40) Gig stories from the Vibesworkshop

HOW ABOUT A PITY PARTY FOR ME ?

Submitted by Tony Miceli on Fri, 01/09/2009 – 15:15

Ok here's a gig story for you. Maybe it’ll get you going and get a few of you guys to try and top this one.

In order to pull off my rehearsals and gigs yesterday I had to :

-Wake up at 4:30am, leave the house at 5.

-I got in Manhattan at 7:30.

-8:30 Unloaded my equipment at the Museum of Jewish Heritage. Practiced by myself there for one hour.

-Ran up and did a rehearsal at Machiko's Rehearsal Studio at 10 with Elio Villafranco.

-Got back to the Museum at 3, rehearsed with Joe Piscopo at 4

-Played 6 to 9:30 then ran to the Zinc Bar with Elio and played 11 to 2 and drove back.

And here I am 24 hours later exactly!

Hah, what do you think? Am I incredible or what!!

Actually I did this so I could play with Elio who is a GREAT Cuban pianist whom I've known for years. His music is very very challenging. So it was worth it.

Ok who can top that?????

Also, I will throw in that I drove several years back from Naples, Florida to Philadelphia without stopping so I could make a gig. That was 26 hours of driving.

Come on, let's hear some more gig stories.

So anyway, I'm going to bed for a few hours then driving the Poconos to work!! Yikes.

zzzz zzzzz zzz zzz zzz z zzzz

 

Submitted by Papamutt on Fri, 01/09/2009 - 16:17.

Yeah Tony, but don't expect us to feel sorry for you. Ha Ha ! I know many guys who would gladly give their right ball (or ladies their right tit) to be able to play the Zinc bar with Elio, or even to rehearse with Joe Piscopo... But still, joking apart, spare yourself. You know we love you, and we need you.

 

Submitted by Tony Miceli on Fri, 01/09/2009 - 17:15.

We did a benefit with Joe Piscopo at the Museum of Jewish Heritage. In other words a total American Italian guy was entertaining a room full of orthodox Jews. Now that's weird. Joe is really Italian, really really Italian. Whatever you Europeans think of American Italians. It was pretty strange to do this show. And then there was a man speaking who has Muslim death threats on him, so there are all these police there. And I'm looking out the window over the water thinking, damn am I going to see a missile heading straight for us!!!! Then he says at one point. I know how to solve all the problems in the Middle East..... You send two Italians from Brooklyn over in a Buick (large trunk). And all these guys with beards, curls and hats are looking up at us..... damn.

Well, I just wanted to brag that at 50 I can still stay up 24 hours. Barely.

 

Submitted by Papamutt on Sat, 02/09/2009 – 15:30

Tony, I dug your gig story. I have one from almost 40 years back, when I was young and foolish. Once I had just become the proud owner of a sailing boat, and thought I could sail, not drive, to a gig. The gig location didn't look too far away, on the map. I thought it was feasible if I got an early start. But never trust the sea. Through the morning there was no wind at all, and I was making no headway. All of a sudden, in the early afternoon, a storm came from out of nowhere and hit bad. Panic on board. At one time the boat lurched, leaned over to starboard, shipping a ton of water, and soon my vintage Gretsch drums and my change of clothes for the evening gig were floating below deck. After an hour or two, the wind abated, visibility returned, and I saw I had got close to the shore. There was a small harbour where I moored. I got the wet drum cases out and called a taxi. I made it to my gig (a concert with Stéphane Grappelli) just about. I had to borrow some clothes in a hurry, as my ceremony outfit was soaked. I found some pants, and a decent shirt and tie, but no jacket. Now in those days (1972), doing a concert with Stéphane in your shirt sleeves was out of the question. Stéphane was furious. He said: "I don't care how you do it, but get yourself a jacket. You're not going on stage with me in this shirt." One of the gig promoters overheard this. He was about my size, and he kindly lent me his navy-blue blazer.
The next day, there was an article in the local paper : "The drummer had the Legion of Honor". The "Legion of Honor" (or "Légion d'Honneur") is a French decoration given to prominent citizens, to the military, to industrialists, people like that. To give you an idea, it was given to Charles Lindbergh. It is not often pinned on jazz drummers. "La Légion" is materialized by a small red ribbon in your buttonhole, which singles you out as a hero of sorts. Well, this guy had the "Legion of Honor", and I had played the whole gig sporting the Red Ribbon !
A few years later, Stéphane reviewed his dress code. For the rest of his career, he wore flowered shirts.

And I retired from the sea.

On a gig with Stéphane Grappelli, 1970

 

Another cybersession from http://www.vibesworkshop.com/

Freddie the Freeloader, by Dana Sudborough (vibes), Laurent Briand (bass), Papamutt Carhaix (dms). Friday 01.29.09