|
|
Joined:
November 2004
Posts: 100
Location: Asheville, North Carolina | Fellow Ovationites,
The pick storage thread led me to post this topic. What is the strangest location you have played or practiced?
I often put a stool in the bathroom and play into the mirror...am I nuts or so vain....? The acoustics are great! Also played on the roof of an RV at the Swannanoa Gathering Festival last year...It's a good thing there was a fiddler and and a mandolinist up there with me. :eek: |
|
| |
|
Joined:
August 2002
Posts: 8307
Location: Tennessee | In the best Newleyweds Game response of all time ...
"That'd be in the butt, Bob." |
|
| |
|
Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 10583
Location: NJ | I used to play at a coffeehouse in the seventies that was at rutgers Univ in camden. The buiding was originally a hspt. the warm up room was the old morgue. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
November 2004
Posts: 100
Location: Asheville, North Carolina | Stonebobo...not what I had in mind, but that was indeed a pretty funny answer. :o |
|
| |
|
Joined:
December 2003
Posts: 46
Location: South Portland, ME | A Thai restaurant this summer and the owner requested a lot of Dead and Dylan... |
|
| |
|
Joined:
November 2004
Posts: 382
Location: USA | I find the kitchen and the bathroom to be the hot spots. :D |
|
| |
|
Joined:
May 2002
Posts: 3005
Location: Las Cruces, NM | The most nervous was at a trailer park on top of a mountain around Escondido, CA in a thunderstorm with lightning striking within sight and the audience of park residences and guests so good that we just couldn't bring ourselves to quit until we got a rain deluge that dispersed us and the audience. I kept expecting lightning to leap out of the mikes and fry us in the middle of Orange Blossom Special.
Bailey |
|
| |
|
Joined:
June 2002
Posts: 6202
Location: Phoenix AZ | Funeral Home. In my early 20's my friend Rick's father passed away. Rick and I played in my first garage band in highschool. Anyway, at the wake I played Desparado and Rick sang the vocals. Not sure why he chose that song. But it was pretty cool and we got through it OK. I played a 1117 Legend. I rememeber the strangest thing about it was not the playing, but walking into and out of a funeral home with a guitar case in my hands. Very weird.
Not to be morbid, but thinking ahead to my own eventual demise I'd like to have something similar. So here is the official invitation for Paul Moody to sing and play "Gentle On My Mind" at my wake. And I want him to play it on one MY guitars. That would be about the best send off I could imagine. And NO, Moody you don't get to keep the guitar! |
|
| |
|
Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 14842
Location: NJ | In a '70 Volkswagen Beetle while waiting in line for vehicle inspection at the DMV . . in a snowstorm. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
June 2002
Posts: 164
Location: Denton, Texas | Way back in the early 1970's(73-74)I would take my guitar along on the C-130 "Hercules" freighter and on layover in San Francisco at the Canterbury Hotel on Sutter St. I would go up to the rooftop and sit up there and practice, with my first Ovation Classical guitar. :) |
|
| |
|
Joined:
August 2003
Posts: 2246
Location: Yucaipa, California | Late 1972-1974... USS Oriskany, CVA 34... I was in "Weapons" Division (Nuclear Weapons Tech) and whenever we were in port and the nukes were offloaded, the weapons magazines were empty... plugged my '70 Les Paul Custom into a "Big Muff PI" and cranked it up! :eek: |
|
| |
|
Joined:
December 2003
Posts: 13996
Location: Upper Left USA | I can’t top Mr. “finger on The Red Button” Chapman but I can add a little. In my apprenticeship as a Rigger in a Naval Shipyard I kept a nylon strung “Winston” in my ever-moving locker. From the flight decks of carriers to the depths of the Drydocks, many holds and compartments were fair game to find a place to “resonate”. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
December 2004
Posts: 370
Location: Isle of Man, UK | I once played on a Tall Ship out at sea, back in 2000 (although possibly 2001). She was called Kaskelot.
The band I was in at the time had been booked to provide a bit of acoustic music, so myself (with Ovation #1) and the band played away. I'm proud to say that it never crossed our minds to play "Sailing", or "Leaving on a Jet Plane"!
The plan was for a quick trip round the Bay, and back to harbour, but the weather and wind was favourable, so we were taken down to the south of The Island, and coached back. A wonderful day.
I was also stood in the right place at the right time with one of my band mates - we were handed the end of a piece of rope, and told to pull. We realised that we had just helped to raise the mainsail.
A magical experience that I will never forget.
JB |
|
| |
|
Joined:
November 2004
Posts: 100
Location: Asheville, North Carolina | GREAT STORIES KEEPEM COMING! Come on folks I know some of you have played some strange places and times.... ;) |
|
| |
|
Joined:
May 2002
Posts: 1445
Location: Nova Scotia, Canada | Like Dave, I've played a few funerals over the years but the most unusual was the last one ...with a boot stompin' fiddler playing jigs and reels as a send-off for the old fella in the coffin.
