| Town Hall New Year's reception gig
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Tonight was our town's New Years reception, a somewhat new tradition apparently (I had never heard of it) that has been going on for a few years now. Through a guy we know in town hall, my rockabilly band The Dapper Dans got booked to play a 45 minute set. Good money (for our standards anyway), early appearance on a Sunday. What's not to like? Well, it being outdoors on a small stage could have been nicer, but that aside.
Nice sound check with a guy who knew what he was doing. He kept our guitarist in check, which meant low volume on that side of the stage but hey, I know these songs well enough to know where we are. Usually, anyway. Second song into the set (our cover of Elvis' rendition of "My Baby Left Me") and my D-string breaks. Like a trooper I played on. Wish I could say it was unnoticeable but I realised I need to spend more time learning where to find the notes instead of relying on patterns. Luckily, at one point a few years ago, someone on a different forum had offered some bass strings he was replacing, and I accepted his offer. We finished the song, I found a D-string and restrung my bass. At that point I realised my tuner's batteries were also dead so I tuned by ear. Thank god I at least spend SOME time on that, occasionally.
We played well. Chopped our set in two bits so the major could give a speech. He managed to pull out a cable whilst on stage, so when we got back up all our monitors were dead. Quickly resolved, luckily, and we played on. Some bum notes and I messed up the rhythm in "Rock This Town". Have to relearn that song. Played a solo in "Stray Cat Strut" but then our singer decided to go to the bridge while I nodded to the guitarist to take a solo. Bit of a mess for about two measures. Like I said, I think we played well. Thanked the sound guy for getting us good sound on stage.
I think I am going to take my part of the money and get me a set of flatwounds. Oh and I am never playing a gig without some kind of backup bass (left the upright at home for this one). | 
