Concert Stories

Wow I gotta say I like all 3 of those bands...especially Nirvana...Just some really cool rock IMO but "like" is subjective...I like a very wide range of music.....

Since you posted The Pretenders version of Creep..I have to shamelessly post the version I did about 8 years back with the guitarist from my late 70's prog rock band...unrehearsed..I'd never played the song in my life..also never had jammed with the drummer or bass before but they had played in a cover band with Dave ( guitarist) years earlier and came out to do this charity gig for a brother of ours that was on his way to the great gig in the sky...Anyway for unrehearsed I think we did a fine, much more rock version of the song.... If you REALLY hate the song just jump to 3 minutes and hear a guitar solo guaranteed to make you smile....



Guitar solo is excellent and in the 77 video. They're very "Blackmore".

I saw Kansas a few times. Not bad. Not even in my top 500 shows.

You needed that Emerson synth. What a beast that was. To think, you can get those sounds on a tiny Cascio now.

I miss the days when music relied more on musicianship than it did production and sound modules.
 
Guitar solo is excellent and in the 77 video. They're very "Blackmore".

You needed that Emerson synth. What a beast that was. To think, you can get those sounds on a tiny Cascio now.

Yeah Emerson had a minimoog ran through a lot of "tricks" The Sh3 was Rolands first attempt and infringed on some of circuitry in the moog...so they revamped.. Mine is #7** so one of the infringing ones but what you heard in that video was about as close as I could get it using an echo chamber....I still have that synth but never use it....The mini moog was and is hard to emulate..Creamware did the best job and I purchased a Plugiator from one of the original owner developers "Frank Hund" It is the most powerful value synth ever...That said it sits in it's box waiting for me to use it....I'm so focused on my piano and vocals doing a live thing I've spent no time with the plethora of amazing sounds my MODX8 has..nor the Plugiator...did I mention it was incredible? I literally could get lost for months making crazy sounds and recordings with that stuff...just feel what I am doing right now is "different" and hopefully well received....At 67 there is not a lot of people interested in listening unless you're a famous old rock star.. I am an old rock star but totally missed the boat on famous ...but an awesome time it has been and continues to be! Rock on!
 
Yeah Emerson had a minimoog ran through a lot of "tricks" The Sh3 was Rolands first attempt and infringed on some of circuitry in the moog...so they revamped.. Mine is #7** so one of the infringing ones but what you heard in that video was about as close as I could get it using an echo chamber....I still have that synth but never use it....The mini moog was and is hard to emulate..Creamware did the best job and I purchased a Plugiator from one of the original owner developers "Frank Hund" It is the most powerful value synth ever...That said it sits in it's box waiting for me to use it....I'm so focused on my piano and vocals doing a live thing I've spent no time with the plethora of amazing sounds my MODX8 has..nor the Plugiator...did I mention it was incredible? I literally could get lost for months making crazy sounds and recordings with that stuff...just feel what I am doing right now is "different" and hopefully well received....At 67 there is not a lot of people interested in listening unless you're a famous old rock star.. I am an old rock star but totally missed the boat on famous ...but an awesome time it has been and continues to be! Rock on!

I released 5 full length albums. The first one I made some cassettes and a guy bought one off the internet and I ended up going to Bolzano Italy to perform in a multi media festival. That was the one and only great professional gig I ever did. I've put up my cheesy videos of songs, and I've gotten requests for people to download them. I've sold a copy here and there, and generally I've always gotten really good reviews from the few papers I sent CDs or tapes to. That's good enough for me.

If you can put on a song, or play and not have everyone cover their ears and scream to turn it off, then you've done your job.

I've never been famous, and never made any real money (the Bolzano gig basically paid for all the recording and cassette pressings). But, I get in a mood to record and that's what I do. I recorded this new album, it's on bandcamp, and I'll eventually send out some MP3s for review. But, for the most part, I do no kind of marketing.

We're armchair players, and depending on how you lived your life when you were younger, you're probably lucky you didn't become famous. Famous musicians get stuck in the "I have to make something the fans will like" and they don't expand musicality and end up rehashing old songs. The older artists I see who perform their new work, that's bathroom break for most. Because old people don't buy music. They go to see old artists to hear the songs that will make them feel young again.

My friend George who has been to more concerts than everyone on this site combined, is constantly amazed when I send him songs from a new artist. He stopped looking for new artists about 25 years ago.

Personally, if I had ever become famous, I'd be dead. I've only once stepped out in front of an audience sober. I love beer. But, around the house a case can last me a few weeks. If I was going to play live, I'd have drunk a few six packs before going on. I also used to love drinking a half gallon of Riuinite or a quart of Boones Farm apple wine. They give you a good head by the bottle.

