Private Party - Fontana's Bar 3/31/12 New York City

A Kick Ass crowd kept us energized all night long and they Rocked Hard keeping the band firing on all pistons and the room entertained thoroughly. Thank you All very much you Lunatics (Elvis was there too).

Tonight there was a partial back line so I only had to bring down my Snare Drum, Cymbals, Kick Pedal and Hi-Hat Clutch that was accomplished via Subway which was a relief (Phew). We were playing a return engagement for an lively 80s reunion party from last year so expectations were riding high and rightly so, the crowd were ready for us from the get-go and it was "these go to eleven" from the start, storm clouds brewed however. Eric broke his "D" string (the fourth string) towards the end of the first set and his Floyd Rose Tremelo snapped it again during restringing causing two breaks and NO replacement "D" string on hand so it was a night of transposing for our fearless guitar player (string theory indeed). To add fuel to the fire my Evans Snare Drum head popped towards the end of the second set but fortunately I had time and a replacement head on hand to remedy that situation for the third set.

Bottom Line, Only the band noticed.



Trying to rescue the D string between sets proved formidable and impossible since the string broke twice, once during performance and once during repair. I blame Floyd Rose Tremelo Systems..... BASTARDS !!!



Look, its the D string, Where is Michio Kaku ?.

And Why is Dave conversing with a KKK member ?



"Tonight we're going to party like its 1986!!!"
(so said Rob at the beginning of our set, deviating by a year from 1985)



the vice squad is taking Nancy in for violation of 80s Diva green card status (neon green of course).



the class of 86 is a Wild Bunch !!! I witnessed it.



sniffle,... tonight was Nancy's last show with us and even though we knew it was coming I paid extra attention to her formidable voice and figure on stage with us, being an original member of the Airwaves we went through so much in the trenches for a few years building up our reputation and paying the "dues" that most bands do playing for free, eating badly (OK we never did that, well They didn't), working hard rehearsing, becoming better musicians/ensemble players and losing sleep for the common goal of success in the little 80s band pet project that Mike and ourselves started together which has grown into a lucrative vehicle for all involved especially my car service driver.

As I said to Nancy tonight "See what you started You troublemaker"

I have made a lifelong friend and it was a pleasure backing up such a fine singer and talented bandmate,.... I am talking about Nancy here folks.

I used to call her our "secret weapon" because whatever male singer we had at the time would come out and warm up the crowd sufficiently and then came Nancy's turn with her looks and charisma but especially the voice completely winning the audience over in those early days of the band, So I firmly stand by my words "See what you started you troublemaker" and might I add that I was and am proud to serve with you then, now and next time.



The last Nancy showcase number at the end of our third set. I was just trying to capture the audio here and luckily the camera caught this angle. Yes the drums are loud, the camera was laying on my jacket just behind the Hi-Hat pedal.



Eric's new vocal showcase, "Your Love" by The Outfield.



This Is Show # 163

- Spike

Wedding/Vineyard Caterers 3/24/12 Aquebogue, New York

It all began with the Tarantula.

He of effeminate qualities but doing a dickens of a job performing maitre d'/wedding coordinator duties at the lovely (Shining-esque) Vineyard Caterers of Aquebogue, New York.

We arrived thusly on a slightly cooler day of the week at a chillier sixty or so degrees in temperature amongst cloudy skies to set up our gear at this wedding reception and were asked to take our sign down by Tarantula (fair enough we were independently hired).

Shortly after Dave asked if there was a place to store our keyboard, guitar cases and costume bag to which Tarantula replied "right this way booby" with accompanying "buddy" arm on back.

Later during appetizer's Rob was coordinating wedding party intro's/band start time whilst receiving accompanying "buddy" elbow peccadilloes from the Tarantula as well.

He also liked the band and told us so, well we did do a smashing job and I am pleased Tarantula liked us as well, I wound up liking him too.

J.C. is responsible for the "T" moniker, you ask him.

Dave and Rob remain disturbed by the incidents, Fab fellow was he though.



There was a Mariachi band serenading the guests during cocktail hour and into the dining hall where we shared performance duties with DJ Lane of All Around Sound DJ's.

The band played exceptionally well providing an 11 Song opening set of songs including Eric's (unplanned and impressive) vocal debut of "Your Love" by the Outfield and a last minute request of "Billie Jean", an 8 Song dinner set of quieter music (which I love to play) and a 11 Song Dancey Dance Party set that had the room grooving and up on the dance floor for our entire performance. A Great reception and fun crowd for White Wedding.



Over the bridge and through the woods to grandmother's house we go.



