Wednesday, August 10, 2005

guess who's back?

I heard that Johnny's back in town. Does anyone know what he's up to tonight?

Went to the show at G St. Pub in Davis last night. Quite a few Sac folks made the trip across the causeway. Mario, thanks for the purple hooter but I have to give you a word of advice-please don't ever, ever, ever book another 4 band show on a tuesday night. Or a wednesday night, or a monday night, maybe not even a thursday night. Are you getting the pattern here? After all, you're a working man, too. You understand. I know that that horrible Davis band (Bite the Big Biz) brought in some people, but at what cost? The Davis people who came to see that wretched band probably didn't watch any of the other bands, and they probably left early and didn't buy that many drinks. Everyone knows the Bananas fans are all drunks, so keep the show short, the fans happy, and the booze will flow. I don't even know how the G St. judges if the show was successful enough to let you book more shows, I'm just assuming it's partially how much they make at the bar. The Bananas took the stage after an interminable wait and they did not play up to their usual high standards. This is not anything that they won't tell you themselves. It was still enjoyable and Nautical sounded great, as always.

Highlight of the night: meeting Stumpy Joe.
Lowlight: the tin box on the back of the can in the ladies room that was filled with bloody rags. Disgusting.

To Heckamax and others in the car on the way home-I feel that I was having some trouble with volume control at that point in the evening, so sorry if I was hurting your ears. I was a few purple hooters to the wind and I was deaf from watching the Modern Machines. Having a blog makes my post-drunk apologizing just that much easier.

9 comments:

DB said...

I just almost hit Johnny with my car backing out of the driveway.

Anonymous said...

Johnny and his friend were brushing their teeth at my place this morning. They are going to Clearlake later today, coming back Saturday. I believe they were at the Flame last night. More Life Of Johnny later....

Tess

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the advice, but you're totally "singing to the choir." I didn't plan on booking four bands last night. It was designed to be a three band show, because I think that number works good. In fact, I applaud venues like the Hemlock Tavern in SF for booking so many two band shows. I try to follow the "Loft model" when booking shows: no more than three bands and one out-of-towner, where the out-of-town band plays second to avoid opening or closing the show. You can thank Soriano for that one.

The Trashies were the "fourth" band added to the bill. They e-mailed Scott about a show and we already had the G Street show in the works. I wasn't necessarily happy about a fourth band, but we wanted to help them out (and we did). Plus, they ended up being great guys and a fun band to boot! All things considered, I think everything worked out very well for all the bands that played, and that is always very important to me when I book shows.

I feel you on the weeknight thing. But it was a KDVS-sponsored event. We have Tuesdays at the G Street Pub, not Fridays or Saturdays. So you should know what to expect going in. We've been doing this every Tuesday at the G Street Pub for about two months now. Sure, it's not easy for us workin' stiffs, but the reality is that touring bands have schedules too. We do our best to accommodate them and sometimes it means we go into work the next day a little tired or with a hangover or whatever. But it's usually worth it, especially for a band as good as Modern Machines.

You're entitled to your opinion about Boss the Big Bit. They're friends and KDVS DJs and I was very happy to have them on the show. Frankly, I thought the Bananas had the poorest showing of the night--and I'm a fan.

I think your comments about the evening's timeline are off-base. The Bananas didn't go on too late. In fact, they were done by 1 a.m. This is much earlier than the average Bananas show at, say, the Distillery. The only wait with which I was unhappy was the length of time between the first and second bands. But Klinger's DJ'ing made up for it. C'mon, you gotta admit she played some great stuff. Hearing "Alcoholiday" as I stepped up to the bar for a Pabst made me smile.

I was really happy with the representation from Sacramento. Hopefully the Sacto people walked away from the show with a greater apprecation of the bands they hadn't seen before.

Overall, I thought it was a very successful night. The turnout was awesome, the vibe was MUCH better than I've seen in the past, and the out-of-towners all got paid very well. Most importantly, everybody I talked to had fun.

Mario

beckler said...

Now I feel like an ass. This is how I normally feel, so that's OK. I should have known about the Trashies getting added at the last minute. I bet you probably told me anyway and I forgot. Weeknight shows are always a problem for me. I want to go but I regret it the next day. In my defense, I certainly wasn't the only one grumbling about it. Sorry I shot my mouth off!

Anonymous said...

You know what would've ruled? If we had set up, played, broken down & read a book in the span of time it took the Big Biz to make it to the stage & finally set up & play. That might've been a better plan than trying to drink myself deaf. The Bananas are now 0 for 3 in Davis! We're starting a different band called The Davis Bananas. Keep an eye out for us. We'll be playing in Davis.

miller

Anonymous said...

So you're saying they got on the stage, set up and played real quick?

beckler said...

You could have totally read Harry Potter and the Goblet of the Amazing Magically Glowing Substance and live blogged it in the time it took for them to set up and play. I hear that one's dark and not just for the kiddies (SPOILER ALERT-Harry gets laid-by a Balrog! Hot!)

Anonymous said...

You have to start The Davis Four Eyes - then we can talk.

miller

Anonymous said...

What about "Jim Davis presents Garfield: The Four Eyes: Davis"?
-biz