This past weekend I found myself being the guy in charge of the stage at one of our premier local fundraiser events named in honor of Ralph Smith but colloquially referred to as the Pink Bra Walk. Contestants decorate pink brassieres and walk bar to bar collecting playing cards and downing cocktails at each stop along the way. It is truly a sight to behold, grown adults in freaky costumes all highlighting the pink bra theme, all sexes and gender identities accepted.
The guy in charge of the stage means I bring the P.A system. The stage is tight for a three piece band and we had drums, bass, keyboards, 4 electric guitars, the main house speakers and the mixing board with a total of six people on stage at any given time. We had a pretty large time as we do have a great music scene with musicians that pull together as a team. It's unusual in the rest of the world but not in Key Largo.
Fellow Fun Seekers! What a gorgeous day for a fundraiser.
That's not the smallest stage I've had to cram a ton of gear on. Bless my chronic failing heart, I love a thumpin' bottom, low end that you can feel...kick drum and bass drive the band and pack the dance floor. That being said, I've been known to cram a double,18" sub woofer cabinet onto a stage built for a duo but we were a four piece band. The "house" system was a small venue Yamaha set up with all the tone of a squashed duck. It almost sounded as good as an AM radio with less crackling. I'm a tone seeker what can I say?
Our bass player also had a small keyboard rig and often played bass with one hand and the keyboard with the other. It wasn't a full 88 key piano but it was large enough. We had to duct tape the stand to the railing around the stage. There was an old fireplace mantle and we could fit the keyboard/bass rig in the hole where the fire used to be and we squeezed a twin combo amp and my Marshall half stack on either side of the fire place and the drums in front of the hole. I had the double 18" sub just to the left and behind me with our rack with amps and tone shapers or equalizers on top of it and our sound or "mixing" board on top of the amp rack.
Myself and the other guitar player had to play with our guitar necks pointing up with cymbals stinging our backs when we got crowded into them. The crowd could only jump up and down like riding pogo sticks. A few times a song I would have to shove the rack back onto the sub as the whole floor would be bouncing with the crowd. I often wondered if this was going to be the night the floor gave way and we all crashed through to the basement. There was a door to the back room where the poker and blackjack tables were and we had to keep it shut while we played because some poker players are entirely too uptight for rock and roll. The employees dressed like 1876 and the girls wore the sexy saloon girl outfits just like Miss Kitty from Gunsmoke. The Saloon #10, thats NUMBER 10 not hashtag.
I probably died in a previous life there in Deadwood, South Dakota. If it weren't for the cold it could be a fun place to make a stand.
Now that I don't get drunk while I work, I appreciate my responsibility as the party leader a lot more. When I stand on the stage and look out on the small crowd, I can feel their collective need to escape from the drudgery of the REAL world and I want so bad to give them some of my happiness.
I get by in this world making music and thats my salvation, my key to happiness. And it's not the size of the stage but how hard you ROCK it! Peace and Love!
Brent on the tiny Saloon #10 stage.
That's me in the background wearing my Audix t-shirt that says "Don't piss off the sound man". Very good advice for a t-shirt.
This pic got a little stuck in the humidity.
Fellow Fun Seekers!
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