Suntana's Blog Trek

One of my loyal readers made a Special Request … placed an order at my Blog's Drive-Thru Window for more Musicians' Adventures Stories. I was originally going to write about another topic. But, then I closed my eyes, sat back, engaged in a quick thought and realized that this one Musicians' Adventure was virtually already written in my head. It was already just about like pancake batter whipped up and ready to be poured into the hot pan. So, I thought, "Ehhh, what the heck? Let's get that pancake ah cookin' and served up!"

Every musician has to at some point have had a 1st Gig. And Man Oh Man … did our 1st little Band way back when, have quite an entertaining sequence of developments before destiny finally allowed us to wind up at our 1st Gig. There was my cousin on Bass … a friend, whom I shall call Eddie, on Drums … and me on Guitar at that time. That was before I taught myself Organ / Keyboard later on. All 3 of us were in the 8th Grade. My older brother, also on Guitar & Vocals was a Sophomore in High School. We had already played at a couple of Parties in our small town. But, I guess you could say that we had NOT yet had an Official Gig because we had never been PAID. We were stuck in an awkward situation. When they'd ask us to play at these little Parties for people we knew, we'd never ask how much they were going to pay us … and they'd never ask us how much we charged. They somehow just assumed that since we were these Beginner Musicians, that we couldn't possibly CHARGE or want Money. They probably figured they were doing us a favor by letting us get experience or something. And we'd stupidly play for FREE! We WERE starting to get Pissed at how they were taking advantage of us. Hold on to this thought for now.

There was going to be this Talent Show at the FFA (Future Farmers of America) District Convention. Unfortunately, that FFA is a High School Club. With only my brother being in High School and the rest of us being in the 8th Grade, our Band couldn't compete. So, my brother got together with these other 3 High School guys and formed a temporary Rag Tag Band, learning about 3 songs. I remember one of the songs was Wipe Out. They went to the Talent Show. I believe they somehow came in 2nd Place, which is good considering that as my brother said, their Bass Player was faking it. Yeah, just like The Beatles' original Bassist. It wasn't by design. I believe my brother said the Bassist just panicked or something and took it upon himself to turn the volume down and fake it. Anyway, they actually received a 2nd Place Prize, some little amount of money. With this Prize Money, they bought this CCR (Creedence Clearwater Revival) songbook. They were supposed to take turns sharing the songbook.

Let me point out that the Rhythm Guitar Player for that temporary Rag Tag Band was Eddie's older brother. At some point, apparently the dude started hogging the CCR songbook and didn't want to share it with the others. With this in mind, from here on, I'll refer to Eddie's older brother as Hogger. My brother finally got seriously Pissed and went, "That's it! I have had it with those 2 Crybaby Momma's Boys! I want nothing more to do with them ever!" That was in reference to Hogger & Eddie. The thing was that as my brother wiped his hands of those 2 "Momma's Boys" brothers, Eddie was actually in the process of waiting for his New Drum Set to arrive. He had been borrowing a Drum Set and his parents had ordered him one from some catalog.

Well, with Hogger & Eddie being Shit-canned and basically told by my brother where to go and where to stick the CCR songbook, they got together with these other guys and formed another little Band … featuring the NEW Drum Set. Consequently, now our Band was left without a Drummer. Ooooooo! Now 2 rival Bands in one small town. My cousin and I weren't actually enemies with Eddie as we actually had him in all our Classes at school. He just couldn't be our Drummer because my brother pulled the plug on him because of Hogger's songbook hogging action.

Over at school, word started getting to us that, "Hey! Did y'all know that those other guys already have an out of town Gig? And they're gonna be paid." That unsolicited bit of grapevine Buzz kept being thrown in our faces. It was as if our rivals were purposely leaking it out so as to rub our noses in it that they were going to have an Official Paying Gig before us. My brother was like, "Big Fugging Deal! I couldn't care less. LET them have a Gig. This isn't a contest. All I know is that I want nothing to do with those Momma's Boys."

The day of our rivals' rubbing our noses in it Official Out of Town Paying Gig was now upon Planet Earth … Okay, upon us. Mid afternoon, my brother, my cousin and I happened to be walking up Main Street of our small town. Suddenly Eddie drives up and pulls over next to us. He informs us that he has a HUGE favor to ask us. Apparently the rest of their Band bailed on them, just plain ole weren't going to be able to make the Gig. So, Hogger & Eddie were stuck with a Gig on their hands … and basically NO Band and Showtime in about 5 hours. Eddie asked if we could help them out because they had no idea what they were going to do. My cousin was like, "Hey! We should do it. It'll be Cool! Our 1st Paying Gig. It should be fun." My brother on the other hand, was more something along the lines of, "Nope! NOT interested. I told you and your brother I wanted nothing more to do with you two. Y'all seemed pretty smug when y'all were leaking out Info of your 1st Gig so as to rub our noses in it. You made your bed … now lie in it!" As for me? Frankly, I was a little scared at the thought of for the first time playing for people whom we didn't know and expected to deliver a performance worthy of being paid. After my brother's blunt commentary, Eddie drove off.

My brother and I went to go hang out at our cousin's house. About 20 minutes later, Eddie shows up again, this time with Hogger tagging along. Yadi Yadi Yada … Hogger apologized for the infamous CCR songbook hogging. He pleaded, begged, groveled and pretty much everything short of crying so as to convey how much they seriously needed us to help them out of their predicament. My brother of course again alluded to basically wanting to teach them a lesson for their mouthing off in purposely leaking out Info of their Gig so as to be thrown in our faces. My cousin was REALLY wanting to do the Gig. My brother finally went, "FINE! I'll do it. But, just this ONE time! Don’t get any ideas that we have patched things up and that we are now forming a Band again." Hogger & Eddie were like, "Of course. We understand."

So, a couple of hours later, we were at our Gig, a Quinceañera like the one in my previous Post. I was very nervous … Okay, Scared Shitless! We were gonna start with a particular song, which required that I start it alone with 7 notes. I was petrified. I tell my brother, "Hey, can you do that Intro instead?" My brother goes, "NO! You kept bitching in practice that I played it wrong and you insisted on playing it yourself. So now YOU'RE going to play it as we practiced it!" Right before Showtime, I again pestered my brother, "C'mon, man! I'm too nervous. I just know I'm gonna screw it up." My brother finally goes, "FINE! I'll play it."

We started our 1st Official Paying Gig. The people cheered and applauded after each song. My nervousness subsided. It BETTER have! Cuz I definitely had my share of songs on which I played Lead Guitar and my brother wasn't going to be able to cover on 'em. Everything went Great. We seemed to be a Hit. After the Gig, Hogger & Eddie's dad was, "Y'all did great. I know things went awry between you guys, but y'all should really consider letting bygones be bygones and getting back together as a Band." Shortly thereafter, we did get back together as a Band. We played together for 2 more years until my brother had to go away out of town for Aviation Mechanic School. Hope y'all were entertained and got a kick out of the behind the scenes goings on of a simple Journey to the 1st Gig.