My day started with organizing music and loading my car with boxes of music and lyres, drums, and a bari sax. I also loaded Deb's car with my amplifier and the acoustic bass. We dropped that car off at NCUJHS and then went to the Elk's Club. There I opened up the trunk and waited for everyone to show up. The last member showed up with only two minutes left, and he had to walk from Louis Garneau. He played bass drum, so I'm really glad he made it. When we first got going, the drummers couldn't remember the very simple soundoff that they've used since the fifth grade, but after a few tries they got it....and the band didn't come in. So I decided to count off. That worked, and everyone started, though at different speeds. It didn't take me long to realize they needed me conducting, so I walked backwards and conducted them through
Happy, Louie Louie, and
7-Nation Army. They sounded better than last year, although there weren't as many students (we had 18 this year, 25 or so last year). The band was made up of a 7th grader, a parent, two 2015 graduates, one 2014 graduate, and the rest were current students.
When we finished the parade, I was pretty tired. I sat in the car with my bass gear and tried to sleep, but really couldn't. I found where Kingdom Dixie was going to play and got set up. I only used the bottom speaker, and it's still overkill. I need an amp that will fit under my chair. This lineup of Kingdom Dixie is the regular lineup (Howie/clarinet, Richard/trumpet, Woody/trombone, Pete/Tenor, Chris/Guitar, me/bass) but with Brett playing drumset. He used a really small kit with no toms. He had a splash and a cowbell, though, and used those effectively. John has basically quit KD at this point, because he doesn't want any summer weekend gigs. Brett's tempo is really solid, and his fills are great, so I really like having him playing.
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| Sleep All Night - Harry, Chandler, and Alex |
My last gig as a member of Soul Kingdom happened later that night, at Gardner Park. During the KD gig, Chandler texted me that there was no PA system. This was a big deal, since Kyle had another gig and had his PA with him. I had a hard time believing that there was no PA, but when we went down to see Sleep All Summer (formerly the Session Guys), I could see and hear that they'd cobbled something together. They sounded fine, although their volume was really low. We listened to three songs (they did a "punk-pop" version of
Cruise, but nobody got the joke!) and then headed to NCUHS, where Deb & I dropped off the marching stuff and picked up band's PA system, which is really only used for rehearsal, but would hopefully be better than nothing. I was lucky that I found out there was no PA before 5:00, when my key to the school would no longer work. We got back to Gardner Park at about 6:30 to see that the band before us, the Hit Men, had a pretty complicated setup. Larry Beaudry was playing guitar, and they sounded good (esp Larry and the keyboard player). It rained quite a bit during their set. Partly because of their age and partly because this was their first gig, the Hit Men took
forever to tear down. They had already played about 20 minutes longer than their time, but that wasn't their fault. Jess asked them to play longer so the hula contest could have music. She wasn't concerned about time to switch bands, figuring it was no big deal. Travis and Gene both said not to bother with monitors, so I turned the speakers in just a bit. Gene didn't have a mic and brought this up after almost everything was set up, but luckily I'd grabbed the clip-on mics from the school. Travis didn't have a tuner, so tuned with my pedal, which didn't quite work right, probably because it's made for bass. Because of that time, and tear down/set-up, we started after 9:00 and only played a fraction of our songs. The PA couldn't put out enough volume for Travis' voice, even though we kept turning it up. Brett and I grooved, though, and if everything had been balanced things would have sounded great. However, people still got into it. The crowd was dancing and loving it. Especially the guy who always leans on the corner of the stage and a 12-year girl who stood in front of Gene and screamed the whole time. I'm glad we grooved, because I was concerned about our lack of guitar - Travis played, but he's just not a lead guitarist - and our lack of practice. Brett really knows his stuff, and I'd practiced plenty. I think Gene was reading Emily's music instead of playing his parts, although I'm not sure. Emily lost her lip at one point, I think, but got it back again. In the end we only played SIX SONGS. It reminded me of two years ago (
http://mrprue.blogspot.com/2013_07_01_archive.html) when the bed races cut us off, but this was much worse.
When I talked to Andy after packing up, he mentioned that he really liked the band. He didn't have the check ready, and it could be a week before we get paid. I already wrote checks to the bandmembers because that way they wouldn't have to chase down any money. I'm going to meet with him to suggest the city rent sound equipment. I'd be willing to do sound. It sounds like he definitely wants Soul Kingdom to headline again next year. I won't be with the band, but there needs to be a guarantee that they can play their allotted time!
KINGDOM DIXIE setlist
We skipped some at the end, since the crowd was breaking up and 3/4 of the lips were getting tired.
1
Panama
2
Muskrat Ramble
3
Mapleleaf Rag
4
Blizzard Head Blues
5
High Society
6
Basin Street Blues
7
Livery Stable Blues
8
Darktown Strutters Ball
9
Sugar Foot Stomp
10
When My Sugar Walks Down The Street
11
Tin Roof Blues
12
Don’t Mean a Thing (if you don’t have that swing)
13
Millenburg Joys
14
That’s a Plenty
15
I Can’t Give You Anything But Love
16
Randolph Strut
17
High Society
18
After Your Gone
SOUL KINGDOM setlist
- Soul Finger (good groove, weak beginning, Gene was a bit confused when we got to the guitar/bass break)
- In the Midnight Hour
- Got to Get You into My Life (felt like it ended quickly)
- Ain't to Proud to Beg {DID NOT PLAY}
- I Got You (I feel good) (Horns didn't hear that we were skipping this one)
- The Chicken (sounded great. I even threw in some double-stops)
- Let's Stay Together {DID NOT PLAY}
- Hold On! {DID NOT PLAY}
- Higher and Higher
- Low Rider {DID NOT PLAY}
- Knock on Wood {DID NOT PLAY}
- Feeling Alright {DID NOT PLAY}
- Soul Finger outro {DID NOT PLAY}
- Sweet Home Chicago (added; not sure we were in the key that Emily had)
- Star-Spangled Banner (Gene played on his soprano. Had a few squeaks, but sounded good)
