Rotation velocity: .2893 mps.
Revolution velocity: 18.5168 mps.
Solar System velocity: about 12 mps through the galaxy.
And just where are we going?
Lambda
Herculis!
GigLog 6
They give us, like, no information. Load equipment in through
a small stage
door, set up center, and look through music we will have to play later. This night
they were only cues (play
ons and offs). The cues were
numbered, no song titles.
We started playing standard songs promptly at 7:30 as
hundreds of formally dressed guests entered the room for dinner. Within moments we
started playing easy
listening jazz standards and dinner was served. An hour later, after a short break, the conductor looked up
and simply said, “I’ll need a drum roll and it will be right into cue
one.” He put a headset on and a
moment later pointed right to me.
Without a hesitation I slammed my biggest tom-tom and played a dramatic
roll. A voice announced, “Ladies
and gentlemen Ms. Oprah Winfrey!”
We went right into the cue and I looked up with a pleasant surprise as
she acknowledged the band.
Oprah addressed the audience telling of her experience
filming The Color Purple and working with the great Steven Spielberg. Immediately
at the end of her brief
speech a multi-media presentation of samples of Spielberg’s greatest work
appeared on two big screens in the room.
As the presentation was rolling the conductor stood and held up two
fingers meaning we were going to play the second cue. At the presentation’s end Oprah simply said, “Lady and
gentlemen, Steven Spielberg.” The
band started playing and again I couldn’t believe my eyes.
Steven emerged from the middle of the room as the crowd went
nuts with a standing ovation. He
came to the stage, embraced Oprah and stood center for what seemed to be
minutes and waited as the applause subsided. In silence he looked up at the big screens, which still held
his image, and said, “This is one of my life’s biggest fears… That
I would have to follow… [he paused
and looked up at a screen] well… ME!”
The crowd laughed and Kate Capshaw yelled from the middle of
the room, “I can’t believe you used that line!” The crowd roared.
After a short acceptance speech for whatever the award was, the band
played cue three and within minutes everybody the room was empty and the gig
was over.
Not too long ago, in a CBS sound stage, I was playing for a
fundraiser when a gentleman walked on stage to make a few announcements. I said to
the bass player, Jeff Steele,
“He looks like Andy Garcia.”
Jeff looked at me and said, “That’s because it is Andy
Garcia!”
I said, “ Great, let’s get him to play a couple of numbers
with the band.”
Jeff said, “He’s an actor.”
I replied, “He’s not an actor, he’s a musician! I saw him on
a Cachao video.” We argued about
what Andy really does and dropped it.
Andy did not play with the band that night.
A few weeks later I was playing at Hollywood’s Roosevelt
Hotel and saw a star on the sidewalk that read ANDY GARCIA! I thought, “Holy
smoke he is an
actor!” The next day I went out
and rented an Andy Garcia DVD (about Garcia Lorca) and reviewed the Cachao
video. My level of respect for
both Garcia and Cachao skyrocketed!
"Cachao is our musical father. He is revered by all who
have come in contact with him and his music," Garcia said in a statement
about the late Israel Lopez. "Maestro ... you have been my teacher, and
you took me in like a son. So I will continue to rejoice with your music and
carry our traditions wherever I go, in your honor."
As a follower of those musical traditions I can’t help but
feel related to these gentlemen in small way... and see the Cachao video!
Usually what you see on stage is not a performer blowing out
everything he or she has but just a fraction of their talent. In the case of John
Fogerty… a mere
fraction. Working with John was
one of the greatest privileges of my career. I only did a few gigs in town and a couple sessions with
him, but in that time I learned a lot about what kind of musician he really is.
John’s time is flawless. At rehearsals I studied his strumming intensely and found
amazing consistency in his rhythmical articulation as his pick made its way
across all six strings. During run-throughs, performances and recordings I did
my best to lock in with John’s playing and soul. As we listened to playbacks what I heard was almost like a
cosmic machine, perhaps too much like a machine; nevertheless, the most
cohesive drum and guitar experience I have ever had.
As for the gigs I did with him, I approached the music from
the folk angle even though we were rockin’. It seems natural for me to take that approach so that I
wouldn’t miss a single hammer-on or pull-off. During the shows John played a variety of guitars, including
dobro, and my desire was to blend with whatever instrument he was playing. He could
bring the house down just by
being John, but I’m telling you in regard to the sum of his talent… he is a
world-class player and a pleasure to work with.
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I believe the main task of the spirit is to free man from his ego. Einstein 9/14/48
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GigLog 8 Back
in 1977 I did my first European tour with the group
Gentle Faith and our first gig was at the Royal Albert Hall. On the way to our first
meeting with
the British team I told the driver that, “I was excited about playing at
Albert’s hall.”
He got very perturbed and replied angrily, “You can’t call
it that! IT”S THE ROYAL ALBERT
HALL!!!”
“Didn’t Queen
Victoria build for her husband Albert?” I asked, “Well, then it really is
Albert’s hall.” The driver mumbled
something. I continued, “I suppose
you don’t refer to the Queen as Liz either.”
