Petes Saloon 4/13/12 Elmsford, New York

Our first show with Collette on vocals and she rose to the 80s occasion LIKE TOTALLY. Singing, talking to the crowd and performing with a finely honed finesse that comes with practice, perseverance and professionalism (The 3 P's) it was fun for me to see the "stage" Collette as the musician's in the band only play Loud, Soft, Slow or Fast at rehearsal whereas you don't get to see a front person really performing without a stage and a crowd.

Singing? Yes.
Performing? No.
Not even Marc Bolan or Bowie would,..... o.k. those are very special cases.

it builds a better beast.



With trepidation did I return to Pete's Saloon as they feature a stage perfect for a duo but NOT a Full band (6 of us there are). My previous experience onstage was so cramped that I broke a glass trying to get behind my own drum kit, Tonight went much much better after deciding that removing my Hi-Hat Cymbals from their spindle and stepping over the Hi-Hat and Cymbal stand was preferable to climbing behind my floor tom just to get the F**K in & out from behind the drum kit!!!

We received lots of compliments from the crowd which is always very nice and there were a few Hotties* dancing on the chairs protesting shows end.

After packing our gear up Collette handed me a mysterious weighty backpack that I thought might be J.C.'s but J.C. had left by the time I seeked out his vehicle so I checked the backpack's content's to find various camera's, cable's, boxes' and camera equipment,... not any of our's after which I returned it to the bar.

Then Collette double checked for her left behind Apple Laptop power cord which she found but also returned with a wayward guitar strap that belonged to the club we surmised and returned it to the bar.

Rob was waiting for the Printer/Scanner to come out the back on her return so we decided that Collette is the official innocent "Clepto" of the band, we will be visiting Guitar Center very soon en masse and in disguise.



"Who would cross the bridge of death must answer me these questions three, ere' the other side be seen"



Rob took a sharp turn on the highway and I unwittingly caught this scene in my camera's viewfinder.

This Is Show # 165

- Spike

The Saloon 4/6/12 New York City

Our first show at the Saloon on the upper east side of Manhattan turned out to be one of the shortest in recent memory not to any fault of the band or venue might I add. There was a raffle of ten thousand dollars that we knew was happening and promoted, after setting up we were asked to share the evening with the calling of the ticket numbers so it went kind of like this, White Wedding play 5 or 6 songs/Raffle for 20 minutes, this was repeated twice and then we played our last and third set consisting of 9 songs and finishing up the evening by 11:30 p.m. which was an early night and quite different than our planned 47 song set list, not that any of us are complaining.

And where did Diana get that Cool Belt ? (see above)

Steve was not happy due to the brevity of our sets so we tried paying him off with Money, Texas Chili, a couple of bottles of Cointreau and erasing some gambling debts. Unshakable he turned down all offers but did get a Texas Chili medium size to go.

Playing in little pockets or short displays (much like at the wedding 2 weeks ago) was pretty liberating to me as I played with more relaxed conviction and concentration during my windows onstage and did not find myself thinking ahead 10 songs on our set list.

The Saloon room offered a nice fat drum sound without the aid of miked amplification.



PULL THE STRINGS !!! (announced excitedly in a Martin Landau portraying Bela Lugosi voice)



(L to R) - Dave, Dave's Brother, Dave's Brother.



23h:08m:37s:12ms 04m06d2012y pre-tambourine attack (P.T.A.)



One of our fans decided to have some fun with Cyndi onstage and then became super animated during the Prince segment culminating in her and a friend hitting my cymbals with tambourines which I would usually welcome however the hand cue to end "Purple Rain" was coming up. Thankfully Rob escorted them offstage in a friendly and princely manner just in time for the end of the tune.

So much for being Ching-A-Linged by Hotties.



Keep It Dark.



The Suspender Brothers Are Ready To Rock You.



Prior to the show Jamie, Diana, Dave and myself ordered some Indian food at the bar in Mumtaz which was located right next door to The Saloon and I can Never pass up a Mulligatawny Soup (seen in this photograph as a "to go" item) which while very tasty was loaded with a bit too much pulverized Potato or something that was akin to pulverized Potato. Diana and Dave ordered the Chana Baji (Chick Peas cooked with Onions, Green Pepper & Spices served with Puffed Bread (Poori Bread) and Jamie got an order of Aloo Paratha (Bread stuffed with mildly spiced Potatoes) which was on the contrary "plenty fricckkin' spicy".



Poster and Online flyer for tonight's performance.



Our encore, the newest crowd pleaser Def Leppard's "Pour Some Sugar On Me".

This Is Show # 164

FLICKR

- Spike

Petes Saloon 11/18/11 Elmsford, New York

Nancy was kind enough to take a moment and snap a pic with Daryl Hall between sets.

On the ride up to Elmsford someone posed the question "Is Petes Saloon an Irish bar?" after which Rob surmised that "Pete" was an Irish name and I deduced that "Saloon" was kind of a white non-descript thing,.... turns out it didnt matter as Petes Saloon was more of a restaurant with a bar in it.

As we set up our gear the scents of it all was very enticing and Dave and myself decided we must order something. The taps were of average fare but Hey, We just played a Biergarten last week!!! Nothing Is Real.

The band played well enough but even setting up my drums catty cornered I was totally cramped for the evening, part of this phenomenon is due to the fact that the stage at Petes Saloon is smaller than even the one at O' Flanagans!!! Petes stage is roughly (6X12).

I would be lucky if I could present the Last Supper as performed by Squirrels wearing tutu's in this space.



Its amazing Our Singers managed to stay up there with us at all but for the first set or two they had no choice as the wait staff and customers were using the area right in front of the raised platform for table service and general locomotion, by the end of the night most of the band were all over the floor (in front of the raised platform and areas unexpected thereof).



Not one of my more comfortable shows as I had to crush myself between Cymbals, Cymbal Stands, Cables, Floor Tom, Gig Bag, Drum Stool, Stepping Over Dave's 5 string Bass Guitar and Bass Amp and railing to get behind the kit.

Right before we went on (as we were being introduced onstage by Rob) I knocked my drink over due to the lack of space and for just one pint glass it shattered Everywhere!!! behind the drum kit, on top of my Floor Tom and Snare Drum, I tossed the glass slivers aside but was in fear for the entire performance due to the shards at my heel (see pic).

You may ask why I did not get the staff to sweep it up, I would have if they could for the life of them even get behind there. The authorities were notified by the end of the evening so no further drummers or trombone players face possible injury.



This was Delicious and Really hit the spot, Roast Beef and Cheddar Sliders A La Perfection, there was something a little sweet in the Au Jus Gravy that made it just right, obviously their Secret Ingredient, and look at their construction, kinda messy on purpose. Dave had the Vegetable Curry Soup which he proclaimed "Indian Restaurant Quality" and he knows his Indian fare and Restaurant Quality and Indian Restaurant Quality soup.



The Callbox was its usual demented jumping self when we dropped off the Drums and P.A. around 3 a.m. I snapped this photo on our way out (note the vast amount of posteriors).



We returned the Zipcar to a 24 hour parking garage but had to summon the gatekeeper so I had the exciting privelige of ringing the Night Bell to arouse them from their slumber, you would think in all my years of living that I would have rung a 24 hour parking garage Night Bell before but NO I HAVE NOT. Well,.... Since I have yet to own a car or rent one (to drive as well) for that matter maybe it makes all the sense in the world that I have Never rung the Night Bell at a 24 hour parking garage.

BUT IT MAKES ME WANT TO RING THE BELL EVEN MORE!!!!

Pass the Grated Cheese Please.

- Spike