Halloween marked The Rubber Band’s 3rd time playing on Alacran. It was all good until the rain set in – well, until the rain set in and our drummer, Colin, cut his finger open on his cymbal. We lasted four songs. Fortunately, Dencity, the middle schooler band that opened for us, fared better.
It was ( supposedly ) the first time it has rained on Halloween in San Diego in 29 years. I remember last time, too.
I guess my rendition of “The Werewolves of Westwood” will have to wait until next year….
Jodie and I as Kermit and Miss Piggy.
In other music-kinda-related news I’ve been playing at the Poway Unified District Office and Adult School campuses. Just my guitar, me, and whoever happens to be out and about at lunch time. Usually it’s just a couple people. The most I’ve had listening was about 10-15. I usually run through a few covers and sneak in a few originals. The cool thing is? I get smiles, some applause, and – get this – “thank you’s”. I always respond by telling them that I’m the one that she be thanking them. Next stop. Parks, I guess.…
The Rubber Band played at Rancho BEERnardo again. The Sunshine Rotary Club hosts it annually and invited us back – this time as the sole headliners for the 5-hour event. We prepared roughly four hours of songs spread across as many sets.
It was hot….not as humid as our last show at the Westwood Club, but well over a hundred degrees. I think it put a damper on the festivities, but we powered through and the crowd seemed to enjoy us. Not bad for a bunch of middle-aged Dads.
We have one more show coming up before we pack it in for the holidays – our annual Halloween block party. More on that soon!
The Labor Day show was a learning experience. We played on the hottest day of the year. I clocked 102 and 80% humidity at one point. The equipment started overheating almost immediately. First, the iPads stopped responding to touch. Next, the router overheated and gave out, making it impossible to connect. We ended up bringing in fans and ice packs to cool everything down, but the condensation made everything worse as water spilled out onto Aaron’s keyboard.
So, yeah. Brutal.
But, rumor has it? We sounded great. I mean – sure, maybe everyone was delirious from the heat, but after we killed the mains I had a handful of people come up to me and want to talk.
One handed me a twenty. “A tip”, he said.
The other really wanted to play with us, or at least know how to start his own band.
How to start a band … ?
“I don’t really know what to tell you,” I replied. “There’s a bit of magic involved in getting six guys with competing responsibilities together once a week.”
I’m always a little amazed when it all comes together – even for a weekly rehearsal. I’m also a little amazed that people come to me asking, “How?” Like I’m some professional musician or something. At best, I’m the most average at everything that ever walked the stage.
“Look”, I told him.
“Find one person to play with. Just one.”, I said, “You don’t have to be good. You just gotta’ show up.”
Told I was horrible when I started. Shawn, too. We both started playing together 5 years ago as I was winding down cancer treatment. I played three chords and he played drums back then – poorly.
“You have friends you used to play with, right?”, I asked, recalling what he had told me.
He nodded.
“My guess is they are just like you. They have kids, jobs, responsibilities….and they are probably looking for an outlet, too”, I said.
“So find one”, I encouraged, “Not four. Not five. Not a band – just one. If you grow too fast it’ll all fall apart.”
“And play together and try to play out”, I suggested, “because it’ll motivate you to keep doing it – even if it is just an open mic.”
He nodded and smiled.
“And get in touch with me in two months, because I want to hear how you’re doing.”, I ended.
I kinda’ hope to hear from him again.
Special thanks to “Spoiled Bananas” and “Dencity” for opening for us. Kenn, our lead singer, invited the Bananas, a 6th Grade rock band. “Dencity” has opened for us before at last years’ Halloween show. The drummer, Benji, is the son of our multi-talented guitarist/keybaordist, Aaron.
Ash and I joined a couple of friends to see “Brit Floyd”, a Pink Floyd cover band at SDSU. They were absolutely amazing.
One of my favorite albums of all time is their “Pulse” album ( 1994 ), a live recording from one of their concerts. It was unique in that they decided to mount a pulsing red LED in the case. That light blinked throughout my 4ish years of college and got a lot of play time.
Damn! Missed my self-imposed “Hump”-day comic deadline. I’ve been busy working on a new song, a Rubber Band Flyer, covers, and ….. BOOM … picking up the family at the border after a weeklong jaunt in Cabo.
I’ll give you one guess where we stopped off immediately after crossing the border – and it ain’t McDonalds.
I’ve been trying to publish a weekly comic every Wednesday. There’s nothing like breathing down your own neck to meet a self-imposed arbitrary deadline, right?
I used to love the dailies back when newspapers ( and comics ? ) were a thing. I have no idea how “they” did it back then. My favorites were Calvin and Hobbes, Far Side, Bloom County, Fox Trot, Garfield, and ( of course ) Peanuts. What were yours?
Live life. Stay healthy. Set a self-imposed deadline.
