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banjer5 - Posted - 09/14/2009: 15:27:23
This won't apply to those who are not in a group but might be interesting to read. I've been playing in the group I am now in for 10 years (others before). We played a gig a couple of months ago for a funeral home. This enterprise has a get together for survivors (about 100) who have lost a loved one within the past year or so. Needless to say these folks were older folks but seems like they are the ones who are attracted to BG anyway. We were well paid for our 1 hour gig and the favorable comments from the audience just kept coming. We were informed that it would be an annual event in the future. I've done some unusual gigs over the years but think this one took the cake. How about you?
Fast Freddy the engineer says: Throttle in RUN 8 and highball, then don't look back, something might be gainin' on ya. 73,s de K5BGZ
Ronnie - Posted - 09/14/2009: 15:44:45
Several wakes and funeral services
A promotional for the local JC Penney store. They set us up to perform in the women's lingerie display
A formal Catholic wedding
Bouncing around in a wagon full of hay=St. Jude's benefit
Performing for the inmates at a mental asylum
Give me time to search my memory banks, I'll think of others
www.bobbythompsonbanjo.com
strokestyle - Posted - 09/14/2009: 15:49:17
On my "free" tour that started a couple weeks ago I got to play at:
1. Elsinore Missouri Sesquicentennial Celebration on stage and was house band with Billy Mathews and Fiddling Rock Suzi Vause.
2. Springfield Missouri Contra Dance with Billy Mathews and Fiddling Rock Suzi, a concertina player Linda and a guitar player Steve.
3. On top of Monk's Mound at Cohokia Mounds IL with a snare drum player.
4. At the Atlatl Competitions at Cohokia Mounds IL with the snare drum guy Mike Klein.
4. Louis and Clark Museum - Heritage days in Wood River area Illinois with a great fiddler (Lindell Blackford) and a champion bones guy (Scott Miller) in the lobby!
5. Grade school Ice Cream social in Champaign, IL.
Next year I play banjo for money. Anyone got any helpful tips on the money part?
Banjov1 - Posted - 09/14/2009: 15:49:46
My band's performing the musical accompaniment to a puppet show this weekend. The show is based on the novel Fup Duck by Jim Dodge and we're doing a number of traditional and non-traditional bluegrass type pieces. There's a number of scenes where I have to make my banjo emulate the sounds for things like "a duck being thrown in the air" or "a duck fighting a warthog".
The show seems to be pretty entertaining, but it will be interesting to see the crowd's reaction as we perform it 3 times this weekend.
Tony
rstieg - Posted - 09/14/2009: 16:14:13
We've played the last 3 years at the annual picnic for a local rod and gun club. The really interesting part is that they mostly do skeet shooting at the club, so we play on a stage under a covered picnic area with shotguns going off in the background the whole time! Now if we could only get them to shoot in time to the music...
RICH
Pleasanton, CA
The truth is a moving target... perception is more important than reality... everything is relative...
ndlxs - Posted - 09/14/2009: 16:14:16
I loved that book....
The weirdest thing I have ever done is to play "Dueling Banjos" (clawhammer) as a wedding march, by request....
Andy Alexis
Sacramento, Calif
Glenn Tate - Posted - 09/14/2009: 16:31:20
I guess the two most unusual gigs we played for were:
1. Our band played a concert with the Clear Lake Symphony Orchestra. It was a formal dress event, and very classy. The orchestra played a classical set alone, then we played a classic bluegrass set alone, then the stage curtains opened at the end of our set and we played a hybrid set together. It was recorded and turned out very nice.
2. We played a wedding, and I mean the Wedding March (Here Comes the Bride) and all. The bride was a Jewess, the groom a Catholic, and the preacher was a Baptist. We also played for the reception dance, which had catered Mexican food.
"The more you know, the more you know you don't know."
Glenn
Ronnie - Posted - 09/14/2009: 16:31:41
At a fair. We were set up next to a display of antique stationary engines, which seemed to be running every time we played. Poppity-Pow!!
