Here comes the rain – gig story from Eric Hochberg
Here’s the next “worst gig ever” submission in our series, this time from double bassist Eric Hochberg. Eric is located here in metro Chicago and has contributed several times to doublebassblog.org in the past (as well as being a part of the quite successful 2010 Chicago Bass Festival).
This story is the latest submission for the Upton bass pickup raffle. If you’d like to be a contestant in the raffle, just email me your worst gig story (either personal or second-hand is fine) by March 15. You can send them to jasonheath -at- doublebassblog.org.
Gig Story from Eric Hochberg
My band was scheduled to play at a private residence in Glencoe, IL (tony Chicago suburb) for a reception on a Saturday afternoon. It was a beautiful summer day when we arrived at the house. When I enquired where we would be setting up, I was told by the boat dock. When I asked where the boat dock was, I was directed to a tram that went up and down a ravine from the dock on Lake Michigan to the residence. Ok, pretty weird, I thought, but manageable. So, my bandmates and I made a few trips getting our equipment down to the lake on the tram. When we got there I realized there was no covering for us to play under, ( a usual requirement for outdoor gigs), but being a sunny clear day, I thought nothing of it and we set up.
The guests started to arrive and we began playing. By the middle of our second tune I see a bit of blackness over the water out in the distance and for the next five minutes or so it gets blacker and closer. I’m getting a little worried at this point, but we keep playing, until you guessed it, we’re in the middle of a thunderstorm. Naturally, the guests were all rushing to the tram and stairs to get back up to the house. We were stuck on the deck, out in the open with no cover and all of our gear. I noticed a small shed that I opened and found a nasty old tarp in, so, we gathered our instruments and sound equipment in a pile and covered them along with our tuxedo clad selves under that funky tarp (complete with dirt, spider webs and leaking holes) until the rain stopped about 20 minutes later. What a damn mess!
We made it back up the ravine, packed up our cars and when our employer came out to say that she would like us to meet them at a restaurant in town to continue the “party”, I told them our equipment was more than likely damaged by the rain and we wouldn’t be able to make it… I guess she didn’t notice our rain soaked tuxes, either!
Eric Hochberg
www.erichochberg.com
Crazy Nights – Guy Tuneh
Here are some new lyrics to “Crazy Nights” by Kiss written by a reader (“Jacko”) about double bassist Guy Tuneh. I thought that those who tune into the blog to check out posts about Guy would enjoy this:
Ciao – I took a “Kiss” song (Crazy Nights) and made my own version:
“(Whoow! Here’s a little story for everybody out there)
People try to take Guy’s soul away, but He doesn’t hear the rap that they all say,
They try to tell him he doesn’t belong, that’s alright, he’s millions strong
This is his music, it makes him proud, this is his Bass and you are his crowdThese are crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy people
These are crazy, crazy, crazy, crazySometimes Bassists are so hard to survive, oh yeah, a million ways to bury you alive, but when Bass go down like a bad bad dream
Guy wound up tight, gotta let off steam
They think they can break Guy again and again, if life is bass-playing, than Guy’s much above!!!These are crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy people
These are crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy…Yeah, and nobody’s gonna change him, ‘cos that’s who He is, huh!
These are crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy prople
These are crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy bassists..”Maestro, this song is for you and I wish you to know: YOU ARE THE BEST, after you ALL of them are looking like Students!
Snap! – gig story from Brayden Wise
Here’s a painfully great gig story from Brayden Wise, the bassist for the Central Band of the Canadian Forces. It’s the first submission I’m putting out in conjunction with the raffle for a free Upton bass pickup. If you’d like to be a contestant in the raffle, just email me your worst gig story (personal or heard second-hand) by March 15. You can send them to jasonheath -at- doublebassblog.org.
Gig Story from Brayden Wise
When I lived in Vancouver, I played with the Pacific Symphonic Wind Ensemble (http://www.pswe.ca) under the direction of Marc Crompton. One of the things I loved about playing with PSWE was that we always got to play some really bleeding-edge wind band music. Sure, we did the classics — Grainger, Claude T. Smith, etc, but we also got a chance to have at stuff by guys like Adam Gorb and Fred Stride, and play wind band (and chamber-winds) adaptations of Zappa, and so on.