Wayne |
|
| |
|
Joined:
February 2004
Posts: 47
Location: Seattle Tacoma Washington | Well, The most interesting place I've played is on the top of Mt Rainier. Little spot up top that lots of people hang out on a summer day, and they looked at me like I was out of my mind to bring a guitar. It was a Martin Backpacker, but I really didn't care if I fell on it and broke it. Such is the life of one of those. Nobody cares. That is why I'd never take one of my Ovations up there.
Glenn :D |
|
| |
|
Joined:
August 2002
Posts: 8307
Location: Tennessee | On the Haupstrasse in Heidelberg (sometimes in a light snow) ... as a foreign exchange university student it was the best and easiest way to scramble up some food and drink money. I had a Takamine 12 string at the time, which reflected off the stone buildings and cobblestone walk so that the music literally cascaded up the street. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
November 2004
Posts: 1374
| BTW the really great thing bout the OSHA job was I was Fresh out of High School...We were given a brand new company K5 GMC Jimmy w/24ft med and sampling Trailer our "territory was basically anywhere east of the Mighty Miss...out for 2 weeks then home for 1..great company per-diem,plus paid portal to portal....saw over 40 great concerts in 25 different cities all on the company t*t....but to this day wonder bout the poor Jake's who's hearing I was testing with super-tinnitus ringing going on in my own head..and the BLthroughC attitudes of the time also funded (unknowingly) by the great Company we worked for.....weren't those old carbon credit card reciepts and an amicable service station attendant just wonderful.... |
|
| |
|
Joined:
November 2004
Posts: 1374
| agreeable....I meant agreeable....oh well here it comes... |
|
| |
|
Joined:
July 2002
Posts: 280
Location: Waterloo, IL | USS Austin, gator freighter. Played my Balladeer going across the pond to the Med, across the med, throught the Suez to the Indian Ocean, up and through the Persian Gulf, and then all the way back during nine months. Had to get my playing time in each day. Had a friend that took his Celebrity into Croatia and Iraq with him. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
May 2002
Posts: 3005
Location: Las Cruces, NM | Does playing my lap steel with my brother and our guitar playing friend Bill, in a barn in the middle of an Ohio winter in front of a bunch of cows (who seemed to love it) count as a strange place? |
|
| |
|
Joined:
October 2004
Posts: 256
Location: chicago | in the mid ninties the bass player in our band worked in an office building were they did video editing,and i distincly remember just after playing king crimsons RED someone came down from the upstairs editing room and said you have got to turn it down it was Bill Curtis he did his editing for A&E channel up there and maybe the bleed over was just to much for the justice files...wow good times |
|
| |
|
Joined:
April 2003
Posts: 2503
Location: Fayetteville, NC | In the early 80's I rehearsed for an upcoming gig in a remote Countryside Location near Asheboro, NC. Not strange sofar, but it was by a river and Right across from an abandoned factory and just a few steps away from an old cemetary. It was nice and quiet,. and noone complained..Guess the residents of the cemetary loved my stuff. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
August 2002
Posts: 623
Location: Lake Hiawatha, New Jersey | Rumor has it, but I'll never fess up, that I occasionally practice guitar while on my treadmill. No one has ever seen me do that with an O in hand, but I heard someone quip that they saw me playing my 4lb. Parker while trying to shed the lbs off. A fast, steady walking pace might be the limit if that were true.
Not quite as hard as it might seem, though focus is the name of the game. One wrong step and one will find him/herself tossed across the room with a headstock lodged in thine left nostril.
I believe it was Stephen Covey who suggested the idea of synergistic 'time management'. S'pose there are those fools who might take that to an extreme. Nonetheless, it might be considered that walking steady while playing makes the body a pretty decent metronome.
Back in '89, I was kicked out of a band to be replaced by a guy who could ride a unicycle while playing like Eddie Van Halen (wireless, of course). So, stranger and more challenging things have been done while playing guitar.
Of course, there are no plans to be the first minstrel in the NY marathon. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
May 2002
Posts: 3005
Location: Las Cruces, NM | unixycler
I was born and raised around Conneaut on Lake Erie near the Pennsylvania line. Still have many relatives there, but I left for California with my wife and 3 kids in 1962 and haven't spent much time there since. Don't miss it when I see that they are getting lake effect snowstorms recently.
I suspect that you might have left for the same reason, am I right?
Muddy Lemon Davis Bailey ;) |
|
| |
|
Joined:
June 2004
Posts: 271
Location: Ft. Lauderdale, Florida | Only place I can "HEAR" my self unplugged is standing in the corner of my tiled shower...
The wife and daughter think it's a bit wierd... but remember I started playing a BANJO at 50 yrs old (only 1-1/2 yrs ago)and that group is ALL wierd!!!