When I go into a liquor store I'll look. They just don't make it anymore.

We really did have the last of the "good free times". I love the movie The Rocker. Because it seems like that's the way bands would be now. I remember my girl friend and I being picked up off a club's bathroom floor. Once, we went into the dressing room and her MOM was smoking opium with the other band-mates. The bartenders would give up beers and water glasses filled with vodka. Yep, those were some great times. But, you don't last long doing that.
 
You may not think much of that Snowman, but you have done things that others could only dream of and would never achieve in their lives.
 
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As far as playing and people not cringing....generally I seem to pull that off...In my 20's I wanted to tour the world in a rock band...We had our awesome days in the sun in LA and played some big concerts as I have already bragged about previously...Fun times..

Well flash forward 30 years and I was selling rock...the kind you use on countertops ...and there I was traveling the world..well I timidly asked the guy at the reception desk at the Diplomat hotel in Prague if I could play the awesome piano there...They said sure...that was the beginning of a second life..I have played piano at hotels in Czech, Germany, Italy, all over the U.S., Korea, All over China and most often get some love wherever I play....I sat in with a Russian band in China and we jammed until 3 in the morning...

Yep made musical friends all over the world these last 20 years...up until about 7 years ago I was always just playing...not singing...that night with the Russian band was my singing debut...The crowd , the owner of the club went nuts...holy affirmation batman! Since then if there is a piano and a mic...I'm in...if they'll let me.... So here I am an old 67 yer old fart still getting my ya ya's out...

I remember having a conversation with a great friend who was very successful in business and certainly worth millions...I was telling him that I had originally aspired to be an attorney but got side tracked with my rock start dreams....He laughed and said are you kidding? You got to live the dream most only can wish they lived...you lived it!....well that and a buck can get me a cup of coffee but in actuality he was a right...money can't buy the the joyful experiences I've got to experience doing what I love. Grateful I am....
 
You may not think much of that Snowman, but you have done things that others could only dream of and would never achieve in their lives.

Thank you. When I drop dead, I will have knowing I've done everything I ever wanted. My life has been spent in clubs, theatres and arenas seeing fabulous and crappy bands. I've traveled everywhere I've desired, and seen many wonderful places. We eat what we want, and I always try something I've never had before. I love trying different meats. Kangeroo, crocodile, turtle, buffalo, elk, deer to name a few. Each truly have their own taste. You don't need a ton of money to do much of anything. You just need to know you won't be staying in 5 star hotels, and you can't hang out in bars drinking all night. That will eat up your money in a flash.

As far as playing and people not cringing....generally I seem to pull that off...In my 20's I wanted to tour the world in a rock band...We had our awesome days in the sun in LA and played some big concerts as I have already bragged about previously...Fun times..

Well flash forward 30 years and I was selling rock...the kind you use on countertops ...and there I was traveling the world..well I timidly asked the guy at the reception desk at the Diplomat hotel in Prague if I could play the awesome piano there...They said sure...that was the beginning of a second life..I have played piano at hotels in Czech, Germany, Italy, all over the U.S., Korea, All over China and most often get some love wherever I play....I sat in with a Russian band in China and we jammed until 3 in the morning...

Yep made musical friends all over the world these last 20 years...up until about 7 years ago I was always just playing...not singing...that night with the Russian band was my singing debut...The crowd , the owner of the club went nuts...holy affirmation batman! Since then if there is a piano and a mic...I'm in...if they'll let me.... So here I am an old 67 yer old fart still getting my ya ya's out...

I remember having a conversation with a great friend who was very successful in business and certainly worth millions...I was telling him that I had originally aspired to be an attorney but got side tracked with my rock start dreams....He laughed and said are you kidding? You got to live the dream most only can wish they lived...you lived it!....well that and a buck can get me a cup of coffee but in actuality he was a right...money can't buy the the joyful experiences I've got to experience doing what I love. Grateful I am....

You have lived the life. The travel, jamming, new worlds and you're able to blend in smoothly. You play music on the fly. You really can't ask for more than that. Because if you had millions, you'd want more. Everyone does. For some reason it's never enough. If you have a nice place to live (where you're not constantly annoyed by your neighbors), a way to get around, food to eat, you're healthy, and aren't in hock to where you'll never get climb out, you got nothing to complain about.

There is a silent movie THE BIG TRAIL with John Wayne. Everyone in 2020 should be forced to watch this, and see what life was like in the beginning of this country. While it's a movie, you know much of what they went through and had to do is factual. There's a scene of them having to go down the side of a mountain that will make your jaw drop. I'd have been dead a day in.
 
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