Three Gigs, 6/25 & 6/26

I played three gigs in two days.

TD, High Noon Saloon with Damsel Trash and Venus in Furs, 6/25/2014
The other bands killed it. John the sound guy was really nice to us. We brought in $53 on a Wednesday night. People danced. JP broke two strings and RS broke one string. I played okay but not great. We have played better shows, but we survived and dealt with disruptions better than normal, so I was proud of us. I may or may not have gotten my butt signed by Damsel Trash.

Setlist to come

CJ, at GRC, 6/26/2014 noon-time
We turned CJ into a KiD fronted group for the purposes of performing for little girls. It went really well. I didn't sing as well as I would have liked, but well enough. AVzang told me it was a good set, which meant a ton to me, and that she liked that we covered "Winterlong," which was nice because it means she was actually paying attention. A kid requested "Where is my mind?". The boys were swell about the whole thing. I la la luvs them.

Setlist:
Debaser
Build High
Bam Thwok (first time we ever performed in public)
I Bleed
Monkey Gone to Heaven
Gigantic
Where is My Mind (added by request)
Winterlong
Manta Ray (skipped cause we were short on time)
Into the White

SVFD, National Women's Music Festival, 6/26/2014
This was the first time I ever played a national festival and I was both excited to do so...and uneasy because all performers at the festival are supposed to be women and I don't identify as a woman. So playing the festival basically meant being in the closet about being trans and lying, which I felt shitty about.

The sound check and the change-over was a little chaotic and confusing, but things mostly worked out okay. Stage sound was really poor but I'm told the sound in the house was good. I played through a borrowed sweet SWR rig with a 4x10 cab...but it might as well been a piece of shit because I could barely hear it standing right in front of it. Anyway, it was DI'ed to the house.

All that said, we played pretty well and had fun on stage. I managed to make eye contact and have a fun exchange with most of my band mates. Our sign language interpreter was really nice and fun and BL goofed with her throughout the show.

I was mostly off book except for Lemuel. Though I glanced at my notes for "Sergio" and "I Will Survive" because I was tired. I think looking at the notes might have hurt more than it helped.

Setlist:
Rascal King
About a Girl
Came Out of A Lady
Sergio
Lost Again
Spiderwebs
Rudy
Lemuel
Red Rubber Ball
I Don't Love You Anymore
Dandelions
Thigh High
Mr. Smiley (cut for time)
Wallet (cut for time)

I will survive

Footnote to all this Breeders stuff

The sound tech for GRC camps 1 & 2 always plays "Cannonball" on her little "waiting around for stuff to happen" house mix. I am TOTALLY playing along to that shit this year while we are running lines.

Princeton Chorus Amp & the Red Bass through Tubes

I manage gear for a girls music camp. Most of what gets donated to us is entry level gear or very old semi-functional gear of no real value.  We do have one decent drum kit and a collection of very nice mics.  This year someone gave us a Princeton Chorus amp...which I was pretty excited about...but then it turned out to have an intermittent problem. A pro guitar player amongst us suggested that the inputs on those amps go bad, so we sent it for repair. It came back and now seems to be working, though I find it a little buzzy. Last night I played through it for a while cause it is sitting at my house waiting to return to storage.

It certainly is better than most amps we own, but I gotta say that I still prefer the teeny-tiny little Vox amp. That thing kicks ass.

The red bass, I think I said earlier this week, sounded better through a tube amp. Someone also told me that the Squires are notorious for shitty wiring and that I could easily upgrade the whole thing. I'm not sure it is worth it. The whole raison-d'etre for having the red bass is Pixies aesthetics. That, of course, becomes sort of ridiculous what with the makeup of the band changing. And who knows how many more years we'll even keep the schitck up? I'm reminded that '62 reissue replacement pickups are $70-90 if I ever want to try and upgrade.

Repairing Snare Drums and Cymbal Stands Part Two

I took apart the two snare drums last night. The Ludwig was an easy switch out with the new throwoff/strainer. I didn't have a new throwoff/strainer for the TJ Percussion (buy one mid-day today).

I took a good long look at both broken parts. The Ludwig I'm really not sure why it didn't work. Maybe a pivot point frozen. It seemed like it should work. The TJ had a rivet that had sheered off. I kept thinking I could fix it, but I couldn't.

I was surprised that there are no springs inside these things. They basically amount to a two stage pulley with rivits at both pivot points. Lever goes down and pushes thing that holds the snare wires down (loose)...lever goes up and pushes the thing that holds snare wires up (tight). The big screw adjusts where your starting point is...tighter means you start higher, looser means you start lower.

The thing is...there's kind of a huge amount of pressure on the system. I'm shocked these don't break ALL THE TIME. Maybe the cheap ones do. Maybe that's why you guy a $60 one instead of a $20 one.

