i dont speak.
on our last number, tell it to me, numerous things went wrong. i fudged my solo, daniel's guitar quit (faulty cable or something), and we were left with dead air for about 7 seconds while he switched out. but the best part came at the end when we all jumped in the air and hit our final note- the sound guy was right on and killed the lights when we landed, so it felt like we'd just finished an arena rock show...it was a fantastic rush.
afterwards, i proceded to use my feminine wiles to hawk several copies of 'sing into the can', a recording of our live kopn shown (for your very own copy, go to the tsl website for ordering instructions). we only asked a dollar for them, but several people pushed 5's my way and didnt ask for change. i sold every single copy (i think 20 in all). we emptied our tip jars and counted a total of $96 dollars- our fans were extremely generous. we drove to josh's house for an afterparty consisting of futurama, a trip to ihop, naps, a trip to the big tree (i had to drive gabe's big truck with 4 people crammed in the back), and finally sleep at 5:30am.
it was a good day.
for our last show, josh was able to get more than 15 people to drive up from jackson to see us, including his parents. some of his friends even donned some 'dapper-wear' to give the crowd an old timey flair. daniel was also able to pull in a fair number of people- moslty young women. at one point josh gave me a nudge and motioned for me to turn around to see about 8 girls surrounding daniel, all laughing and giggling. it was good to see the band's official swoonfodder doing his job... (ironically, daniel is the only bandmember in a relationship). and then there was me. i asked 3 people to come, and two of them showed up. parley, the one who didnt show, had a gig of his own in illinois. despite my shortcomings for drawing a crowd, the artisan was packed.
the show started off without a hitch. we breezed through time of your life and rockytop like there was no tomorrow, and i dare say that even i sounded good on gone for good. we reached a few bumps in the road when josh had to tune his banjo and daniel left the stage to use the bathroom. there i was, standing in front of the crowd like a deer in headlights. usually, i leave the witty banter to josh and daniel because they're really good at it, but now i was faced with a crowd to entertain. my mind went completely blank and i had no idea what to say, and the first things that came to mind were gr's elephant jokes. i got a few pity laughs, but i must say that both the crowd and i were relieved when daniel came back on stage. people often say that i'm the 'mystique' of the band, and i think the illusion is best completed when i dont speak.
on our last number, tell it to me, numerous things went wrong. i fudged my solo, daniel's guitar quit (faulty cable or something), and we were left with dead air for about 7 seconds while he switched out. but the best part came at the end when we all jumped in the air and hit our final note- the sound guy was right on and killed the lights when we landed, so it felt like we'd just finished an arena rock show...it was a fantastic rush.
afterwards, i proceded to use my feminine wiles to hawk several copies of 'sing into the can', a recording of our live kopn shown (for your very own copy, go to the tsl website for ordering instructions). we only asked a dollar for them, but several people pushed 5's my way and didnt ask for change. i sold every single copy (i think 20 in all). we emptied our tip jars and counted a total of $96 dollars- our fans were extremely generous. we drove to josh's house for an afterparty consisting of futurama, a trip to ihop, naps, a trip to the big tree (i had to drive gabe's big truck with 4 people crammed in the back), and finally sleep at 5:30am.
it was a good day.
posted by suz at 12:29 PM
1 Comments:
GR has elephant jokes?
Oh, now I remember.
Gosh Suz your description brought back a tucked-away memory of mine. After I got back from Germany and before I met Matthew I was the commentator at BYUs International fashion show, and the sound system was a complete disaster. I stood there "deer in the headlights" for WAY too long. It has given me so much sympathy for people on stage even when nothing goes wrong.
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