Shows... what can happen.

As much as part of me wants to be objectionable and make the title of the post redundant and meaningless, I must not. More on how I feel the urge to be contrary and myself later.

I have really enjoyed playing the Wizard of Oz so far, it has been a very much reduced orchestra (8 piece), but the cast are fantastic! They are mainly young, and really putting everything into the shows and it makes it such a joy to play for; there is rarely this much connection in more professional shows! I am going to really enjoy my remaining 7 shows! There are elements of the show that still make me laugh even though we have rehearsed it and played it seemingly endlessly now! The dog, Toto (Rosie) is for lack of a better, more masculine word, very cute! I have little more to say, other than... the Wizard of Oz crashed. On Friday night. I don't think that was expected, nor did it ever happen before! There was some funny ad-libbing, and everyone found it very funny, crisis averted!! Pretty funny I thought!

Anyway, shows. What can happen?

You can expect to show up to do an Elvis tribute set, just like last years gig (which was awesome) and just be amazed... At how much better it was this year! I am not the biggest Elvis fan - this is a gig, so I am happy to play it for experience, money and fun, but it really was enjoyable! Score! Our charts weren't too bad (accuracy wise). The sight-reading was sweet, and I was generally fairly pleased with my sound and range (even though I was using ear-plugs, and I don't have a great range, but the sound was right). Most of the tunes ended with a top B or D, which was nailed, and I was happy about that - last year I was more nervous and lacked the experience to stick with my notes. This year was much better, more relaxed, better sound and what always helps - better gear. Gear which is going to stick by me!

Basically - you can turn up to a gig which you expect to probably be dodgy, and it turn out to be a real winner! I am really pleased that this was a winner - I need to take away all the positive feeling as much as possible. It is very hard to grow as a player if you leave depressed by some aspect of the performance. Tomorrow; The Wizard, and hopefully all of his top D/Cs in tune :)

Finally, I have an intro/arrangement for Footprints done, I must run this by the band and see if they like it. I might use this on the demo, providing it all suits the tune and performers, as with everything, it doesn't have to be used!

Mike