Tile corner seems much better than mirror and I wouldn't dream of standing in a fiberglass shower... no no not for this purist!!!
Any one have any parabolic shower designs I can try...
AB |
|
| |
|
Joined:
August 2003
Posts: 2246
Location: Yucaipa, California | .... parabolic showers? Well, this is about as close as I could find... :D
Round Showers |
|
| |
|
Joined:
June 2004
Posts: 580
Location: NW NJ | I was leading worship at a funeral at the Jersey shore one windy afternoon. There were about 30 people standing on the beach and the wind was really blowing off the water. I had decided to use my Adamas SMT and was banging it like crazy so the crowd could even hear the music enough to sing "Great Is Thy Faithfulness". Wile we were singing it, the daughter of the deceased decided it was time to scatter the ashes in the surf. Well after the ash storm settled (blew away) the whole group of mourners, myself and the SMT were covered in her momma's ashes. Of course the ocean water mist being blown in off the surf made her momma stick to us and my SMT like glue. I think that some of her momma is still inside the the body of my Adamas! :rolleyes: |
|
| |
|
Joined:
September 2003
Posts: 9301
Location: south east Michigan | "covered in mama's ashes"
Ohhhh my-gosh. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
December 2003
Posts: 13996
Location: Upper Left USA | A situation like that could leave a sour taste in your mouth! |
|
| |
|
Joined:
July 2002
Posts: 1900
| ...who can compete with the top of mt ranier, or mama's ashes?....i won't even try...
steve |
|
| |
|
Joined:
November 2002
Posts: 1300
Location: Madison, Wisconsin | Too close to the rim of the Grand Canyon at sunrise for the wedding of my best friend. Pic's are in the members area. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
November 2004
Posts: 100
Location: Asheville, North Carolina | WOW....some strange happenings for sure.....Well since this has evolved into some "strange guitar happenings" I had an Alvarez Yari years ago that got whacked on the top real hard and ever since had a loose brace I didn't get fixed which also put a pretty deep ding in the top as well. After that the player of the guitar would always hear a distinct buzz especially on certain heavy fingerstyle plucking. Ayway I loaned the guitar to my brother who used it for a few solo songs at his church during an hour long program. He said while he was playing and in place waiting to play he noticed the sunlight coming through a stained glass window as he sat and played.The sunlight shown down onto the top of the guitar with all the beauty of the heavens. He could feel the sunlight warming on the guitar he said and was worried, but couldn't move. After he played the last song he noticed the buzz was gone. When he returned the guitar a few weeks later to me and explained, he was convinced it was devine intervention? Or....could the heat have softened up and reglued the brace...? |
|
| |
|
Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 873
Location: puerto vallarta, mexico | the night started playing on trafalgar square in june 1967 after eating a strange sugar cube. my 21st birthday. i think some of what i remember really happened. london was hippening in 67. |
|
| |
|
Joined:
May 2002
Posts: 3005
Location: Las Cruces, NM | What a great bunch of super strange experiences!! No need to declare a winner, the winner is all of us who get to hear about these playing stories at interesting places. The "ashes" has a certain chill to it or maybe an adventure for the ashes previous incarnation, being hauled off by a guitar picker at a fun beach party. Russ, as usual, has a story we all might have liked to have experienced.
Playing music has a tendency to get us all into strange places.
Muddy Lemon Davis Bailey (did a short stint as the national band for the American Independent Party, we played bluegrass for a rally for a friend of ours in San Diego, and was introduced on a TV shot as their national band) |
|
| |
|
Joined:
March 2003
Posts: 127
Location: Corvallis, OR | In about 1985, I played for tips in San Diego coffee houses. After I moved away , I lost contact with the area for about two years. But when I returned for a visit, I called one of the coffee houses, and asked the manager about performing again for one night. He seemed enthusiastic and so I showed up at nine that night, walked in thru the back door as I had always done, went right on stage and started my set.
As many of you know, when you first walk on stage it is hard to see the audience , because the stage lights are aimed right at you. So I started my set, and after maybe three or four minutes, my eyes gradualy adapted to the spotlights, and I started to make out the audience.
As I talked sang and played, my eyes gradually made out the first row of tables, and I noticed that several of the women seated at the tables had rather boney knees. Then I noticed that they had rather muscular looking calves. Then I noticed that they had some pretty extreme (gaudy) makeup on.
About halfway thru my set, I had the very disturbing feeling that the audience was not anything like what I was used to. And my suspicions were confirmed when I finally left the stage and walked over to put my guitar in it's case and leave. The manager verified what I suspected. This coffee house had changed to a gay hang-out in my absence, and that night was cross-dresser night.
And even tho several people complimented my music, I have blocked the whole thing out from my memory, 'till this post revived it. |
|
| |
Strangest Place