Under the non music related category I’d like to congratulate MY University of Utah Utes for making it to the sweet 16. Unfortunately we are meeting Kentucky next. Kentucky is the team we were leading by 15 in the national championship game in 1998, only to lose the game. Kentucky has knocked us out two other times since then.
I hate Kentucky. I hope my Utes can be victorious this time. Go UTES!
We played a weekend in Sun Valley a few years back. We hadn’t played this place before and we were already in some trouble because we were starting late.
We busted into the first tune which is instrumental for a little while. When our guitar player/singer walked up to sing, something terrible happened. When he got about 1 foot from his vocal mic, a giant blue lightning bolt flew from the mic to his tounge. She shock flattened him and he hit the floor unconscious.
I thought he was dead.
We woke him up and he was F’d up. His hair (or what is left of it) was sticking straight out. His tounge was bright red and very swollen.
The bar owner was even more irritated that we’d have to go on break after 30 seconds of 1 tune and starting late…
The reason for the lightning bolt was that we’d had that vocal mic repaired and apparently the stellar repair man didn’t connect the ground or something.
From that day on if you watch our singer he always slowly goes up to the mic and touches it with his hand first before he sings. Similar to my always sniffing the milk to make sure it’s not rotten…
I knew country artist Chris LeDoux and his band years before they hit the big time. Saw many of their shows here in clubs a long time ago. Though I never worked with Chris himself, I worked on several albums with the musicians from Chris’ band. They are all pros. This is an unfortunate happening.
If you’ve read any of my previous posts or know my band, you know my guitar player is a scatter brain. He’s one of those individuals who is gifted in certain areas but not in others. In the organizational area he is not. His gear is always broken, lost or malfunctioning. His cables are always tied in a knot and his jacks on all his guitars constantly short out.
So we’re at a gig one night and he breaks a string. No big deal. We just need to FIND another string to replace it. His Fender amp has an open back and most guitar players put a few small items in there like strings etc. I’m digging in the back of his amp and it’s like digging through a garbage can. Among the many things I find in his amp is a visa card belonging to some female that none of us know. How the hell does some unknown chick’s visa card end up in the back of his amp?
I’ve been asked thousands of times “how do I get a record deal?” Most people think this is an extremely complex question with many different possibilities. But it really is simple. When people ask me this quesion I give them all the same answer:
Shop at 7-11.
Yes, shop at 7-11. This is how to get a record deal. I’ll explain:
There once was a rock band with a decent female singer that I had done many albums with. This band was just like any other rock band trying to “make it.” They practiced twice a week, did shows, released CD’s, sent their discs in to record companies etc. They were doing all the usual things a band does to break into the big time.
One day the female singer stopped in at 7-11 to pick up some sundries. On her way out she bumped into a guy and dropped all of her groceries. The guy was very nice, and helped her pick up her stuff. Introductions insued. The conversation soon led to him saying “I’m an A&R guy with XXX record company (one of the big 5), and her saying “I’m a singer.”
One thing led to another (don’t know if any sexual favors were involved), and she was offered a recording contract. The record company only wanted her so she immediately dumped her band in a very sour situation. She then moved to LA.
She spent 2 years in LA working on her album. Then one day, record company XXX went through some management changes and all the A&R guys were canned. When the A&R gets canned, usually their artists get canned as well unless they are proven sellers.
She returned from LA with no record deal, no money and no band.