What music are you guys playing as we are kicking off March? Hopefully most of you have a current gig. Share, please!
Greetings ETTB-ers! I just discovered that in the effort to clean up my watched threads, I lost track of this one somewhere along the line. I missed you guys!
My new band, File Under Kudzu (an IRS-era-only R.E.M. Tribute band based in W NC) has its first gig at Static Age, a vinyl store/bar/performance room in Asheville, on Saturday March 9. "Room" is being generous--it's really a small cinderblock box! But we appreciate the opportunity to play; we've been rehearsing every other week for a few months and we're getting itchy. The guitarist and drummer are family men, and only have weekends available, so breaking into a new scene has been difficult, as we can't do open mics on Tuesdays or "new faces night" mid week. Plus--limited audience for a band that refuses to play the "hits" from the later albums. But this is the music we like from them, so.
Learning Mike Mills parts has been eye-opening. I was in a variety rock band in the 80’s when a friend gave me a mix tape with Chronic Town and Murmur on it, and I don't think I ever paid attention to the bass lines. The BL for File Under Kudzu has said he thinks Mike's fretboard work was more in keeping with the rhythm guitarist in any other band, and I think he's right. Not so much chords--though there are plenty of double- and triple-stops--but just the melodic and harmonic content. I'm finally grasping (no pun intended) how to play with a pick. It's been a BLAST.
I also just got picked up for Madame Buttermilk at the Barter Theater in Abingdon for mid-April-into-May. @Michael Vee , check it out--a theater that pays a fair wage!
Like, to everyone. Actors, dancers, etc. They're even pitching in $10/day for driving from outside the region (it's about an hour for me). I guess that's what being a State theater gets you! (Not that I'm complaining about other theater gigs that pay very little--I love the work, as do you, I know)
That's my wrap for March and April. Nothing else on the docket (and can't fit anything in around Buttermilk, anyway). I am going to be playing in the pit for Bright Star (the Steve Martin, Edie Brickell show) in June in Greeneville at the Capitol Theater. Let me know if anyone wants to come and see that--they don't pay, so I negotiate free tickets when I can. I'll remind you in a couple months.
@JEDI BASS added his schedule. What's everyone else doing?
