Sunday, January 18, 2009

couple laughs

Moving the Studio has been insane. Tons of expensive,
heavy delicate stuff to move with care or else pay the crazy price to get it all fixed. At one point when 5 of us
were trying to jockey around the console I blurted that it only took 3 of us last time we moved it to which
Timbo replied
"yeah, well, we are 8 years older now"!

So in the middle of this crazy move (lots of stuff out of the basement and into storage, other stuff into the new studio
that looks at the Williamsburg Bridge) I accepted a gig at the Rodeo Bar playing guitar with Mike Ferrio's band Tandy.
I love playing with Tandy. I like to listen to Mike play and try to fit in with the story. The stories are good. The music can
be tricky. Mike plays with a bunch of different people. At one point bassist Skip Ward explained the Tandy music
to me over some Rodeo Bar quesadilla's. "He does one thing 3 times then does another thing". This helped me greatly
as far as decoding Tandy songs goes.

Now the Rodeo Bar. The Rodeo Bar can be fun but first you have to get in there which means you have walk the happy hour douchebag gauntlet. The Rodeo Bar Happy Hour Crowd is very rough. They are young people with jobs that must have
great pressure 'cause they need to drink a lot after work and talk real loud before they go home. They speak english
but they don't understand phrases like "excuse me" or "pardon me". They look at me with my guitar, pedalboard
and amp and go "Look, he's got a guitar" but they wont move. Sorta like they are shocked to see a greenskeeper in the
clubhouse at night.

I never go to a NYC gig with more than I can carry in one trip. This means that after I make it through the bar and then through the rest of the happy hour Cowboy Theme Park I can set my stuff on what used to be the stage at the Rodeo Bar.
Stressed by the failing of communication (pardon me etc) I usually sit down and commence to overeating peanuts.

tandy Rodeo Bar

The Rodeo Bar is one of the only 2 set gigs that I do. I've never played there with my own band but I've played guitar there with a bunch of other bands. It usually gets pretty fun by the 2nd set.
So last week when I was there with Tandy they cleared all these tables up front and a bunch of guys in real cowboy hats came in. I'm talkin real XXXX Beaver hats. Resistol, Stetson. No wire in the brim cheap ass Cowboy Theme Park type hats but real headgear. These guys were polite. One of 'em tossed a hundred dollar bill on the stage and asked if we could do "Copperhead Road". Now I've played Copperhead Road probably 200 times with the songwriter Steve Earle in his band all over the globe but at that moment I just had to laugh thinking of my own often repeated phrase "I couldn't play that song if 15 World Champion Bull Riders came in and threw a hundred bucks at me". Why? Cause I wanted to hear Steve play the intro on that mandolin of his I suppose? Made me laugh.



Any damn way, while having a good time on the gig I started to hear something rather interesting coming out of my trusty Fender Pro Jr amp. Photobucket
After a while I realized that while playing Tandy songs for the World Championship Bull Riders I had blown my Eminence Patriot "Rajun Cajun" speaker. It was sounding pretty cool though. The guys remarked it sounded like Bo Diddley. I was wishing my friend the Hound was at the gig. He might have actually liked this tone.
I laughed again.

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13 Comments:

Blogger The Hound said...

Why is it amps always sound their best two seconds before they blow up?

1:39 PM  
Blogger roscoe said...

That is the universal question!

2:10 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I thought they closed that place down? Great story.

4:30 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I gotta ask you Roscoe... the Frantone Brooklyn. Does it play well with ALL your different guitars and amps? I play one through a 63 Jazzmaster and it sings... but with a Thinline Tele... hmm. The controls are soooo interactive. The Pro Jr is such a tasty amp... does it like the Frantone?

8:45 PM  
Blogger roscoe said...

Frantone Brooklyn is the best overdrive I've ever heard on any guitar/amp combo I've tried. It is the only pedal that I've used that can make a little amp like the Pro Jr actually get louder too instead of just breaking up more. I start with all 3 controls at 11:00.

Is that a 3 bolt Thinline Tele?

9:07 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

thx for that... I am still getting to know my brooklyn... it certainly is different an i was sick of being always disappointed with tubescreamer and its variants.

my thinline is a 73 model with 3 bolt neck yes. my favourite gtr EVER... feels so lovely and sings.

chris

8:53 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Love Steve Earle. Saw him at the HOB in Hollywood. Was that before you played with him Roscoe? COOP

12:04 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

12:07 AM  
Blogger roscoe said...

COOP,

If you saw Steve at the HOB between 2000 and 2005 I was playing guitar with him.

10:27 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Roscoe,
I didn't know who you were when I saw Steve E. then, but it was one of the best concerts I ever saw! AND I was sayin to myself that lead sure is crankin out some killer sounds and makin it look effortless. I was totally into it.
I think it was 2003.
COOP

8:11 PM  
Blogger roscoe said...

thanks much

10:09 PM  
Blogger SimonBar Sinister said...

Yes,I remember the yuppie-gauntlet well,with much more gear then I can carry in one trip.unfortuneately,for me ,Rodeo bar kowtows to the happy-hour suit mongers more then real music lovers thats why Ive been pushed out of there,to wander in the wildernesss,washing ashore on the palm fringed shores of the lakeside

12:20 PM  
Blogger Little Johnny Jewel said...

Well, found the name for my new band...

The Happy Hour Douchebag Gauntlet

coming to a bar near you

:)

10:07 AM  

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