Bunnies, Basses, Busting Rhymes

Okay, the haze has lifted from the brain and I've processed the weekend, measured the intestines, and ready to deliver a sausage of a post. Woah, did I really end that last sentence like that? Well, whatever...I've learned a lot of lessons this weekend.

WAITING FOR SATURDAY

- Nick is a bit nervous. That's just the way he is. However, driving 90 MPH while looking for your lighter and steering with your knees doesn't exactly leave me relaxed. Drives like that are a fun way to begin an extended weekend. You get out of the car and wonder how you made it in one piece...it makes the rest of the weekend a breeze, actually.

- Plant a seed in my head and it will probably grow. Before I left town, a thought hit me while in the shower. What if I bought a decent sounding fretted bass for the show. My first electric bass is a piece of shit anyway. I'll make it a present to myself for gutting through a three years creative burst of five, count 'em, five original songs. I laughed off the though at first, but at the music store on Friday....I bought myself a little present. Note to self: Don't forget to turn the screws in three weeks.

- Get 8 adults in their early-to-mid 20's to put on bunny suits and see what happens. After being a fork twice, a robot, and a walking pun for Halloween, I joined the group of bunnies. Some people laughed, some idiot complained that we were all guys, and some people thought it was freaky. The best part about the pack of bunnies running around was the fact that we got International students from China to stand us up as a group to take a picture.

- I don't practice much of anything. I barely play my bass, pick up the guitar for probably twenty minutes a week, or even sat down to memorize my own words. I just sit on this and rely only on what talent I have left when it comes to performing music. For the first time in a long time, I actually didn't feel musically prepared. Then I realized that everybody has memorized each other's lyrics and can help out in a pinch. It made me less nervous for the hip-hop portion of the night.

SATURDAY: ROCK

- Big-ass stage set up...big speakers...banners, backstage passes...so this is what it feels like when you're a 'rockstar'. An actual soundcheck/linecheck hours before the headliner? Did I wake up on saturday to find myself in an episode of 3-2-1 Contact where they teach us how a Kiss show is set up? No, it was show day for the big Halloween party.

- Rain doesn't scare crowds away on a big night. People will still show up if a crowd gathers and music is loud. While small at first, as the night went on the crowd slowly grew. However, water and a lot of electricity doesn't seem like a good idea. I guess if no one gets shocked in three hours of rain and music, my odds were pretty small, too.

- Backstage, a show is never without its drama. Nothing ever goes as planned. Luckily, there were 50 cans of Redbull on hand. I'd hate for the night to bore the backstage people to sleep. I don't even know how many of cans were consumed. It was free though.

- Blu-blockers, a cigar, a ratty moustache, and a bunny suit = very sleazy looking guy. Awesome.

- Chicks like dudes on stage. It doesn't matter what you're playing. If it has a beat that they can dance to, they'll eat it all up. In the front rows, all the ladies were eating it all up. What's the deal with that? The stage featured a law student, an engineer, a corporate shill, a bartender, and a computer nerd. There's something about fog, colored lights, and loud music that hypnotizes these ladies to drool. It was surreal.

- Dudes don't mosh to Aerosmith. They've never moshed to our originals. They were moshing at pretty much anything. Again, a surreal sight to a self-depreciating person like myself. At the end of the show, there were a few crowd surges towards the front. For a second there I thought bedlam was going to break out. Then it poured.

- I got hit in the face with a wet Nerf Ball.

EARLY SUNDAY MORNING: HIP-HOP

- Just like at Mifflin, I had to walk from stage to stage. This time, THA 446 show followed Roomservice. I had just enough time to get to the next show. I was able to wallow through the crowds, greet a former neighbor briefly, and shake a few hands in just a few minutes. As I strolled in, the show already started. Note to self: you can't do this anymore.

- Ten bunnies on stage and ten of their friends makes for an interesting sight. I have yet to see the video of this. Towards the end of the show, the crowd and the stage participants may or may not have been the same number.

- I was focused on delivering clear and concise verses. In the studio, you can break it out and in any number of passes, you can get the a clear verse on record. In live practice, you will almost certainly miss something or have a hard time keeping up with the beat. I should have practiced more. However, for a few fleeting moments, the beat moved in slow motion and I felt like I had hours at a time to deliver a line. So that's what it feels like to actually rap.

- The Megaphone on stage was the closest thing we had to a DJ...it was awesome.

- This turned out to be the most fun I've had in a long, long time.

LATE SUNDAY MORNING

- Now I know why rockstars need so much sex after shows. At the end of the night, I was exhausted. However, I was way overstimulated and my mind couldn't relax. The only thing that would have put me to sleep was...well....you know. That was not to be. I lived the day like a rockstar...but at night, it was back to being me. During my time staring at the ceiling and listening to people slam doors and shout things in the hallways, the fire alarm at 4:30 actually soothed me. I needed a constant frequency of some sort to put my mind closer to rest...and that's the kind of night I had.

YEP...THAT'S THE WEEKEND

- I've been good about not worshiping my cell-phone, but without it...I felt lost. That's pretty sad. I need to put the cell-phone down more and live the landline life once in a while.

- Congrats to Shug for getting a job and entering the work-a-day world. Its the best feeling in the world to start something career worthy after months of frustration. For him, the next year will be a blur.

- I step away from the Bucks for two days and they win two in a row in impressive fashion. This happened last season, too. When I don't pay attention, they play well and win. Should I stop paying attention to my favorite team and just pretend like I know what is going on with the Bucks?

. . [~] . 0 (Grumble) Grumbles .