The driver looked at our manager and said, “You see, this is
what ‘taxation without representation’ leads to!”
GigLog 7
I have no idea how many wedding receptions I’ve played,
perhaps well over a thousand. Two
memorable happy events went as follows…
Playing wedding receptions includes announcing the events of
the day, like the grand entrance, the first dance, the garter and bouquet toss,
the cutting of the cake and whatever else the honored couple would like. During these
events the band is
required to play appropriate music. Well, many times these events are wonderful
and are conducted in a loving way; but now and again… it’s a nightmare!
On one occasion, during the cutting of the cake, the bride
playfully smeared a bit of cake around the groom’s lips. It was so cute so I
gave a little drum
roll and soft cymbal splash. The
groom did not respond… he reacted by dipping his hand in the cake and pulling
out a very large handful of cake and frosting. As he turned toward his new bride she began to run. He pursued and chased
her around every
table in the room. The crowd
seemed delighted so I embellished the event with drum-rolls, rim shots and
cymbal crashes.
The groom finally caught up with his bride when she tripped
and fell face first onto the dance floor.
Her new husband jumped on her, pinned her down and began rubbing cake in
her face, hair and took whatever he had left and smeared it all over her
dress. She, and rightly, began to
cry hysterically. Everyone in the
room was in shock. The lead singer
went to the microphone and announced, “Well, that’s a little hard to follow so
we’ll be taking a break now.”
Guests began leaving at once and the gig was over.
Over the years I’ve seen many things go askew and in most
situations couples handle the glitches with grace. But I have seen plenty of yelling and a fistfight or two
along the way. One night a drunken
Maid of Honor began yelling at the band because we didn’t play her favorite
song long enough. As she was
screaming up at the stage and took a step forward, but her date was standing on
her dress. Her dress tore
completely off but she didn’t notice as she continued her tirade. Finally, with
a few hundred people
looking on, she looked at her condition, turned to her date and snipped, “So
what!” and went storming off without her dress. “Well,” I said, “couldn’t happen to a nicer person.”
I was getting ready to leave the house to go golfing when
the phone rang. “Paul,” the voice
said, “its Swifty. How are your
symphony chops? I need someone
tonight!” I told Tim that most
musicians don’t sight-read symphonic music and that it needs to be rehearsed
unless its part of the musician’s repertoire. I told him I had experience with many classics and asked him
what the pieces were. He replied,
“It’s for Judy Collins.”
“Judy Collins?
The folk singer?”
“Yeah. We just
finished rehearsing and she let the drummer go.”
“Judy Collins the folk singer?” I asked again totally puzzled.
“Yes,” Tim said, “She’s with the Orange County Symphony
tonight.”
“If its Judy Collins the folk singer no problem, count me
in; where shall I go?”
“Come down and set-up at UCI and we’ll go to the hotel to
meet with her music director.”
I went down, and was set up within the hour. We then went to
Judy’s hotel and had a twenty-minute meeting with Judy’s music director. We
talked over each piece of music,
went to dinner and then performed a flawless show. The first song was Both Sides Now and in the middle of the
tune Judy gave me a nod of approval.
I had an incredible experience sitting in the middle of a symphony
orchestra playing Judy’s music and I never even got to say “Hi and Goodbye.”
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| Minnie and Roy |
The first time I played the Grand Ole Opry it was with Pat
and Debbie Boone. Right before our
sound-check the band got a tour of the venue. I was really taken in by all of the memorabilia and loved
looking at the photos of all the old-time country stars. On our walk through the new
Opry I
noticed a star fixed to a dressing room door; it read Roy Acuff. I looked at our manager,
who was from
Kentucky, and asked, “Who’s Roy Acuff?”
I was immediately shuffled off like I was being arrested for
some federal offence and given a quick lesson on the “King of Country
Music.” The name didn’t mean
much to me but I was very familiar with his song The Wabash Cannonball, and
didn’t know that Roy recorded the first version of The House of the Rising Sun
in 1938.
My dad always tuned the radio into the Sunday rebroadcast of
The Grand Ole Opry. The sound of
Minnie Pearl’s “Howdeey!” was etched in my mind but somehow the name Roy
Acuff eluded me… but I know it
now!
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| Thanks For the Memories |
Being a sideman is not the easiest way to earn a living
though I was blessed working up to 40 dates a month. One night after setting up for a show with Ellis Hall I went
to the bar, ordered a gin and tonic and began telling myself, as I had for
several month before, that I needed to retire from the sideman gigs. As I sat at the
bar I looked up and saw
a Bob Hope video on the screen and noticed that I knew every musician in the
band that was backing him. My
first thought was, “Wow, how did those guys land that gig?”
As the camera panned Bob and the band, I noticed that it was
me on drums! I felt horrible that
I could not remember how blessed I really was. I thought, “Man, if I couldn’t remember this, how much of my
family have I missed chasing 40 dates a month.” I just bowed my head and thanked GOD for the amazing musical
career that I lived and decided at that moment that I would take the necessary
steps to retire.
I still gig… I still work like a fool… but the nature of
what I do has changed.
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