I also went to the hardware store in search of cheap wing-nuts and wing-bolts. Determined that 6mm and 8mm drum hardware is just that...it takes 6mm or 8mm nuts/bolts. But there are other parts of stands that tend to be smaller...and I don't know what size. I assumed they were still metric (which might be wrong) and guessed 4mm (though I picked up some 5mm parts too). I had trouble finding wing-bolts at Ace. I got bolts instead that had these big heads with grippy stuff on them and an allen wrench hole in top. The wing-nuts were easy to find. Not as fancy as an actual drum wing-nut, but good none the less. The prices were steeper than I'd thought...because $0.55 and $1.80 per piece depending on the size. But at the music store two 8mm wing-nuts can cost $7...so $3.60 is still a savings. Not as big as I'd hoped, but a savings. I think that in some cases you can get a better deal at the music store...I'll just have to keep an eye out.

I ended up spending like $40 ($27 at the hardware store and the rest at the drum store) on parts. It'll end up saving two stands that were un-useable and sprucing up a handful more. I also have a goal to get cymbal sleeves on all of the stands. Stands without sleeves will cause the cymbals to keyhole and not last as long. It is an investment in protecting our cymbal stock.  I paid $5 for a packet of 6mm sleeves without bottoms.  I also wonder if I could buy bulk plastic tubing at hardware store and cut my own sleeves. That'll be a future project.

I used the short Ludwig cymbal sleeves with the bottoms and 2 thin felts on the stands with no "tops". Worked great. I'll add the wing-nuts I acquired today and should work great. I wish I knew what parts were in the storage shed and what parts I needed.

Repairing Snare Drums, Etc

So I volunteered to take care of the gear for GRC.  We have about 1,000 pieces of gear. I'm not kidding. About 800 or so of those are things like cables, stands, etc. The rest are larger pieces...guitars, basses, amps, pas, drumkits, cymbals.

Most of the stuff is in ok shape. Beginners instruments, but decent. I have some goals, like changing the strings on every guitar and checking the setup. That takes time. I'd also love to put a new set of batter and resonant heads on all ten drum kits...but that costs some bucks. So I'm triaging for now.

I note all this here because I'm learning some stuff. My first repair project is to install new snare throw-offs on two of the snare drums.  And this is where you learn that the spacing for the mounts is important. So far it seems like standard spacing is about 2.5 inches...but some are more like 1.5 inches. And there's probably everything in between. And there's the whole...you can buy anything you want online but can't really look at it and see if it is the right thing...versus...you have coupons for brick and mortar stores but they don't carry every weird size thing that you might need.

With cheaper student instruments...things are built cheaply...and not always a standard size.  Another thing I'm taking on is getting proper cymbal sleeves and wing nuts on the cymbal stands. And, well, crappy drum stands don't always match up to the 6mm or 8mm standards. They get them as thin as possible. I may just go to a hardware store and see what I can rig up.

It's like the old 7/8", 3/4", 1" tom mount tube standards...which break down when you kit is none of those. So there are some challenges ahead in maintaining a fleet of el cheapo instruments for sure.

I'm also thinking about going to the SWAP and buying like a dozen power cords for amps. They are the same kind that computers use and I bet they are like a dollar each at SWAP.

Bass Nut Replacement

One of the basses at GRC had a broken nut. I noticed it back at LRC and it has annoyed me ever since because it is a decent bass otherwise. Finally, yesterday I went to Guitar Center and bought a generic P bass replacement nut for 12 bucks...and in about five minutes made the exchange. I had to sand the nut just a hair to get the width down to fit...but otherwise the old one popped out and the new one popped in with no problem. I didn't even bother putting any wood glue on the the thing. The bass plays pretty good. The action seems great with no adjustment to the nut height.

This marks my second nut replacement (I've also done one saddle/bridge replacement on an acoustic).

I'd like to get a little bit better at string changing and at adjusting string height and intonation. Thinking I should get CT to show me the best way to wrap a guitar string and then change a couple dozen at GRC to get myself in shape.

Things to Come

Fishwife?

Fishwife.

Fishwife!

Sure, why not.

Teaching

I was jarred out of my week of vacation with a planning meeting for the pilot advanced session of GRC. I've been hired on to teach drums and coach a band. I suspect that if the first string drum teacher were available I wouldn't be involved at all...but that's negative self talk...and anyway it is a moot point because here I am. In addition to teaching a break out session on screen printing (another thing I kinda suck at...negative but true) I'll be teaching an ensemble of 4 to 5 drummers and getting them to write an ensemble piece to perform. I'm squeamish about this for a bunch of reasons...

