And Yet MORE Missed Gigs...and So Much More

Fuck I have fallen all the way down on this blog. I know no one reads it, but it was my way to track my music shit and not I have failed.

Well, let's see.

1. The SVFD show on 11/5/2016 was our last. We broke up shortly after.
2. FW stopped rehearsing. We haven't officially broken up, but it has been almost a year since we got together.
3. DH (Breeders Trib) managed one rehearsal after our 2nd show. In theory we are still together, but inactive.
4. TD broke up after much drama, probably several years after it should have. JP is still harassing RS about it.
5. CJ is still together and rehearsing weekly. We just booked our first show since I think 4/4/2015
6. COL chugs along steadily, rehearses most weeks, released an album and two singles ("Oars in Hands" cover of Barristacide for Local Love Fest and "Butt Stuff" for cd presale backers) and has gigs in spurts for some reason.
7. RS, CT, Educational Davis and I formed a new band (tentatively named TN). We play RS's original songs. We've got about half a set so far.

12/2/2016: FW at, what the hell was that place called, Wine Down? (since closed)
2/4/2017: DH (Breeders Trib) at Crystal Corner Bar
2/19/2017: COL record Oars in Hands for Local Love Fest
2/25/2017: COL with Mono in Stereo
4/2/2017: TD at HNS
4/8/2017: COL with Mono in Stereo and High School Pizza in Rockford
5/5-7/2017: COL record our album Give to Get Got and the single Butt Stuff at Paradyme
5/12/2017: TD at Wisco (Justin had a drunken melt down)
6/10/2017: TD at Art In (our last show)
6/17/2017: COL at Mr Roberts
7/6/2017: COL at Frequency
10/21/2017: COL cd release at Frequency
12/7/2017: COL at HNS

CJ as The Scars Freakin' Halloweekend

CJ (plus friend Roscoe) was The Cars (The Scars). We were awesome. What can I say? Brought down $680 with a sold out crowd at HNS. We MAY actually have this tribute band shit down finally.

Setlist:
Good Times Roll
You Might Think
Shake It Up

Let's Go
Moving in Stereo
Magic

You're All I've Got Tonight

My Best Friend's Girl

Bye Bye Love
Just What I Needed

Here's a recording of the entire show:

Oh yeah, we played one song live on the radio acoustic the night before the show too...here's RS at studio with friends from the Fleetwood Mac Trib.


And the show proper...

CJ, 4/4/2015 at Lazy Oaf

Played on the night UW went to NCAA finals at a sports bar. That was probably a mis-step. Anyway, still had a blast with friend-bands Cats on Leashes, Hello Dmitri, and The Creeps, in spite of low attendance, odd interactions with drunken audience members, rushed setup, and having to cut tunes for time. CT's first gig with the Marshall JCM800 rig. I used the equalizer pedal he gave me to punch in my bass mini-solo on Gigantic and it worked well.

Setlist:
Bone Machine
Wave of Mutilation (fast)
Monkey Gone to Heaven
Dig for Fire (cut for time)
Here Comes Your Man
Where is my mind?
Nimrod's Son
Gigantic
Debaser
Hey
Gouge Away
Vamos (cut for time)

10/11/2014 CJ at Mickey's

with Gentle Brontosaurus. We played the night before the Pixies played Madison.

Setlist to come.

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

FW 4/25; SVFD 4/26; CJ 4/26; SVFD 5/3

Holy crap I forgot to blog FOUR SHOWS!  I'll have to dig back to get set lists for these...

FW 4/25 at LRC
Went pretty well and I got it on tape.

SVFD 4/26 at LRC
A certain member had the wrong location and so showed up five minutes late to start and without her music. She still kicked ass, though the set had to be abbreviated. Sadly we were supposed to play 1-1:30pm and I was supposed to haul ass to Busking for Books and get there by 1:45pm...but I didn't get there until around 2pm due to the late start at LRC.

CJ 4/26 at Busking for Books
Busking for Books was 1-3pm and I was stuck at LRC, so I didn't arrive until around 2pm. But that was okay, they started without me. In the middle of Manta Ray a little girl jumped on "stage" and started dancing. Also, during Wave of Mutilation someone was carried out on a stretcher from State Street Brats...right when we said "You think you're dead..."

SVFD 5/3 at GRC board fundraiser at Brink
I played pretty well and remember very little else about this other than the guitar player broke a string and, of course, I was the one with a replacement.

CJ 3/24/2014 Frequency

Only 3 people in the audience. Opening act was...there. Closing act, Sphynx from Austin, was outstanding.

I had a cold, but played well. Drank hot water with honey in a thermos. We biffed start of Dead but got it together quickly.

Setlist:
Debaser
Wave
Down to Well
Rock a My Soul
Isla
Velouria
River
Bird
Dead
Monkey
Manta Ray
Gigantic
Hey
Lovely Day
Nimrod's Son
Where is my Mind
Gouge

CJ, 1/25/2014 Mickey's

We played two sets. German Art Students opened.

I got distracted by an unwanted work text right before load in, and in a strange way I think it killed my nerves and replaced them with anger. Consequently, I played one of the better shows of my life and wasn't freaked out really at all (even though this was only my 3rd sober show & the 1st cj one). I also played with no notes at all for the first time ever, though I had lyrics sitting on my amp for White and Gigantic for if I totally brain farted (didn't need them). Think I finally figured out the right tone/volume balance for the red bass (with and without pick). It sounded good. Used my mic stand bottle holder for water and that was awesome.

The band played pretty well. Tuning was an issue due to cold. CT nearly knocked his amp off the bench during Vamos...which sounded awesome but was a little scary.

It was a medium-small crowd due to low temps, snow, and lots of other stuff happening the same night, but they were enthusiastic. A dude with an "EP-1" t-shirt chatted me up after the show for a long ass time. We definitely have people who are "fans" now that we don't know but who come to all the shows and say moonie-eyed things to us after the gig. I probably had at least 6 people say something to me. It's weird...but I made a point of saying an enthusiastic (un-qualified) "thanks" to each and every one.

Set One:
Caribou
Bone Machine
Break My Body
I Bleed
Allison
U Mass
Ed
La La Love
Holiday
Into the White
Blown Away
Dead
Monkey
Velvety
#13
Cactus
Lovely Day
Here Comes
Vamos

Set Two:
Debaser
Isla
CJ
Broken Face
Down to the Well
Manta Ray
Dig for Fire
Wave (fast)
Letter to Memphis
Bird Dream
Subbacultcha
River E
Hey
Gigantic
Winterlong
Nimrod
Where
Tame
Something Against You
Gouge Away

CJ as The Devil's Insides at Dane101 Freakin' Halloweekend at HNS

Every year CJ says "never again" about Halloween, and every year we do it anyway. This year we had trouble assembling players (I think we asked at least 5 keyboard players)...but eventually ended up with 9 people...2 trumpets, trombone, sax, keys, guitar, bass, vocal, drums. We NEVER had all 9 people in one room together until the night of the show.

But things went really, really great.

I'm beginning to feel like CJ is really coming into our own. I used to feel like the bands that I played in were sort of "B team" bands in the local scene. Somewhere in the last few years I think we've surpassed that though. I don't mean that we are any more popular or that we get any bigger crowds or more media coverage. I mean that we have become professionals. We treat the thing seriously...and we are good. We forget this too often. We undersell ourselves. But really we're pretty great.

Setlist:
Kick
New Sensation
Listen Like Thieves
The One Thing
Never Tear Us Apart
One X One
Need You Tonight
Don't Change
What You Need
Devil Inside