FASHION SHOW #2
(Originally posted on the website Heron Flight)
I kind of look like the guitarist in U2 in this shot.
What is his name?
Slash?
No… wrong band, wrong hat.
The Edge! That’s him!
(Tune in tomorrow for pose #3!)
Manville Street Fair
(Originally posted on the website Heron Flight)
There was a street fair in Manville today.
Vendors of high calorie foods.
Hawkers of trinkets.
Semi-talented musicians.
It seriously was a nice event. Main Street was blocked off starting at our street and south for several blocks. The weather was warm, blue and bright. The people were happy.
On September 11, a date that has forced tragic memories upon the American mind, it was peaceful, even healing, to eat zeppoles and listen to music in the sunshine.
HAPPY ALICE COOPER DAY!
(Originally posted on the website Heron Flight)
Here I sit. Again working through lunch. A corporate slave. A cube monkey. A cog in the wheel.
Little does “the man” know that soon I will be rocking with Alice Cooper! It’s only a matter of hours and I will be on the lawn at PNC Arts Center with music blasting into my ears. Let there be lights! Let there be drums! Let there be guitars! Let there be snakes, straight jackets and blood! Let there be Alice!
I hear there is a Paris Hilton parody in Alice’s stage show. She is attacked by her little dog. Then Alice kills the dog. In his radio interview he warned people with front row tickets to not wear good clothes to the show as the blood tends to fly into the audience.
Won’t this be a good relief to my work day tension!
GARAGE BAND
(Originally posted on the website Heron Flight)
Yesterday I had an opportunity to play drums at a party with my good buddy Landon. It was a rather informal affair. Some friends of Lanny’s friends were having a party and asked if he would play. He had played the week before with some other guys at another party. This weekend the drummer couldn’t make it. So, despite being sick, I said I would join them.
Arissa and Joel came with me. It’s was a bit awkward for all of us. We didn’t know anyone other than Landon. Even though people invited us to eat, we felt too strange to do so. We felt very much like outsiders. Although, Landon’s friend Melissa made us feel very welcome.
When we arrived we were told that we would be playing under the deck on the patio behind the house. The top of the deck had been covered with a tarp as the sky was threatening rain. We were nearly set up when it started to rain and we realized that we were still going to get wet. So, we moved into the garage, which turned out to be more spacious than the patio.
We were expecting to be a three piece band with myself on drums, Landon on guitar and a guy named Dan on bass. We were happily joined by Melissa’s brother Chris on percussion. This was the first time I played in a band that had someone on percussion. And he was fantastic! Later in the evening we were joined by Alan on keyboard and trumpet.
Sometimes these playing arrangements cause me a lot of anxiety. There was a long, 18 year gap in my playing experience from the time Joel was born in 1984 until just a few years ago. Therefore, the number of songs I know is somewhat limited. I have been in open mic situations over the past few years in which someone calls out a song, the rest of the band launches into it and I find myself stumbling to catch. I’m a quick learner and good at improvising. But it is rather disconcerting when other guys in the band turn around and just shake their heads. One night I actually had a singer yell at me on stage! I was playing songs I never heard of that night, songs that were in styles that I hadn’t had much experience playing before. This guy was actually angry at me. When he wasn’t yelling he was glaring at me. He acted like we were playing Madison Square Garden. The truth was there were only five people in a tiny room watching us that night.
It quickly became apparent that no one was of the mindset to yell at anyone last night. Everyone was friendly and casual. We laughed at ourselves many times through the night. It’s not so easy to go through a song which only one out of four guys knows and get everything exactly right. We had a few very humorous song endings. Once I didn’t realize that everyone else had stopped and I played on for an extra measure. A few times Landon and Dan couldn’t remember lyrics in the middle of a song. But overall we did a great job, had a lot of fun, and received many compliments from the people watching us.
We played songs from many different bands: Allman Brothers, AC/DC, Sublime, Bob Marley, Tom Petty, Steve Miller, Lynyrd Skynyrd and more. There was a big interest in reggae among the crowd. Though not my forte, I soon caught on and had lots of fun with it. Although, I did mess up in parts of “I Shot the Sheriff” until I finally got it right half way through the song.