1. Idea of having to hold together a room full of drummers
2. Idea of listening to a room full of drummers
3. I have zero experience playing in drum ensembles
4. The whole thing smacks of...give the girls hand drums and tamborines and let them fuck around...because ya know...anyone can play drums and all percussion instruments are the same. The whole reason I got into GRC is because I want women to be taken seriously as rock players. Rock players play drum kits. There's a time and place for percussion...but I have no interest in percussion and I also don't think it ought to be a primary concern of a rock camp. The drum kit is an instrument...and it is a totally different instrument from hand drums or any of the other percussion instruments. The kit is a different subject. I play kit. I think they should play kit. I don't know how and don't want to teach percussion. And if someone hands one of those girls a fucking tamborine I am going to lose my shit. If you are going to play tamborine in my class you will screw it to a stand and hit it with a stick.

...but like most things in life I'm sure I'll pull it off just fine and I probably should not have voiced my hesitancy. I sometimes express self-doubt as a way to work through the problem...but the reaction people have to that is:

1. Try to make you feel better about yourself with bullshit compliments that don't address the issue at hand ("You're a great drummer!" "You'll do a great job!" Really...you've never heard me play drums. How do you know I'm a good teacher?)
2. Try to take over and do the thing for you

I don't want either of those things. All I want is to express my thoughts and feelings and be given time to work out the problem on my own. I need to remember that most of the world are extroverts...and they don't understand the way I operate. This is especially true at GRC...which is full of performers and type A personalities. I hate surpressing myself and bowing to the wave of extroverts...but I'm learning in life that it is better to be at peace than to be "right" or to get my opinion in...and so sometimes I need to let things go rather than do battle.

I want to say here that everyone involved at GRC is a super great top notch person. And I think I work well with all of them. None of what I'm saying here is about being mad at any of them. It's just a reflection of my own frustrations walking through this world as an introvert and a person prone to self reflection, honesty, and self criticism. I need to learn new strategies for dealing with the world around me and for how I process the inputs later on. I plan to keep on being very much myself...but to try very hard to worry less about if others "get me"...say less. Everyone need not be made to understand my every thought and feeling every moment that I'm having them because...here's the news...they aren't going to get it no matter how hard I try. And trying and failing to make them understand is just hard on me. I will victimize myself by forcing the issue. And then don't replay every move and every word ad nasium later in my head. That's victimizing myself a second time. Let the situation go. Move on to strategies for solutions. Move forward.

That said...with regards to the first response listed above...I think it is legitimate to say that I only have 6 years experience playing drums and zero experience teaching drums and that I'm therefore a little nervous boardering on dread. That's not putting myself down...it's just the truth of where I am at in my journey. If I was sending my kid to an advanced music camp...I'd want someone with more experience teaching them. That's a fact. Blowing sunshine up my ass doesn't change these facts. I admit though...that I need to learn to take compliments and see them as a spirit lifter instead of BS.

The second response enrages me. I'm not good accepting help...but I especially hate help that is really just someone trying to take over. Like just because I have doubts it means you've written me off. I can...and will...do it. I just need to process. And that takes time. Don't try to "solve" my "problem" RIGHT NOW.

I really need to learn to not voice these misgivings because it always ends up this way. Sadly it is one of my natural tendancies that doesn't play well in the real world...and I have to accept that I'm probably happier keeping these things to myself than dealing with the fallout.

SAY LESS...then LET IT GO. Lather, rinse, repeat.

It's been suggested to just let the girls do whatever they want...and this to me seems ridiculous. They need guidance of some sort. I mean what is the point of having an instructor otherwise?

Oh...I forgot to mention...they are supposed to write an ensemble piece for drum kit...but we are only allowed to have two drumkits on stage...not 4 or 5.

I think that my stategy will involve digging out some of the latin and afrocuban beats that I suck so much at and which have led me to total despair in the past...recording each part separately to a track in Audacity...and then bringing that in to play for them. That way I can layer the parts together...or play them separately. And that way I don't have to remember how to play the parts (which I suck at)...I can play the recording to remind myself.

I can then deconstruct the drum kit into the component parts...bass, snare, hi hat, crash, ride (or cowbell)...and have each girl play one part of the rhythm. And maybe we can have a full drum kit there too and there could be some kind of "each person takes a turn" thing going on (maybe playing an improvised solo against the ensemble). This kind of eliminates the part of playing these rhythms that is so hard for me...which is playing them all at the same time on a kit. And it exposes them to the concepts. I probably should stand off to the side and beat a constant quarter note pulse on something that cuts through like a cowbell too...or else the whole thing is likely to go off the rails (or maybe designate one girl to do that).

Anyway...I think I can use this concept as a starting place and then let them evolve it where ever it goes. It solves the issue of only being able to have two kits on stage...and the issue of me not knowing what to do. And it ends up actually being a decent exercise towards advanced drumming concepts. We can talk about how hard it is to combine the parts on the kit too...maybe one of them will even get it on the kit.

And I can spend the next 3 months putting together the recordings and practicing the rhythms so I feel more confident by the time the class rolls around.