This particular show in question featured a tune by Robert Jager called “A Sea of Glass Mingled With Fire”, which was originally a commission for the Tacoma Concert Band. The second movement of this tune is quite peaceful and pastoral, unlike the bookending movements which are a little more on the “fire” side of the title. In any case…
I was just out of college at the time, working a low-paying job in a high-rent city, and couldn’t afford great gear, but the stuff I had sounded wonderful, and worked for me. The bass I was playing that night was a Chinese plywood bass (I can hear the groans already!) which was seemingly made out of balsa wood and put together with Elmer’s glue. Despite its (many) shortcomings, it had an amazing sound to it, and was ridiculously easy to play. That is, until the quietest part of the aforementioned piece.
The score was down to just a few players, and they were all at the low end of the dynamic spectrum, when this earth-splitting cracking noise came from my bass.
This cracking noise was followed in quick succession with the sound of wood clattering on the stage.
I looked down, and wouldn’t you know it, my tailpiece wire had snapped and my bridge had fallen onto the floor.
My bass had basically gutted itself onstage at the LEAST opportune moment.
Panic gripped me quickly as I realized that we were only coming up to intermission and I was now bass-less. Irrational (and terrifying) thoughts of my soundpost falling over started to enter my mind, so I laid my bass on its back and hoped for the best. Mercifully, the third movement of “A Sea of Glass…” is played on Electric Bass, so I calmed my nerves, strapped on the electric, and played the end of the half.
At the start of intermission, my friend Roy Sluyter (a fantastic Vancouver-based jazz pianist and recording engineer) comes bounding down the aisles and just says “Get your keys — let’s go”.
We jump into my car and split from the theatre. Now, I have to fill you in on Vancouver geography. The show was being held at the Evergreen Cultural Centre in Coquitlam. Roy lived in Port Moody — about a 15-minute drive away. Now, especially as a father, I don’t condone driving like this, but Roy and I managed to drive from the ECC to his house in PoMo, get the double bass that just *happened* to be sitting in his living room, jam it into my hatchback, and get back to the ECC in time to tune up and play the second half of the show.
It was through this experience that I got acquainted with Gerard Samija, who became my luthier of choice for the rest of my time in Vancouver. Gerard did a wonderful job of rehabilitating my instrument and it’s still working well for me to this day.
Brayden Wise
Bassist – The Central Band of the Canadian Forces
Ottawa, Ontario
http://www.braydenwise.com
Twitter @braydenwise
Snow-klahoma
Madeleine Crouch from the International Society of Bassists sent out this fun song written by fellow board member John Schimek about all the snow that has been bizarrely pummeling Oklahoma. As a Chicago resident, I can’t help but feel a sense of smug satisfaction at seeing states like Texas and Oklahoma get all the weather we usually get up here in Illinois while sitting high and dry under sunny skies and experiencing a relatively snow-free winter!
Madeleine writes:
John Schimek, an ISB board member who lives in Oklahoma
City, is tired of being battered repeatedly by snow and ice storms this
year and has written new lyrics to the old Broadway hit. I’ve always
said, “There’s no business like snow business!”
John’s song:
SNOW……..klahoma
Where the cold front’s sweepin’ down the plain;
And the piles of sleet beneath your feet
Follow right behind the freezing rain.SNOW……..klahoma
Ev’ry night my honey lamb and I
Travel home from work and hope some jerk
Doesn’t wreak our car in passing by.We know we belong to the land
But it could use some more salt and sandThat’s why we say……WHOA!
We’re sliding the other way……YIKES!
We’re only sayin’ “You’re slick as snot SNOWklahoma.”
SNOWklahoma
SNOW-K-L-A-H-O-M-A
SNOWklahoma, SNOW-K!!!
Hawkes bass for sale
Hawkes basses are a thing to behold if you haven’t had the pleasure before. Here’s one for sale from Jena Huebner. Interested? Email her: jenabass -at- aol.com.
About the bass (from Jena):
I need to sell my Hawkes, which I have had for (gasp) 20 years. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the bass, it is a French (I’m told) copy of a Panormo, made around 1900. It has 42 1/2 inch string length and a Mario LaMarre extension. It is definitely one of the best sounding and playing Hawkes I’ve seen. I’m asking $36,000.
Looks good, eh?
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