Unusual gig this morning...I was hired to play the National Anthem for a couple of thousand people for a big luncheon at the World Congress Center. The Star Spangled Banner is not the kind of song you want to screw up, and playing solo makes it that much more of a tightrope!
I sound checked at 10:15 AM. I successfully played it, albeit pretty straight. One of the handlers (wearing not one but TWO headsets at the same time!) asked if I could "jazz it up" a little. I worry about stuff like that--have you ever heard anybody complain that the National Anthem was too straight? Me neither. I wanted to then do something like this:
or even this:
but I chickened out. I can't do either of those, anyway. Maybe next time.
Following my three minutes of sound checking (and photo session), I was led to my own dressing room. I hung out there by myself for a couple of hours. It was numbing.
Not much to do except mess around with "jazz it up" ideas.
Both chairs felt the same, by the way.
The gig was ok. I was pretty tight. Right around the time I was relaxing, I was walking off stage. At least I looked good!