We ended up playing until 10 PM or so. All the while there were lots of people drinking beer, playing beer pong and knocking over cups of beer as they tried to make their way around the band to get to the bathroom. Beer and electrical wires do not mingle well. But everyone who needed to make it the bathroom managed to without anyone in the band getting electrocuted.
It was a good time all in all, though rather boring for Arissa and Joel since they didn’t know anyone. The band sounded good. We were happy. The audience was happy. And Melissa sent us all home with hugs.
We never did find out what the occasion for the party was. I guess these people just needed to hear us play!
GO ASK ALICE
(Originally posted on the website Heron Flight)
I’m still sick and there is nothing significant to report today.
So, I’ll tell you about something significant that happened last week.
Late Wednesday night, I got the chance to speak to…
That’s right! Alice Cooper!
Arissa and I were driving home from the Collective Soul concert in Red Bank. We turned on the radio and heard Alice on Rock Line, a live show. They were taking calls from people who wanted to talk to Alice. We were nearly home when they finally gave the phone number to call. After many tries, we were able to get through.
“Hello, this is Rock Line. Who would you like to speak to tonight?” asked the woman who answered.
“Who to I friggin’ want to talk to??? Alice of course!” I thought.
“Uh… Alice Cooper, please,” I said.
“Sure what would you like to ask Alice?”
“Well,” I started, “the very first rock album I ever bought was Alice’s record School’s Out. I was twelve years old. It was 1975. I just wanted to tell him that and let him know what an influence he was on me.”
“I’m sorry, sir. You have to ask a question for us to let you on the air with Alice. Can you think of a question?”
My mind went blank! I wasn’t prepared with a question! I didn’t know that was the rule!
“Give me a second! Hold on! Let me think!”
I was afraid she was going to hang up on me.
“Uh… uh…”
“Anything you can think of to ask, sir?”
“Uh… well… I know that Alice was somehow connected with Frank Zappa in his early days. How about if I ask him something about that?”
To my relief, she replied, “Okay. How about if you phrase the question like this. ‘What was your relationship with Frank Zappa in the 1970s and do you still keep in touch with the Zappa family?’”
“Can I still tell him that the first record I bought was his?”
“Sure!”
She told me to hold on the line until someone else directing the show came on and gave me instructions.
Eventually, a man came on the line. He screened my question and then gave me the instructions.
“When the host says, ‘Now let’s go to Sam in Manville,’ you say, ‘Hi,’ and immediately ask your question. Nothing else! Just the question!”
Yeah, right!
By this time we had arrived home. Due to the time delay in the radio broadcast, I couldn’t be near the radio while talking on the phone. So, I stood in the driveway with the cell phone while Arissa sat in the car and listened to the show. It felt like it took forever. Every now and then the man came on the line and told me I was coming up soon.
Finally, I heard the show on the line and heard the host say, “Now let’s go to Sam in Manville, NJ. Sam, you’re on the air with Alice Cooper.”
“Holy crap!” I thought.
But I nervously managed to say, “Hey, Alice! It’s an honor to speak with you!”
Alice said, “Oh, thank you!”
Did I go straight to my question? Nope!
“I wanted to let you know that the very first rock album I ever bought was School’s Out when I was 12 years old in 1975. I’ve been your biggest fan ever since!”
Alice again, “Oh, thank you for your kind words.”
“Okay, here’s my question… blah… blah… blah…”
Alice responded to the question. He told how his band came to Los Angeles in the late 1960s from Phoenix. They were the weirdest band anyone had ever seen. No record company wanted to produce their album. But Frank heard them and said, “You guys are weird! My band, the Mothers of Invention, play some weird stuff. But I don’t think I could even teach them how to play what you play. I will produce your record!”
I knew the general story behind that already. I knew that Frank helped him get started. I even knew that at one of Alice’s earliest shows the crowd hated the band so much that they walked out and only Frank and a few friends of the band were left. All I wanted was a chance to get on the air and pay my respects to the Coop!
And look what I have! A ticket to see Alice with Cheap Trick on Monday night! Oh yeah!