A few disco gigs during the 60's and early '70's. I don't think the world was quite ready for disco banjo.
www.bobbythompsonbanjo.com
Lono - Posted - 09/14/2009: 16:35:33
Years ago, a band I was in (playing mandolin) played the "Showcase of Bands". It was an event put on by the local musicians union for event organizers to review and hire bands for future events. There were two stages in a large dance hall and as one band was playing the next one was setting up. Continuous music and dancing.
What made it interesting is we were the only bluegrass band and we were invited because the radio DJ liked bluegrass. Most of the other bands, about 99% were polka bands and the radio station features polka music. I couldn't help but think of the Rawhide scene in the Blues Brothers movie.
Funny thing, we had someone come up to the stage and ask "Could you play something slow, we'd like to dance". We got a couple of bookings, had a great time, and were invited back to play at the radio station.
badcat23661 - Posted - 09/14/2009: 17:43:34
I was in a group that was asked to play in the children's wing of a local hospital. It was Halloween and we had to dress up in costume but the children got upset and began crying. We were never clear if it was because of our costumes or because of our music!
Susan
"I play better when no one is listening"
steve davis - Posted - 09/14/2009: 17:48:20
A tribute to Jimi Hendrix.30 bands each doing a Jimi song at The State Theater in Portland Maine.We did Little Wing with bluegrass instruments plus a Strat.
There was a Polka band,a Bali band,Barbershop quartet,et al.
1four5 - Posted - 09/14/2009: 17:57:35
I don't know why they choose us, but we got a Hawiian theme pool party, and asked to play 50's rock and as much Elvis as we could. We pulled it off and got lots of compliments, and are still getting other gigs from the orginizer of that party. The worst part was that crazy flower necklace thing constantly tickeling my neck.
Dean
Ronnie - Posted - 09/14/2009: 22:30:09
I am blessed to live in a community where there are many musicians, of just about any genre. I can play hard core bluegrass, country, blues,rockabilly, rock, celtic, classical or whatever at the drop of a hat. I don't think I know anyone who doesn't play at least one instrument. Unusual gigs have materialized through the years.
www.bobbythompsonbanjo.com
Studebaker Hawk - Posted - 09/15/2009: 07:23:40
The band I was in once played to a bow hunters’ convention in the great outdoors of Colorado’s San Luis Valley. It was pretty funny, too, because our female lead singer was a vegetarian and vehemently opposed to killing animals. She spent the entire evening, before, during and after our performance biting her lip, trying hard not to say something to cause a scene with the paying convention attendees. Got to give her credit, though, because she maintained her composure the entire time we were there.
--Dean
John Allison - Posted - 09/15/2009: 08:04:06
One of the most unusual gigs that I have ever been involved with was not so much where we played but, rather, what happened during that gig. We were asked (September '08) to do an all afternoon bluegrass gospel show at a place called the Good Tyme Barn (see pictures my home page) located about in the middle of the state (Michigan). During the performance, the hurricane which had made landfall on one of the gulf states and travelled up through the midwest and into mid state Michigan, hit us with high winds and much rain. Many roads were closed due to overflowing rivers and standing water. As no one could leave until the rain and wind slacked, we were asked to continue playing. Now, to digress a bit, before playing, we were assured that The Barn had its own sound system and we did not have to bring anything. What we did not know was that our hosts did not have a mixer board available. Luckily, we had our own small amps that we use for assisted living centers where space is at a premium and we used these (we had just performed at one of the centers the night before). At any rate, the hurricane hit about half way through the show and the noise was deafening on the tin roof, the roof leaked, the walls had space between some of the boards and one of our members got drenched. We could not hear ourselves but the audience near our speakers could hear us. It was an experience, an unusual experience and not one that I particularly want to go through again.
Froggie
"Courage is Fear that has said its prayers.
Jayme Stone - Posted - 09/15/2009: 08:14:06
i once played banjo for an all-lesbian burlesque show based on the music from "free to be you and me", a back-to-the-land record of stories and songs that was popular amongst lefties in the seventies. when i showed up to the first "rehearsal", everyone had their clothes off to take photos for the poster. there were even streakers at the show. fun!
www.jaymestone.com
www.woodhallmusic.com
fivestringmac - Posted - 09/15/2009: 08:15:38
We played a retirement party that was completely Hawaiian themed. The guest of honor wanted bluegrass music instead of Hawaiian. So we played bluegrass in Hawaiian shirts!
