I'm playing on the David Letterman show tonight!

masmasbasso · #1 02-13-2009, 01:22 PM

Hey Guys
I thought I would let you know that I am playing on the Late Show with David Letterman tonight (Feb. 13th). I’m even playing a TalkBass Lakland Glaub P/J that at least three TB members have owned (Spiritfield, squid and TimMarks). It is the one in this thread.

I play bass with a guy named Matt Nathanson. We’ve done several of the late night shows (Kimmel, Conan, Craig Ferguson), but this one is big for me personally. I’ve always been a huge Will Lee fan and was crazy about the band when I was a kid back when it was a four piece with Steve Jordan and Hiram Bullock.

We taped the show on Monday. They always double up and tape the Friday shows on Monday. This experience was so much fun and also so surreal. The sound check was smooth and the studio is every bit as cold as the legend goes. We are watching the show backstage. Martha Stewart is the main guest. We are all pretty loose. So it is time for our segment. I walk out from back stage and look to my left and David Letterman is about ten feet away talking to someone and then I look to my right and there is Paul Shaffer. I look a up a little more to the right and there is Will Lee. He actually perked up a bit when I walked out for my line check during their break song and appeared to scope out what bass playing. Bif Henderson is right next to me and asks if everything is good and I just had a big smile and thought. Yeah, everything is really, really good right now. So Letterman announces us and the song starts. I don’t come in until the chorus, so there is still a lot of time to think about how great this is and also how awful it would be if started dropping clams. We get to the chorus and everything feels good, so I totally relax and just enjoy it.

I talked to Anton Fig and Paul Shaffer after the show but didn’t get to meet Will. I did hear Will sing our song right after he put his bass down after the outro music. That was kind of cool. He has that “B-15” that is actually a B-410. There is also a SVT 4 pro racked up behind the fliptop. I took a picture of his bass world with my iPhone during our sound check.

Also to make it even sweeter, the night we played was the 45th anniversary of the Beatles first appearance on the Ed Sullivan show. The Letterman show tapes at the old Ed Sullivan theater. I am a HUGE Beatles fan so I was awestruck.

So check it out if you can or set your DVRs.

KPJ · #2 02-13-2009, 01:34 PM

Very cool! Thanks for the "peak behind the curtain" for us who may never get a chance to experience what you did. I'll definitely try to check it out!

DaveDeVille · #3 02-13-2009, 01:42 PM

very , very cool !!
great story too ...

i know i'll be watching tonight for sure !

kobass · #4 02-13-2009, 01:44 PM

Congrats, man!

DVR is set!

Cheers,
Kevin

StyleOverShow · #5 02-13-2009, 01:48 PM

NICE! I did the Johnny Carson with Johnny Mathis back in the 70's. Much the same experience and the 'snappy' cool of the theatre. I was behind a riser that covered my lower half so I only put on my tux from the waist up and left my short and sandals on (in Burbank, CA and it was a warm day) and Doc Severson made a big deal out of it as we set up during break. Enjoy yourself on TV.

-richard

Valerus · #6 02-13-2009, 01:52 PM

I'm watching your Conan video, great job! Your tone is killer!!

masmasbasso · #7 02-13-2009, 01:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by StyleOverShow

NICE! I did the Johnny Carson with Johnny Mathis back in the 70's. Much the same experience and the 'snappy' cool of the theatre. I was behind a riser that covered my lower half so I only put on my tux from the waist up and left my short and sandals on (in Burbank, CA and it was a warm day) and Doc Severson made a big deal out of it as we set up during break. Enjoy yourself on TV.

-richard

That's an awesome story.

excane · #8 02-13-2009, 01:54 PM

Awesome, I'll check it out.

**funkybass4ever** · #9 02-13-2009, 01:57 PM

i will be sure to check it out tonite

David J. · #10 02-13-2009, 02:02 PM

That's flippin' cool! I'll be watching

masmasbasso · #11 02-13-2009, 02:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Valerus

I'm watching your Conan video, great job! Your tone is killer!!

Thanks! I was a mess on that show. My SVT stopped working right before we went on. They said on in 30 secs. The light is on and nobody is home in the amp. I check the cables. 10 seconds. "Put me in the wedge!!!!!" They don't stop for anything, so I had to play with just the bass into the countryman DI in the wedge and no amp and obviously no mic signal. I sound checked with that fat SVT and 810 behind me so it was a much different experience. Now I'm really nervous about using SVT's on TV. I used an Aguilar rig on Letterman. The Conan experience was a nightmare and not the way you want your first experience on national TV to go down. But as they say, "what doesn't kill you just makes you stronger."

Hawaii Islander · #12 02-13-2009, 02:11 PM

Congrats!!!! Thanks for sharing your experiences with us. I'll be sure to watch the Letterman show tonight!

capnsandwich · #13 02-13-2009, 02:13 PM

LUCKY!!!

No, actually that's very cool and it gives me a reason to stay up tonight. I'll be watching you.

**peabody** · #14 02-13-2009, 02:19 PM

That would truly be cool. Congrats!

iamlowsound · #15 02-13-2009, 02:52 PM

Cool, I'll be sure to check it out. I don't like Letterman, but I'll tune in for the last 10 minutes. He does the musical guest at the end right?

lowsound

kesslari · #16 02-13-2009, 02:58 PM

Extremely cool. Much good to you.

Valerus · #17 02-13-2009, 03:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by masmasbasso

Thanks! I was a mess on that show. My SVT stopped working right before we went on. They said on in 30 secs. The light is on and nobody is home in the amp. I check the cables. 10 seconds. "Put me in the wedge!!!!!" They don't stop for anything, so I had to play with just the bass into the countryman DI in the wedge and no amp and obviously no mic signal. I sound checked with that fat SVT and 810 behind me so it was a much different experience. Now I'm really nervous about using SVT's on TV. I used an Aguilar rig on Letterman. The Conan experience was a nightmare and not the way you want your first experience on national TV to go down. But as they say, "what doesn't kill you just makes you stronger."

dude that would be so scary! but you rocked, I didn't hear any obvious mistakes or anything

derelicte · #18 02-13-2009, 03:13 PM

possibly the coolest thing i've seen/read all day! Congrats man! Will definitely dvr it!!

Rocker949 · #19 02-13-2009, 03:23 PM

I don't like Letterman at all and find him offensive, but getting to play on the show is a very impressive accomplishment. I hope to watch that.

Philbiker · #20 02-13-2009, 04:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by masmasbasso

I don’t come in until the chorus, so there is still a lot of time to think about how great this is and also how awful it would be if started dropping clams.

This had me laughing my ass off. I'll try to remember to watch and see how good you look and sound in High Def.