Show Journal 2003-01-04
My god … where do I start on this one? Initially we were supposed to be headlining an all day 9 band show in Creswell, OR. We ended up playing in Springfield at someone’s house for 10 people. How you ask? I’m not quite sure but here’s my account of the story. I woke up to an e-mail from the promoter of the show asking me to call him. He informed me that 3 of the bands cancelled, more specifically the 3 bands that I most wanted to see. I would have cancelled us too, but the guy jumped through some hoops and ladders to get us the show and in a good time slot. Anyway … Justin had to work today so we sent Dave and Dan to the show early with the van and the gear while Justin and I drove separately. We got out of town around 4:30 and got a call from Dave. I asked how the show was going and Dave responded with one word … “terrible”. He went on to inform me that there were maybe 12 people there at most and half of them were parents. The show was in a gymnasium and the vocals were running through the overhead PA. Not a real sound system but those little 6″ white circular speakers you see in schools and office buildings. The sound quality was somewhere in between a blown out dashboard speaker and a hissing snake. To make matters worse 3 more bands cancelled!!! Six bands cancelled the show!!! Despite all logic the guy running the show had the bands play as they got there. So there was a band, a gap, another band and another indefinite gap until another band (us) showed up. Not a good plan for anyone involved. By the time we got to Salem we checked in with Dave again and apparently there was only 2 people remaining. They were about ready to pack it up and come home early (we were still an hour away) then someone at the show says “hey, if we can find a PA would you want to play at my house instead?” To make a long story short that’s exactly what we ended up doing. Dave, Dan and the local Eugene crew found a PA, gathered up some friends and we all met up at Jaron’s house to play some songs. Jaron’s band played a few songs (quite well I might add) and then we played a few songs until the neighbors threatened to call the cops. Nothing quite as satisfying as hearing the phone ring in between songs and the caller ID says it’s your impatient, annoying, elderly neighbor. At one point Jaron answered and asked that she doesn’t call the cops because we were almost done. 2 minutes later … ring, ring. (On a side note … how bad could it be to hear music from next door for maybe 25 minutes? Christ, it’s early on a Saturday night … mind your own business. Turn on the TV, listen to the radio, have a conversation, do something constructive other than sitting around looking for a reason to bitch at your neighbors.) We had to call it quits after 6 songs but I guess that’s ok. We played all of Crozz’s requests so that’s good enough for us. Playing tonight was so-so but I think we had the most fun just hanging out waiting to play. We had pizza, we quoted ‘Office Space’, we discussing kids urinating in public and we watching Justin belch into an unplugged microphone. Making the show happen was the real achievement tonight, not the actual performance. Anyway, big thanks to everyone who helped to save us from wasting 4 hours at that damn Creswell show. It actually ended being a pretty fun evening!
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