Feo - Posted - 09/15/2009: 08:59:42
My old band did a gig at a duck hunters convention ...
They set the stage up about 25 yards from a pond ...
About 1/2 way through the set , dozens of hunters with guns ... ( and one had a small cannon set up for blow'in up stuff REAL good) line up behind the stage , facing out over the pond ... there were all kinds of targets set up on the other side of the pond ... so we're there playing good ol' fiddle and banjo music , a whistle blows and man, WWIII just cuts loose ! The pond surface was a spray , wood splinters flying everywhere ... shoo-ee !
I just glad they didn't set up our stage on that OTHER side of the pond ...
A banjo player would make a nice targeet LOL
dlaustin - Posted - 09/15/2009: 09:34:24
quote:
We've played the last 3 years at the annual picnic for a local rod and gun club. The really interesting part is that they mostly do skeet shooting at the club, so we play on a stage under a covered picnic area with shotguns going off in the background the whole time! Now if we could only get them to shoot in time to the music...
RICH
Pleasanton, CA
Rich, you need to get a "Guns and Banjos" cap and t-shirt from Clyde Barksdale  David
pick1936 - Posted - 09/15/2009: 09:36:12
I played for My Grandaughter's outdoor Wedding, and Man was it hot,, The Weather that is..
(Cowboy In Town, Trouble Expected)
Nechville. In Higginsville.
Lee Kelso
Edited by - pick1936 on 09/15/2009 09:36:57
banjer5 - Posted - 09/15/2009: 13:44:59
Lotsa good stuff! I've done the wedding and funeral stuff more than once but some of these are really funny. Thanks to all.
Fast Freddy the engineer says: Throttle in RUN 8 and highball, then don't look back, something might be gainin' on ya. 73,s de K5BGZ
Ronnie - Posted - 09/15/2009: 13:54:39
Years ago Brother Dave Gardner's brother Kent owned a little club in my home town. There was a fireplace in the listening room in which a fire was seldom built. While we were performing one night, several swift fledglings decided to leave their nest in the chimney, fluttered down into the dormant fireplace and out onto the stage and into the audience . We stopped playing and someone went back to the store room, got an empty beer case and the band and audience gathered up the little birds, took them outside and released them. It was kinda neat to see them making their first flight.
www.bobbythompsonbanjo.com
dpete210 - Posted - 09/15/2009: 13:59:30
Our bluegrass gospel band is often asked to play at church services and about 3 weeks ago we were playing at an outdoor church service in Willow River, Minnesota. About 2/3 of the way into the service we started playing a song that gets one's toes tapping and a couple about 80 years old got up and started to dance in the grass. I remember being taken a bit by surprise, having never seeing that happen before (not during a church service). I smiled and looked at my bandmates who were also smiling. Then some congregational members started to clap and pretty soon it appeared like most were clapping. Afterwards there was a pot luck picnic lunch and we got to talk with the dancing couple who had come to the service on their motorcycles. 
Any day playing music is a GOOD day. 
Ronnie - Posted - 09/15/2009: 14:11:59
I don't remember the occasion but was hired to play one afternoon on the steps of our local court house. The sky looked rather ominous and there was thunder in the distance. All of a sudden... BOOM. A blaze of fire shot between the mike and the lead singer's face. The lightning almost, or maybe it did, knock him down. He wore glasses and they got red hot. I am glad he wasn't hurt worse. The "conductor" is a BHO member. Maybe he can refresh my memory.
www.bobbythompsonbanjo.com
Ronnie - Posted - 09/15/2009: 14:18:20
My favorite gig was playing at a birthday party for an 18 year old college coed. The guest of honor had very haunting brown eyes. I asked her out but she was a bit apprehensive about dating an old banjo picker. She became my friend and groupie. We were married and she gave me 20 good years and a beautiful daughter. A heart attack took her in 2003.
www.bobbythompsonbanjo.com
dawgdoc - Posted - 09/15/2009: 14:46:36
I played a set one morning early at a festival after an evening of a friend's homemade peach brandy. I lost my close vision temporarily and couldn't see the frets on my banjo. Even the thought of a drink of that stuff causes me shivers. Never again....
