S3E1 - Week Old Roadkill

August 7: We’re Going Back to Cappy’s

With Kevin in Pennsylvania, John makes the trip to Cappy’s. There is plenty of good news. In talking with John, Chuck (the bar owner) says “People are talking” about our appearance. Consequently, Chuck has asked us to return September 6 and 7 with a raise in pay of $300 ($700 total for the weekend). Cappy’s also wants to hold a dance for teens on a Sunday night sometime THIS MONTH (OH YEAH). This is for an undisclosed amount. Things are definitely looking up.

August 10: Dave Gets Boofed

Dave and Kevin decide to go to Cappy’s this weekend to see “Phoenix.’ Dave hits the “Red Pepper” in Barberton only to find that it’s closed. He then goes to the Shenandoah and drops off a tape. Pretty much the same tune as before at the Shenandoah (they want us to audition again). The Shenandoah is such a dive. There are never more than 20 people in there at a time. Dave then goes to the Tangled Spur only to find that the house band has pulled it together (thus no room for Six Shooter).

At Cappy’s Dave sees Phoenix drummer Jack Beam whom he knows from past experience (he originally talked to Jack about purchasing drums back when Six Shooter first formed). The band opens up with Stevie Ray Vaughn’s “House is a Rockin” and performs other country classics as the Georgia Satellite’s “Keep Your Hands to Yourself.” The band has a front man that sings and plays the harmonica. This means every song has a harmonica part. The band is running the sound via a snake from the front. While their song list may not be as good as Six Shooter’s, their sound is solid. Their in-between song banter is moot. They barely come up with anything to discuss except the bachelorette party going on in the back. They sounded good, but Dave is a little confused on their choice of country songs. Dave is a little pissed at the fact that Kevin and Maria are a no-show. Dave is curious as they decided not to meet at their house (minutes away), if this was preplanned. Dave’s feelings are hurt but will survive. The lack of communication via voice mail or answering machine was the exact thing the band was concerned with Lee last weekend. John was a “possibly maybe” due to relatives in from out of town. After watching the first song of the second set, Dave leaves. On his way to the parking lot, Dave hears the band launch into Sly and the Family Stone's “Dance to the Music” in the middle of Watermelon Crawl. This song did start off with a drum solo that was impressive.

Upon returning to the Shenandoah, Dave listens to the “Country Jammers” do (you guessed it) “Keep your Hands To Yourself” by the Georgia Satellites. They also did some Merle Haggart song. It’s been a bad night, and Dave heads for home.

Later when talking to Kevin, Kevin explains that they just didn’t make it. As Kevin puts it, “you got boofed.”

August 17: Kevin Goes a Pimpin’

Kevin hits the Carriage House and the Elms club and admits that neither sound promising. Meanwhile ,Dave has tried to get the Shenandoah to relinquish their “Must Audition” policy, but they say we still have to audition. I think John summed it up best when he sarcastically said, “We’re not playing the Shenandoah- Boo-Hoo, Waaa.”

September 5: Repair Work

Well t,he band is rusty due to a cancellation of practice. It’s been a fun time. John and Kevin have been tearing apart the power amps. Two transistors are replaced. After much testing ,it appears that the amplifiers have simply lost their balls. There is no real punch. Then suddenly they came to life (it appears one of the outputs is funky). Unfortunately ,John and Kevin are up late most of the week. The sound check on Thursday night ended around midnight. Oh yes, work will be fun tomorrow.

September 6-7 Back at Cappy’s

The band takes the stage with the energy of a week old road kill. It’s a strange set. The crowd is kind of dead (the traditional juke box during the set gesture). The band is real rusty (due to the strange practice week). Mistakes are all over the place. Most were covered smoothly. Kevin drew a blank on the words to “She’s Got The Rhythm” and Dave and the boys made it an extended jam. We all drew blanks. At times it wasn’t pretty, but I’m a perfectionist.

Chuck and the sound board were out front. Chuck is learning the ropes on running sound. The power amps were working well. Dave went to the Musician’s Bargain basement and picked up an equalizer, and that has seemed to stop the feedback out front. However, once again, KEVIN AND DAVE CAN’T HEAR A NOTE THEIR SINGING ON STAGE. Bottom line we need an equalizer for the monitors.

During one of the breaks, John meets up with an elderly type woman who says that basically, any bar with the word MOOSE is looking for good bands. She says we’re a good band. This is good. Even when we suck, we’re good.

Ernie is the new DJ at Cappy’s. The bar has installed a new sound system that sounds O.K. (tweaking is needed). They also need to isolate the CD player as every time someone stomps their feet (which they do a lot in line dancing) the CD skips.

The night has a strange vibe to it. The excitement of playing out the first time as a group is wearing thin. The fact that we’re all zombies has a lot to do with it. Some sleep will put us back at the top of our game. Luckily the Sunday gig has been postponed. Dave does the traditional run through the bar only to be disappointed when everyone in the pool section of the bar informs him that they can’t hear him. Bummer.

Saturday’s performance was much livelier. Although we believe we blew up the monitor amplifier by adding a speaker for Lee, we some how tweaked it enough to where we could hear the vocals on stage. This made being on stage 100% more comfortable.

The band used a new format by playing 40 minutes and taking a 20 minute break (previously we played 60 minutes and were off for 30). This meant that we actually played less time. The band revamped the set list and took some songs that were not going over very well, or the band didn’t sound their best on. This also provided some flexibility as the crowd requested “Margarittaville” the band took it off the “Left over” list and threw it in the set. Along with the request came “Becky” on stage to sing with the band. Unfortunately, it turns out that Becky is a wench from Chuck’s past. The band hashed out some basic cords to Happy Birthday and countrified it. It turns out that there were two birthday girls in the audience (Tanya Beck and Kara) and this was repeated again.

The crowd by the end of the night is a decent size, but definitely at the bar to talk amongst themselves than to listen to a band. The band more or less entertained themselves. The mistakes were still present (better than the night before), but covered well.

We got paid $700 and an extra $100 for the cancellation of Sunday’s gig. We paid Chuck $40 for running sound. The band is approached to play next month, and Kevin decides to play “Hard to Get” and tell the owner that we need to check the schedule.

The weekend wasn’t bad. It’s hard physically to do, but its paying the bills. We now have around a month to get ready for the next appearance. I hope the band can focus on their vision, work on some new tunes, add some vocals, and become the band we are potentially able to be.