Shakedown Street, Whiskey River, and a Packed Mean-Eyed Cat
Buckdancer had a great gig yesterday. It was our regular 2:30 slot at the Mean-Eyed Cat on 5th Street in Austin. We do quarterly Sundays at 2:30 because we’re old and we know our crowd.
It was the day after Bob Weir died and the place was super packed out. We played over two hours. The vibe was weird at first, but then I realized I had one ear plug in because I was right up on the drummer. It really wasn’t that loud, so I chucked it and straightened all that out.
It’s probably the least I’ve practiced for a gig in a long time. It didn’t affect me too much. There was one surprise song where I wasn’t paying attention to the setlist. Other than that, it was super good—cool vibe. There were a lot of people there to kind of celebrate Bob, which I thought was fun. The band was killer.
Towards the end, everything just went kind of crazy. We closed with “Shakedown Street” and “Whiskey River” and it really was unhinged. I can’t remember the last time getting that much good feedback.
I’ll say this: at 54 years old, I had never considered that my music “career” would be the busiest it’s ever been. I have so many gigs. I mean, I have a rehearsal tonight. I’m DJing. I’m playing keyboards. I’m playing bass. I’m doing acoustic guitar. I generally know all the material, so I’m not having to woodshed a whole bunch. It’s all just a delight.
Like anything in life, especially like DJing, the more organized I am, the better I do at these gigs. I have separate gig bags, separate cases. Then when I look at the actual equipment I have, I’m getting rid of stuff that doesn’t serve the gig.
I have two things that really speak to me keyboard-wise on a writing front, and one of those also works as gigs so that does double duty. But I really am able now to get rid of a bunch of equipment, including PA equipment, that doesn’t necessarily serve these gigs.
The idea is that, you know, I read one time that’s so true: if you’re not using it, just go store it on Craigslist, and then when you’re ready to go get it, just buy it off Craigslist. There’s no reason for stuff to be sitting around here collecting dust. It could be paying bills, which obviously is a big deal around here.
I’ve got two kids, one’s 18 and one’s 20, so I want to be able to help them when I can. I’d much rather help them than have some crappy old guitar.
Anyway, I guess I’m getting old and I like what I like—and what I don’t like or don’t want, I don’t care about. And that’s a good place to be, because the last thing you want to be at this age is the guy with a room full of equipment who can’t or doesn't play.
We all know those folks, right?