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Where Did The Good Ole' Days Go?
- Thread starter Aberdumbie
- Start date
Yup. We were the only ones doing it (I wonder why?), probably because the low wattage light bulbs didn't have enough oomph to really make us sparkle and shine (not that playing off key covers weren't awful enough).The ones used for the aluminum Xmas trees?? tacky but practical
In the 70's we and one other high school aged band were the only game in town. So we alternated dances on the weekends. We always had a packed house in gym sized halls. I miss how civilized and polished young people were compared to today. The girls wore dresses, did their hair, and behaved like young ladies. Guys didn't mind wearing a tie to a dance or to the church. They opened doors for ladies and answered adults with 'yes ma'am and yes sir.' When I was very young I remember even the parents dancing! These were usually city wide holiday dances, and in the middle the mayor would get up and speak. I remember how much we loved doing the 4th of July city dance.
We were doing a Fourth of July all-city dance when Vietnam started heating up and escalating. There was a young Alaska Native guy who had always been kind of small for his age, and the local leather jackets used to pick on him. Well, he had enlisted and was back after training getting ready to go over. He was wearing his beret and dress greens. One of the leather jackets--pretty big guy-- came up to mess with him and push him around. The guy touched him and the now Army soldier flipped him on his back so fast we didn't see it! He asked the guy if he was done and the guy said yes. Then he held out a hand and helped the guy up. The audience broke into a loud applause. That week he went to Vietnam and thank God returned home after his tour. But us old farts still talk about the time he flipped that big guy onto the floor!
How sad today that the young people don't have that sense of community. When I look at the way young kids are so isolated and segmented I wonder why they call it "social media." Nothing social about it! Who really has 500 "friends?" When I was young we "chatted" over coffee in a greasy spoon and a "social" was actually a physical event where you "socialized" with "real people."
On the band note, lol I remember builing coffee can lights. Our control footboard for the lights was made of a 1 x 6 plywood strip with hardware we bought from True Value! Speaker cabinets were very heavy and inefficient. One weekend at a high school dance one of our friends borrowed some pietrie dishes from the school lab and the overhead projector. He put up king size sheets behind us and did the hippie light show! Mixed colored water and oil, and it was very cool, uh for the time that is....
We were doing a Fourth of July all-city dance when Vietnam started heating up and escalating. There was a young Alaska Native guy who had always been kind of small for his age, and the local leather jackets used to pick on him. Well, he had enlisted and was back after training getting ready to go over. He was wearing his beret and dress greens. One of the leather jackets--pretty big guy-- came up to mess with him and push him around. The guy touched him and the now Army soldier flipped him on his back so fast we didn't see it! He asked the guy if he was done and the guy said yes. Then he held out a hand and helped the guy up. The audience broke into a loud applause. That week he went to Vietnam and thank God returned home after his tour. But us old farts still talk about the time he flipped that big guy onto the floor!
How sad today that the young people don't have that sense of community. When I look at the way young kids are so isolated and segmented I wonder why they call it "social media." Nothing social about it! Who really has 500 "friends?" When I was young we "chatted" over coffee in a greasy spoon and a "social" was actually a physical event where you "socialized" with "real people."
On the band note, lol I remember builing coffee can lights. Our control footboard for the lights was made of a 1 x 6 plywood strip with hardware we bought from True Value! Speaker cabinets were very heavy and inefficient. One weekend at a high school dance one of our friends borrowed some pietrie dishes from the school lab and the overhead projector. He put up king size sheets behind us and did the hippie light show! Mixed colored water and oil, and it was very cool, uh for the time that is....
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Our New Wave band in 1980-81 had some fans in the physics department of the college we all attended, including the profs. At one Art dept gallery show, one of the physics profs brought a small ring stand with a sheet of latex stretched across it with a small mirror chip on the latex, and placed in front of the PA speaker. He aimed one of the department's laser lights (which was a rarity in those days) at the mirror chip, which was angled to bounce on to a nearby wall. The sound waves provided quite the light show of constantly changing shapes, especially when we ended a song all on the same note, which created an infinity symbol. Low-budget, but relatively high-tech for the times....
We used to have to find porno in abandoned houses or trash dumpsters.
I found a pornographic Popeye comic book along the highway, back when trash lined every road. It made it clear why Olive Oil preferred Popeye over Bluto.
Back to band stuff, I remember the first time monitors were added to a band's setup. I thought it was weird to have speakers aimed back at the band.
P.A. systems were usually an afterthought for my early bands. "Oh yeah. How are they going to hear the singer?"
Remember getting your brains hit with feedback when you accidentally stood in front of the p.a. speakers? LOL So much for hearing yourself!
Sure do. I worked with a singer who would check to see if his mic was hot by holding it in front of the speakers. Smart guy. the funniest thing I ever saw was when someone turned the P.A. off in the wrong order causing it to make a horrendous noise for about twenty seconds before he figured out how to stop it. There was an old drunk sitting at the bar who shook, vibrated and trembled during the noise. His arms and legs started flipping around like he was in an electric chair with no restraints. He finally yelled at us to cut it out. It was hilarious to watch.
I'm 16 and I use an old 4x10 cab I found at the dump and I sawed the amp off an old peavey tnt my dad got off eBay for 99p I don't actually own anything newer than 20 years old despite my age. Even having not experienced "the old days" botching is the way to go.
I think enough time has passed that it would be hipster chic again!
Something I only saw once and I do want to see it again because it was hilarious. We were doing a multi-band show, and there was one band who had a guy with a handheld flashlight, he'd point it at the featured bandmember at the appropriate time, and then shake it back and forth for a strobe light effect. This combined with the color wheel would have been great!
A friend of mine made a flash pot ignition system by splicing a blade switch into a line cord, with the AC being exposed when it was plugged in :O I told him that we could do it safely with a 9V battery and some model rocket engine ignitors and the powder from the engines. His dad, who was an electrical engineer, saw it and flipped out. He liked my idea better, and the three of us made a safe, good looking box with switches and LED indicators and labels and everything haha. I wonder if my friend still has it.
A friend of mine did sound and managed a band before I met him. He said they would take flash paper and put it in all the ashtrays, when the cigarette would touch it, it would flame up quickly and brightly. I never witnessed this.
Thankfully smoking isn't allowed anywhere that I play. I don't miss smelling like smoke the entire night.
Like all things, some were great, some not so great. I'd like to pick and choose what I could have back.
Back in the eighties our first homade PA we used for practice was a CB radio. We had an external metal horn type speaker plugged into the jack in the back of the CB and the CB mic was used as the mic for vocals. As crazy as it was, it served the purpose at the time.
Does anyone remember the square tan metal outdoor speakers? They looked pretty robust and rugged but still sounded like a speaker announcing Revilie!
Anyway, in the late 60's a band I liked in Juneau Alaska had two of those square speakers. I think they bought them from used military surplus. ....
Yup. Iron > blue steel > Swee'Pea.
Swee'Pea didn't really arrive in a box on Popeye's doorstep.
