Cool. I did an open mic last night where the shoe was kind of on the other foot. I was backing up a friend who is an awesome metal and hard rock drummer and a pretty decent alt. blues-rock singer-songwriter and guitar player. But on guitar she keeps trying to step into "jazzy" playing, without actually being a jazz player or singer at all. It creates a mess for me and I'd rather just compromise on my end and play in a more straight ahead groove oriented way rather than walking and/or soloing over wonky changes that don't really speak or go anywhere. But still, playing out with someone who's been a close friend for a few decades has a lot going for it, and being able to call in a favor from a good drummer is always a nice card to be holding.
Good drummers are the people I need to keep closest. I have a few I consider good friends and I bend over backwards to keep them happy.
These guys last night did some of your typical guitar hero stuff, but they did it really well, which is refresing. They also had a fair number of originals. Those weren't bad, but I was grinning ear-to-ear when they got to the one where, at the end, they ripped off Larry Carlton at the end of "Kid Charlemagne" and freely acknowledged the steal. Makes me wonder where else I can get these guys to go. I have been dying to get with some players who had the chops to do something like "Don't Take Me Alive" or similar.
Oh yeah battery stores do a brisk business in the holiday season, that's for sure. Stingray runs on a battery but it's about as low maintenance a bass battery can be. The fewer the battery purchases, the better .... Back in the day it cost quite a bit to keep a battery cassette player going.
