Re: Too much alcohol and ____ Walter

[Mike Curtis <wd6ehr@xxxxxxxxxx>]

> :We have a tendency to be our own harshest critics,  fortunately alcohol
> :makes everyone sound like {insert size here} Walter to the casual listener 
> 
> Ain't it the truth. I played one of my worst gigs one night, sounding very
> shitty and I knew it. Afterward, this guy comes staggering up to me and for
> five minutes, proceeds to tell me, in an alcohol soaked manner, how much I
> sounded like Little Walter and how much he loved my playing. I could only
> ditch him by offering to buy him a beer. When he turned toward the bar, I
> turned toward the door.........

There is an incredible amount of truth and insight in the above.  Yes, 
the musicians best friend is distilled spirits in the listener.  "The 
more you drink, the better we sound".  and yes, we all have our off 
nights.  Maybe we had a fight with <fill in relationship>, or got up on 
the wrong side of the bed - or the right side, but too early (I play much 
better and FEEL better about it when I have my 8.5 hours)

It's very easy to overlook the _fact_ that the AUDIENCE doesn't know 
these things, unless we telegraph them somehow.  Sometimes when we're in 
a bad mood, etc., we tend to dwell on our mistakes (minority) rather than 
our good stuff.  But the casual listener hears mostly the good stuff, and 
is often totally unaware that a particular note was not intended to be 
there.  And the nifty thing about improvisational music is that even 
mistakes are quite often not "wrong".  And even if it _is_ "wrong", it 
can be easily dismissed by the casual listener as "style", "taste", 
"dissonance", "effect", or any number of things we might do intentionally.

One of my favotire tunes is an old Herbie Hancock song called "Maiden 
Voyage", which I do in second position.  The changes are 4 bars each of Dm9, 
F9sus, Dm9, F9sus, E9sus, Dbsus, Dm9, F9sus.  When going to Eb, you can 
use basically a C minor scale - but Db requires some serious bending.  
I've developed an effective solo in this portion by using what really 
amounts to refining mistakes I did in learning the song - a rather 
avant-garde sounding almost atonal bending of every note while playing a 
basically third position lick.  I've had schooled musicians tell me it 
reminded them of Coltrane.

But MY first impression of it was - "Man, that STINKS!  I hope no one
heard it!!!"  It was NOT what _I_ was trying to play.  But the audience
loved it - especially the knowledgeable ones who were listening the
closest. 

Now I'm not saying that EVERY mistake is a blessing in disguise.  I'm 
only making the point that mistakes are not the end of the world, and we 
need to overlook and ignore them, unless we're practicing in private.  
Buth when we're on stage, it's for the purpose of doing our job - and 
that is NOT "music critic" :-)

I have tens of thousands of dollars in equipment, but I'd have to say one
of my best investments has been a wireless guitar module (actually, I use
2 - one for harp, and another for guitar :-) I can get out into the
audience (which they LOVE!!!), and get a multiple dose of appreciation and
adulation.  Believe me, when you're in the middle of this, you'll never
think about any mistakes.  If you have a long harp mic cord, try 
venturing down into the audience.  WARNING: This can be habit forming.

When WE enjoy ourselves, so does the audience.  Everyone wins.  And 
remember - we're not heart surgeons - we're just entertainers.  A mistake 
doesn't kill anyone (even if the note or lick dies :-)  We really need to 
treat our profession with the seriousness it deserves ;-)

For the humour-impaired, much of the aforegoing is opinion and reflects my
jocular demeanor, which has absolutely nothing to do with athletic gear. 


 -- mike