Playing Out – All Day and Most of the Night

We usually complain for not getting invited to play more often. It seems there are so many bands available that it’s getting difficult to get a spot on a stage. And then only very few attend the concerts.
However, Saturday Sept. 20th was quite a day for us. We got booked to play two shows on the same day, and in both places the audience was numerous and friendly.

Mira Mesa Fair
We started early, rented a van, loaded the instruments, drove to Mira Mesa Fair, unloaded, waited for our turn, arranged the instruments on the stage and played for 45 minutes our set: “Short History of Rock” presentation, in which we have included at the end four of our own songs. People cheered, mostly for the early rock pieces, they didn’t seem to like our compositions too much – no problem.
The songs we have played:
– Vikings
– Walk Don’t Run (Ventures)
– Talking about You (Chuck Berry)
– Leave My Kitten Alone (Little Willie John)

 
– From Me To You (Beatles)
– There’s a Place (Beatles)
– Purple Haze (Hendrix)
– 7 Nations Army (White Stripes)
– Treasure Underground (CMB)

 
– Charts (CMB)
– IceScream (CMB)

 
– LifeGuard (CMB)
– Du Riechst (Rammstein)

USACD Convention
Then quickly put the instruments back in the van – not an easy job, it was lunch time and a hot day – then drove under stress for 3 hours towards eastern California, to a resort near Palm Springs, not far from Mojave desert (105 F degrees in the evening).
We’ve been invited to play there at the Convention of US AC Distributors.
Unload the instruments (now it was even hotter) take them to the elevator and up to a terrace – thanks so much for the help from Georges and some of the guests – then set up the instruments, prepare our own little unprofessional PA system for vocals and do a quick sound test with Purple Haze. Everything in a rush, to make sure we get ready in time.

Ten minutes later, the guests arrived in quite a large number, more than a hundred, for the cocktail party, and we started the show – a smaller version of the rock history:
– Walk Don’t Run (Ventures)
– Talking about You (Chuck Berry)
– Leave My Kitten Alone (Little Willie John)

 
– Purple Haze (Hendrix)

 
– Robots (Kraftwerk)
– 7 Nations Army (White Stripes)
– Medieval Song – Mohrentanz (Susato)
– LifeGuard (CMB)

 

Then the audience requested an encore. We played Du Riechst So Gut.
The sound on most of our recordings is not too good. Besides the cheap instruments, we don’t have good recording tools, no experience, no patience and no time to do it professionally.
But CMB is a great young band, at least they can entertain people live. Here is the proof:

 

A sumptuous dinner followed, and the best part – free ice cream, unlimited!
Well, everything has a limit, so at some point we had to leave.
Then we took all the instruments downstairs (thanks again to several guests for all their help), loaded the van and drove back to San Diego.

This return trip was supposed to take about 3 hours, but it took 6, because of a terrible highway jam on I-15. At that late hour, for some unknown reasons, thousands of cars were stuck for miles, barely moving. That wasn’t funny…

Finally, we have arrived home at almost 3 AM in the morning, exhausted, but happy that all ended well and we got to play the two shows successfully.
We even got paid for the second show, but after paying for the rented van and for fixing our iPad screen, cracked when a drum fell on it, we ended up with a bit of a loss after all.
Anyway, that was a great day for our young ‘indie’ band!
       
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