I was very much looking forward to the appetizer friendly cocktail hour and to compliment my glass of Cabernet Sauvingmignon I procured an accompanying plate of (from 9 o' clock) Eggplant Rollatini, Swiss & Cheddar Cheese, Chicken Francaise, Prosciutto & Gourmet Seeded Cracker's (probably of the water kind) which was followed by an irresistible plate of Fried Calamari (I Blame J.C.) and then for Dinner appetizers Fresh Mozzarella, Tomato, Basil Antipasto and a Delicious Salad with a Sesame (Peanutty tasting) Vinaigrette followed by Stuffed Chicken with Squash and Roasted Potatoes in a Lemon Sauce (She DID say Mashed, She DID!!!) with Red Velvet Cake A La Mode for Dessert.

But more about the SALAD.

Dave (to Spike) - "What's the crunchy stuff in the salad ?"

Spike (to Dave) - "Croutons, Wait!,... I think its Captain Crunch."

J.C. (to Spike & Dave) - "Are You F**king kidding me, I said it wuz Walnuts"

and it was.



NYC Still Life.

This Is Show # 162

- Spike

Zeppelin Hall 3/23/12 Jersey City,New Jersey

As can be seen I popped my Bass Drum head which only lasted me 17 shows !!! fortunately for me it broke during the third set. I think its because I have settled for the Remo Ambassador head as opposed to my preferred Remo Powerstroke head (store out of stock) or maybe its just time to try out an Evans Bass Drum Head, she is working nicely on the Snare Drum.

While not quite as crowded as Zeppelin Hall on St. Patty's Day there was still a turnout of appreciative onlookers and quite a few people taking photos of us without the help of Michael Jackson as Rob and Diana carried the main stage while the band held the rear down. Eric and myself are building a little camaraderie wherein I gawk at his little guitar tricks (L.G.C.) mid-song and he plays them while I speed up tempo (NONONO!!!). Being Zeppelin Hall we took a car service SUV back into the city and tonight's cargo was Jamie, Diana, Collette, Eric, Rob and myself so the car ride could be called anything but boring. We learned that Eric's fingertips have an upward turn and that Rob is double-jointed (the medical term not the other kind of joint). Premiered tonight was the Def Leppard anthem "Pour Some Sugar On Me"



I Love Rock & Roll !!!



Consigliere Amadeus Deniro.



Diana on Vocals and Guitar.



Diamond Dave sideways (until Photobucket fixes it)
addendumb - photobucket fixed it (5 hours later)



The Charming, Talented and Vivacious Eric Bair (he must be the new guy in the band what with me being so nice and all)



From the looks of this photo Rob is channeling his Kundalini into blue light.



Shiny Drums and cartoon "SESSION" drummer.



Jamie Girl & Eric.



.J.C., Uber-fan Giseli & Spike.



Philly Cheese Steak with Cheesy Sauce.

This Is Show # 161

- Spike

Zeppelin Hall 3/17/12 Jersey City,New Jersey

I poured myself silly trying to find the words to describe the photo above and then I realized that poured was the proper spelling.

Zeppelinhall was packed for the St. Patricks Day festivities so we tagged Van Halen's "Jump" and Poison's "Talk Dirty to Me" to the beginning of our first set to jump start an packed and up audience already, clever aren't we. This was one of our better crowds so the energy was there to feed off of and the band played just beyond our regular performance level on excitement alone. There was a fellow who took up the small space on my drum perch for the end of the first set and thoroughly enjoying our performance only to return for the second set. Excited during the U2 portion of our show he took a dive from off the stage after which so did Bono much to the crowd and bands delight.



Rob mid-flight. Dave was laughing it up with J.C. over the previous stage dive and had his back against this, I screamed "DAVE!!!DAVE!!!DAVE!!!' to get his attention to turn around and see this spectacle.



The $8.95 Corned Beef & Cabbage Dinner, Most Tasty but not enough Cabbage and Heavy on the Potatoes. I'm not complaining.





This Is Show # 160

- Spike

O' Flanagans - 3/16/12 - New York City

Be they regulars at the bar or fans of ours it was Great to hear people in the audience yelling "WHITE FU**ING WEDDING !!!" so we had return visitors from December 17th whence the "WW" Battle Cry was first coined,..... Nice.

O' Flanagans always offers up a different crowd for us and we had our gaggle of new fans tonight that all had a Blast ourselves included. Right as we went on Rob in his Bono guise retorted to a heckler "Pogue Mahone" * which had me crying with laughter from the drum stool. I played so much better than last week thanks to the antibiotics and the antibiotics never heard such music or for that matter the Cure which also went over very nicely tonight veritably changing the architecture of the dance floor. Eric had bar patron Caesar who looked a lot like Ray Collins in finger watching awe at his Purple Rain guitar solo which also held my attention enough that I thought I missed my part while listening to Eric, So much so that I asked Dave "did I miss my cue ?" to which I thankfully got the reply "no". Also of interest after our first set a young man approached me and asked if I was using Pro-Mark drum sticks to which I affirmed positive, he claimed to be a relative of the original owners which was kinda cool and just to notice the brand name stripe on the stick is enough, what do you think I do when I'm watching drummers ? I'm looking for the stripe!!!.

