Lunch Report: Thu May 16, 2013

After two days of tasty but visually unspectacular faux-italian dishes for lunch, today I have something worth writing home about.

This is the bento (lunch box) my wife made for me today. It looks like arroz con pollo, but it's actually dry curry. There were a pair of cherry tomatoes when I opened the box. Those were the first to go before I remembered to get out my new iPhone 5 and take my first photo with its built-in camera.



The weather was sunny and warm, so I ate outside near the Makuhari Messe convention center, thinking about what to do with the last 30 hours or so before hitting the stage. One thing is last minute invitations and reminders. Most of the Facebook invitations I sent seem to have gone unnoticed, as I thought.

Personal invitation is still the most effective technique, and the most fun. It lets me catch up with people about something that makes me happy. My enthusiasm usually enough to sell people on the idea, but it's even better if I have a flyer or something to give them…later. That is something I neglected, but the bass player used his iPad and photos of me from last week's jam session to make something. I then took that, and filled in some details. Distributing it to people I already invited seems like an effective way to get them to actually show.

Other things that have to be sorted before the down beat:

• Getting the bridge pickup on my G&L just a bit closer
• Breaking in the new strings
• Finalizing the set list
• Writing an ending out for my arrangement of Feel Like Makin' Love
• Printing out charts for guests sitting in
• Getting a video adapter for my computer for the visualizer
• Deciding what to wear and puffing out my afro
• Pick the bass player up from his hotel, and rehearse
• Find an inexpensive place to park the car
• RELAX, stop myself from overplaying, and let the music come through

I'm only going to use the G&L Legacy for one or two songs that need a whammy bar, but I could do the whole gig with it if my archtop failed. Could you do a whole gig with just a G&L? Which model?

For today's not G&L topic, how do you promote your shows (if no one is doing it for you)?

i play shows with just one guitar all the time. asat, strat, makes no difference.

i don't promote, and no one is doing it for me either. whoever shows up is fine with me. they usually come back once they have seen me.
i never wanted to play headliner even back in the day doing all originals. just open for someone who already brings the crowd.

still don't what i'll have for lunch... it's 10:53 in te morning here !

i never change guitar during a set, unless a broken string, which happens only on tour... one band, one man, one guitar, one sound !

i'm using either my asat or asat classic... the classic is my fav these times but it will change, i know myself quite well !

most of the time we don't promote ourselves... venues/organizers usually do it... like louis : whoever shows up is fine with me ! I play where I'm told to play !

• Deciding what to wear and puffing out my afro
• Find an inexpensive place to park the car

These are, IMO, the most important. I once parked in a car-park that I thought was open all night only to find out at 1am that it wasn't. It cost me $76 to get it the next morning. Another time we finished a gig and went to our cars to find that three of the guys had parking fines of $100 each

Like the other guys, I play gigs with just one guitar and generally don't do any promo unless I know for certain that a gig is going to have a good atmosphere. If there's going to be people there it's because they were going to be there anyway. Facebook is not good for it - I ignore probably 90% of invites I get from my muso friends and acquaintances and expect the same

Great looking lunch! I bet I would like it!

I am registered in Facebook but have never posted and probably never will. Or band is usually publicized by the places who hire us. I do have an e-mail list that I send to before each gig.

It sounds like you are on top of your game for this weekend. Preparation is essential. We are gigging both days this weekend and have an outdoor gig in Northern Minnesota next Wednesday. Outdoor gigs are always interesting to set up as the sound becomes a bit more critical. Set lists are important if you want to keep a good flow. Sometimes we stray a bit and it causes more delay between songs. Our lead player uses two G&Ls, one with a synth, so I have the songs organized so he will switch guitars about halfway through each set.
good luck on the gig and knock 'em out!-- Darwin

Splendid looking lunch! The sandwich on my desk is looking less appetizing by the second.

When I was gigging, the only guitar I'd take was my ASAT Special. Those big MFD's can do pretty much anything you want.

Now that I have an S-500, that would probably be my first choice. It delivers a variety of strat sounds, reasonable faux-humbucker tones, and the push-pull pot gives a neck-bridge pickup combination which is a darn good tele knock off.

Great looking lunch! I bet I would like it!

I am registered in Facebook but have never posted and probably never will. Or band is usually publicized by the places who hire us. I do have an e-mail list that I send to before each gig.

It sounds like you are on top of your game for this weekend. Preparation is essential. We are gigging both days this weekend and have an outdoor gig in Northern Minnesota next Wednesday. Outdoor gigs are always interesting to set up as the sound becomes a bit more critical. Set lists are important if you want to keep a good flow. Sometimes we stray a bit and it causes more delay between songs. Our lead player uses two G&Ls, one with a synth, so I have the songs organized so he will switch guitars about halfway through each set.
good luck on the gig and knock 'em out!-- Darwin

preparation is essential to a point. i usually show up at gig never even having met the other players before. song titles mean nothing to me, just call out the key and style. i don't remember the last time i rehearsed at all before playing a gig.

I'm not gigging right now. My last fairly steady gig was 100% on the upright. I have been practicing rockabilly and early country with a couple of guys lately. When we reach the point of playing out, I will probably take the upright for the rockabilly material and the L-1000 for most of the country.

I may be playing one or two gigs with a wind ensemble on the National Mall and possibly at the Smithsonian this summer. It will depend on the material the ensemble is playing, and whether they will need me for it. They have a tuba player, so I would most likely move to guitar instead of bass. It will have to work out my own charts, but most of the playing will probably be rhythm/comping. I've been wondering which guitar to use for this. It will be formal, so I'm thinking a black/ebony ASAT would look the best. Those large MFDs would also do a good job cutting through the horns without overwhelming them.

Ken

• Deciding what to wear and puffing out my afro
• Find an inexpensive place to park the car

These are, IMO, the most important. I once parked in a car-park that I thought was open all night only to find out at 1am that it wasn't. It cost me $76 to get it the next morning. Another time we finished a gig and went to our cars to find that three of the guys had parking fines of $100 each

Like the other guys, I play gigs with just one guitar and generally don't do any promo unless I know for certain that a gig is going to have a good atmosphere. If there's going to be people there it's because they were going to be there anyway. Facebook is not good for it - I ignore probably 90% of invites I get from my muso friends and acquaintances and expect the same

Thanks for the reminder, Blarg. I almost dropped the ball on both, but the afro stayed puffy and parking was only $10!

Agreed that Facebook invites/events are nearly useless, but sending personal messages and creating a buzz can be effective.