I vote for Jayme, though. Lesbian burlesque show?
panthersquall - Posted - 09/15/2009: 15:04:55
quote:
Originally posted by Banjo Stan
Great crowd and a lot of fun, but we noticed that every time we played a slow song ....
the room cleared after the song was over.  
  
Stan Robins
LOL!! "F# is the new G."
Edited by - panthersquall on 09/15/2009 15:05:29
banjobabe - Posted - 09/15/2009: 15:20:48
Wow...you totally win for that one! That is weird!
HH
The weirdest thing I have ever done is to play "Dueling Banjos" (clawhammer) as a wedding march, by request....
Andy Alexis
Sacramento, Calif
[/quote]
steve davis - Posted - 09/15/2009: 15:39:35
We used to play a bar/hotel called "The Last Resort" aka "Carl's Bad Tavern"
on Saturday nights.At ten o'clock all the girls on the dance floor took off their blouses.
Clark - Posted - 09/16/2009: 23:02:44
Some that stand out:
A nudist colony
Different biker bars m/c clubs
some wild goings on!
Cow taking a dump
the pen was divided in to squares which
people purchasedif your square was hit you
won $$$
MLB allstar fanfair
Playing banjo in a baseball uniform
We were outside a bar in Detroit taking band pix
and saw an arrest so we also "assumed the
position while the felon was getting cuffed
neat shot
Mitch Manns
Manns Guitar Academy
http://www.mannsguitaracademy.com/
Ronnie - Posted - 09/16/2009: 23:30:14
Well I guess many of you have experienced:
Naked college girls dancing on the bar
Police raids
Bar room fights, broken tables and chairs The mud and the blood and the beer.
Waking up Sunday morning with a female in your bed ( or in a strange place) that you don't recognize wondering how she (or you) got there and what you might have done with her after the gig.
Collapsing on stage. Unconscious but still picking and never missing a note.
If you survived to pack up your gear into the VW bus, and figuring out how to drive it, a stop at a Waffle House somewhere for coffee and a bite to eat.
A short nap and off to the day job.
The same routine the next night.
These were usual gigs not unusual gigs. I have mellowed out somewhat during my old age.
No wonder so many musicians die young or get old before their time.
www.bobbythompsonbanjo.com
Edited by - Ronnie on 09/17/2009 00:16:22
ahsn36gp - Posted - 09/17/2009: 06:04:52
A college frat party, they did not allow drinking on the dance floor so when we would take a break they would scatter and then return when we started playng again. Each time a little more "friendly"
A jewish wedding
A sorgum makers convention
Marty
robarts - Posted - 09/17/2009: 06:24:34
At a wedding we were asked to play backup for an aged Uncle and his musical saw. The man looked daggers at us when we asked what key he played "Golden Slippers" in. It proved to meander between F and F#.
We were literally blown off a stage at a festival when high winds and a massive thunder storm blew up.
Played (as the only bluegrass band) at a music festival in Upper Michigan. The headliner was Ted Nugent, who we never met---although we met all his guitars being set up backstage.
stringbeaner - Posted - 09/17/2009: 09:14:45
Pop concert with the Midland - Odessa Symphony back in the 60's and faculty concert at College of Santa Fe, also in the 60's.
Stringbeaner
rstieg - Posted - 09/17/2009: 10:19:10
quote:
Originally posted by dlaustin
quote:
We've played the last 3 years at the annual picnic for a local rod and gun club. The really interesting part is that they mostly do skeet shooting at the club, so we play on a stage under a covered picnic area with shotguns going off in the background the whole time! Now if we could only get them to shoot in time to the music...
RICH
Pleasanton, CA
Rich, you need to get a "Guns and Banjos" cap and t-shirt from Clyde Barksdale
David
Great idea! I'll have to do that next year. RICH Pleasanton, CA The truth is a moving target... perception is more important than reality... everything is relative...
wrangler - Posted - 09/17/2009: 12:24:20
I played an Amazing Grace solo on the mandolin at a funeral one time.
Mike
To peace, happiness, banjos that stay in tune and people likewise
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