* - a variant of the Irish phrase póg mo thóin, meaning "kiss my arse"



Tonight was Nancy's last public show with the band but we are trying not to make a big deal of it. I have been wistfully nostalgic as of late with the original 80s band of yore just because they aren't there anymore but everyone is going for big things, Nancy is looking to get out of the city and I applaud that wholeheartedly brave girl. Above is a photo of 1/2 of The Airwaves or White Wedding MARK l (L to R) Spike, Dave, Nancy. OOPS J.C. heard his name, he turned around, gotta love that guy.



Broke a stick at the gig, Well, It Happens !!! (iPhone pic)



Ibanez S series, Mahogany Body, Purple Finish, 20 year vintage.



"and you were there, and so were you, and you and,... and Toto too"



Not Dr. Smith nor Blacksmith, It's Robert Smith.



White Wedding has achieved lighter aloft status.



Nancy belting it out.



A Real Banner Pic.



Dave - "I would never put anything in Nancy's drink and she would never suspect such behavior from me as well"

Nancy - (thinking) I feel kinda funny like somebody put something in my drink

Jamie and myself took car service in to allow for "munching" time but as happens O' Flanagans asked us to start our performance at 10:30 as opposed to 11 P.m. (Well,... There goes the Soup to Nuts, or even just the Soup). I had ten minutes to scarf down some Nachos Supreme (pictured above) of which I did and then lived on Snickers (Peanut Butter), Munchos and Blue Moon the rest of the evening.





This Is Show # 159

FLICKR

- Spike

1st & 10 Sports Bar 3/10/12 New Milford, Connecticut

The 1st and 10 Sports bar of New Milford is a nice room decked out in TV monitors like any sports bar should and reminded me a bit of JCs Restaurant except with more and bigger monitors. We had a crowd of dancers and a couple of birthday parties to announce by chance as well. Diana and Eric continue to "settle in" to the band as happens with experience. Tonight's newest prop was a "Rock Star" guitar Diana brought for the Joan Jett segment. premiered was "You Might Think" by the Cars and we were also treated to a unique rendition of "Walking On Sunshine" as sung by Rob.

Probably my worst performance with the band ever not that anyone in the audience could or would notice but I did completely flub the double sticking 16th note pattern at one point in "Safety Dance" which took a second to recover as I cursed out loud. There is zero tolerance to fluctuate the beat in any dance band, after all "The Beat is the Feet" and they will notice. Tempo on the other hand is always variable but tonight each band member asked me to SLOW DOWN at least once and sometimes thrice, lesser men would feel they were being picked on. Couple this with the fact that I was feeling under the weather and did not want to play this show at all for love or money and you can see I had a nice time. Well,.... there was Peanut Butter Cake !!!! who needs love or money.



Diana from my vantage point.



aah, to see our name up in lights, this was the ad in the mens restroom.



I see at least one person on their mobile device, can you spot anyone else ?

This Is Show # 158

- Spike

Heritage Bar - 3/3/12 Yonkers, New York

Tonight was our first performance with Diana and I walked away most impressed with her vocal prowess of which I heard not one single sour note and as a testament to her as a performer this was only the second or third time she sang these songs EVER!!! much less with White Wedding. On a personal note I do regret not informing her of the Heritage Pub's band policy (Free Food) and our new singer was left eating Pricey Imported British Potato Chips (that she paid for).



Beach Blanket Bono.



Power To The People.



The band played well AND WE SHOULD performing and rehearsing about ten times a month as Eric settles into his guitar chair and I settle into my Chicken Quesadilla, Oh Wait that wasn't tonight.

Rob had me hysterical like always and tonight Panacea (she was named after a RUSH song that I have since learned is called "Panacea" Thanks Jamie) and her table rooted Rob on by saying "We like you, You're Weird!!!" which of course Rob ran with then performed "Turning Japanese" WW Style in response to such an inspired compliment.

Sean got me and the kit drums to the show tonight, Bless him AND his EZpass, and his Angry Birds ways, and his Pink Floyd "The Wall" "Nobodys Home" lamp/reading chair setup at home and getting me and the kit drums to the show tonight.



There was a particular blonde woman in the audience who was dancing quite effortlessly, energetically and gracefully in a set of stiletto heels that impressed me a great deal,.... or did I dream it....



After our first set (and before our second) I adjourned to our table to sample Dave's and my menu choice of the night, Asian Steak Egg Rolls (seasoned steak with asian style vegetables rolled served in a crispy wonton in a thai garlic chili sauce $9.50) which were most outstanding served over the famous Heritage Bar salad which is also the Chicken Quesadilla bed that had impressed me in the past,... HEY WAITTAMINNIT!!!! That wasn't Thai Garlic Chili Sauce, that was like Ranch Dressing!!! Delicious just the same.

This Is Show # 157

FLICKR

- Spike