7/26/14. The Hunter
Frye benefit at the American Legion, Onalaska, WI.
From the Prayers For Hunter Jerry-Lee Frye Community Web site: Hunter is the only son of Jason & Melissa
Frye they live in Tomah, WI. Hunter is a 3 year old boy w/ Lennox Gastout
Syndrome & Hyptonia & Vision Impairment.
As a band, we were
glad to help do our part. Thank you for
including us! We all wish Hunter and his
parents the best!
The show was in the
big hall, which was an inside/outside pole shed on the other side of the
parking lot from the American Legion proper.
Lots of room and concrete. The band
sat in the far corner of the room. Our
show would start at 3:30.
I got there about
the same time as Mr. Clint. Mike, Brian,
and Scott were already there and running wires for the smaller lights (daytime
gig so the larger light show not needed) and sound gear. I was not feeling the best that day…. I think
I ate too many salads… the greens from Walmart.
When will I ever learn?
Mike provided me with
a present of sorts, a brand new vocal microphone. Mike had called the during the week saying he
bought a new microphone for lead vocals.
He noticed the out-front mix was sometimes muddy when I sang (insert bad
vocal joke here). I use the standard
Shure SM58 I bought about a century ago.
It does have one vocal “sweet spot” right about where the “dent” (is… but I noticed it does tend to boom in the
lower vocal ranges, especially when I use it for home recording.
Anyway… Mike granted me use of a Sennheiser e838
vocal mic. I’m here to tell you folks,
the thing really made a difference! Wholly smokes! Great dynamic range. That coupled with the in-ear system really
gave a huge lift to my vocals. I didn’t
work so hard at singing and even managed to hit correct pitches in many of the
songs… LOL. Now, if only I could do
something about the Timbre of my voice… as someone once described as: “Dry leather scrapping against the rear end
of a plow horse.”
Well, one thing at a
time. I’ve decided that I’m going to
purchase one of my own. After looking
through the catalogs, I’m going with the e935 condenser microphone. I can use that for both live and recording. Well, there goes a little bit more of my “Italy
money”….
The show was fun,
though it was a bit weather-sticky out. It
didn’t help when it drizzled just enough to make everything wet. Our first set was only an hour and ten minutes
and we took a much-needed break. The next
hour and forty-five they used for the auctions and prizes portion of the
benefit. The band guys sat around and
discussed… well, BIG THOUTS.
Mostly, that live
music is essentially dead… and alcohol
was one of the main reasons for our success over the years. (among the other things alcohol certainly
helped). We discussed the ongoing
love/hate relationship of “Sweet Caroline” and my provocative underwear story
(finding a broken guitar string in your shorts is NO laughing matter!).
Eventually, we
started playing again… we had one guest drummer come up and do a song with
us. We normally don’t do that sort of
thing (from years of reasons why)… but Kenny proved to do a great job kickin’
it on “Folsum Prison.” Great Job, Ken!
Mike got to flirt
with the ladies on “Mustang Sally” and we had great audience participation on “Keep
your hands to yourself.” Clint did an
amazing job on the keys for “LA Woman.”
And one of these days…. I’m going to get the words to “Jenny, Jenny”
right. It was fun!
Our last set was
only forty-five minutes long, but we got out as many songs as we could in that
short set. One big drawback to be able
to hear yourself sing clearly is that you often forget how you mumbled your way
through some passages and get lost in the verses. That’s what I’m blaming my total mind fart on
the last verse of Radar Love. Well, it
worked out anyway…
And at the end we
kissed this thing goodbye with the now required “BIG EYES” ending….and the show
was over. They even took down the dunk
tank before I could take a dunk… or two.
On a Saturday night…
I headed for home, tired but feeling better and I pulled the Cooper into the
Garage at exactly 9:59 pm.
Sure beats the day
when I got home at 6:45am….glitter all over…. after a night of rockin’ debauchery,
drinking and simulated sex after some of those Checkered Past shows in the 90’s. Ah, how the years have flown by….
Of course, our next
show might be something like that.
August 9th, Saturday at Michael’s Landing on the shores of
Castle Rock lake. It’s customer
appreciation night… complete with “wet t-shirt and best buns” contests to
appreciate the…..um…. customers.
Of course, no
drinking and driving….. I’ll be pitching
a tent. Uh, huh…
More details of course at: www.checkeredpast.com
