Life is good, the SRSS experience is over and we went out like champions. That's all you can ask for and the champions is like whip cream on a blueberry pie. Speaking of pies and toppings, my mother use to always say "a pie without cheese is like a kiss without the squeeze"... I kind of always thought of that as nonsense, and believed it was all about the ice cream, but later I learned a good apple pie with a slice of old cheddar does have a particular brilliance to it.
You see in my own mind, months ago i thought "nobody will want to come to a show over the holidays so I'll just give a talk about the pro's and con's of the SRSS to nobody and it will be, as a whole a pretty neat piece of art". Kind of Monty Pythonesque... giving a talk on something nobody really cares about to nobody... but really getting in to it... making those points, and then asking for questions. Ahh the dream sequences...
But of course i got busy, 3 kids, full time job, 2 hockey teams, this albatross, and of course i never properly prepared. Well i did lie awake at night, or in the morning for that matter making points, in mumble form, to my pillow robbing me of needed sleep... if it wasn't this then it would be something else. But another amazing thing happened... it was like that movie "field of dreams"... people just came, they came to play, they came to be there... it was an actual event!
The band, people who i have collected, by the fate of making music, were going over chord changes before the show, I'm sure because they heard about the seminar, and knew that any seminar given at the SRSS can be done over music... its a solid law, much like the first law of thermodynamics, which of course states that energy cannot be created or destroyed it just moves from one form to another. It's the energy management of the SRSS that is the real trick... i speak in terms of band energy... if we were a band in the sense of a band that had a band mission statement there would be so much energy going into friction, persuasion and totally inappropriate assumptions that there would be little energy left for playing.
so it was like: this is a chance to play lets kick it:
Probably one of the more stressful moments for SR... a promise of wisdom, a good groove and a deer in the headlights imitation... i reached inside and tried to remember all the things i had thought about, and i remembered some of them, and i think i stayed on topic for the most part. The key thing was a few points were made we sounded good musically and we got out of the bastard before it got too old. That's the one thing people have a hard time doing... shut this down and do something else... keep the show moving. I learned that in a number of ways but the key one that was the fang that burst the bubble was after i published my paper "The Lynx Paw Courier", and all i heard was that the articles were too long... people don't have time for that, and then 24 hours came out and people were reading fresh copy after fresh copy. Now I'm not saying one should give people swill rather give them what you think quality in a format that is recognizable... but rather a little of the old in and out if you know what i mean.
******* KEY POINT **********************
I'm a way off the deadline and have forgotten much of what i felt, or the views from my perspective. Because it was the last show i thought i could really deliver one KING HELL blogaroo, but of course by not adhering to the deadline i did nothing, and now i sit among packed boxes wondering why i fell into the trap again. Much like all the big events i tried to do that just suffered from the differential of my dream state and my reality state.
Lets face it... I'm a supper show kind of guy... know your shit, have some skills and hit it unprepared over and over again. It's like moving... are you ready for the big moving day... no fucking way, shit's all over the place... but can you live with it? Sure no problem, it's only stuff, recovering from disaster is my strong suit... I go down with my ships, but I'm a marathon swimmer, so I'll find shore again build another ship, until a high rock and a low tide causes a new predicament.
All in all it was a great era, great highs, mind boggling lows and much real love from many fine people. When the going gets weird the weird turn pro is one of my hero said (H.S.T), and to adapt that to our city we could say When the no fun city gets no fun like, fuck it, have fun anyway... in the end it's your life, who cares what "the establishment" is looking for, they just want your money anyway, don't give them your spirit. Laugh hard and carry a big stick, and don't be afraid to use it, do unto others before they get a chance to undo to you... OK OK just being silly here.
Wishing Machine with Jack Freelance:
He got all the words right, which is king hell as far as I'm concerned... great job singing as well, but delivering and leading the song to it's proper place... that's teamwork. Wasn't even sure he was going to be there, but he came and he came correct... well done sport!
The Voters choice:
How bout that egg shake by Billy Johnson!
The Recurring Hurrah:
Johnny Wildkat finds his bass line in a few passes... the one he made up in the studio on the fly during the recording of the CD "One Little Dream"... when memory and ears work together.
Never Wanted to be Anyone:
The classic 21 tandem repeats theme song "I never wanted to be anyone I just want to be like myself" with Wildkat bass solo, and powered by the vocals of Sandra Bouza.
Mr Greenie:
Wildkat leads on bass after not playing the song for 2 years... SR does 60 push ups and 60 sit ups, 20 of them up on the street.
Dish Pig:
King Hell save by Christopher Johnson at the end of the song... or last song, almost went out on a train wreck but instead when out as listening musicians. Classic WB guitar solo, grand boogie piano by Jason Jones, total pro drumming by Shockk and a great lesson by Sandra Bouza. What is the lesson? It has to do with bands and people and parts... Fire-Man had a nice part repeating the dish pig that became part of the song... which you can actually hear the audience doing, so the part has been absorbed into the culture of the night. But Sandra missed those years and did what she did and at that part sang "I must be going crazy" in a most excellent fashion. Sometimes in crews when roles and parts are established you can miss the opportunity to reinvent songs and their nuances
Bent:
a good song to hit early... let people find their groove... get Sandra singing... good sharp ending by Shockk "the leader" on drums... don't let it go on too long, i believe we talked about that earlier.
On frozen Pond:
An ode to growing up in Canada before global warming destroyed the opportunity of pond hockey for the community... no worries you can always watch the made for TV NHL special around New Years to get your "modern" dose of Pond Hockey... and you can tweet about that one.
Round of solos for all
1st star- audience clapping solo
2nd star- Tambourine solo
3rd star- Sandra Scat solo
Thanks to everybody for being there and participating
that's it, cat's ass, no more
SR
OK one more thing, since we are a community and all i think somebody should have checked to see if the camera was framing the band properly... that said the right person got cut out of frame.
