Is there anybody out there?

It's funny...my second, and first real "gig" with House of Floyd (and the bands first theater concert as well), was a mix of both: excitement, and fear...the anticipation of not knowing if the show would sell out, and then seeing the crowd lining up around the block to buy tickets, became that moment when I knew this would be a night I would remember forever.

I can still recall Pat (guitars/Vocals) telling me to sneak & peak beyond the stage curtains into a semi dimly lit, fully packed theater, and then leaning over my shoulder to tell me he had forgotten all of the lyrics, and most of the chord changes to many of the songs. This was our first concert at a theater: the Majestic in Benicia...that was 4 years ago.

Since then, it's been a fun roller coaster ride (& wild at times) with a fantastic band, a great bunch of friends, a "family" if you will. Always working hard at bringing something new, by introducing a "jewel" to a crowd that may have never heard it, or for some- not in a long while. But, with every show the anxiety is always there..."is there anybody out there?" We can't tell until we hear the cheers & applause.

Yet, I am always amazed by the legion of Floyd fans which continue to trickle in growing numbers in support of the great music of Pink Floyd. They come from all over, from all walks of life, and I've seen them as young as baby's, and as old as...well you know, as old as Pink Floyd!

Man, I remember being 15 years old and listening to "A Saucerful of Secrets" , and my dad saying...shit, that album is trip-pier than the Beatles "Sgt Pepper's"...dad was right! (little did he know that both Floyd & the Beatles recorded at Abbey Road studios, just a room apart, and that the members of both band members brushed shoulders with each other's from time to time! ). Hard to believe that much of that music would stand the test of time, and become indeed part of the classics for all ages!

It 's been something beyond my wildest dreams, that at this point in my life, I'm playing music from the band that spawned an entire music movement in the 70's know as "progressive rock" featuring bands like King Crimson, Genesis, E.L.P. & Yes to name a few, having performed to large audiences with fans who yearn for days gone by, and a chance for younger generations to see a show that ended long before they came of age.

Last Saturday, as my band mates Joe, Pat, Eddie, & myself rode from the motel, and approached the corner of the Rio Theater in Santa Cruz, with my car radio blasting the 'Pat Travers band's' version of "Boom Boom out goes the lights", we grooved while gazing with much amazement upon the a considerable crowd gathering in front of the theater's box office to purchase tickets for that night's show...Everytime, it brings me back to that night at the Majestic theater 4 years ago.

You see, while we're setting up keyboards and amps, tuning guitars, and basses, doing a sound check while the crew is still setting up the lights, and the lasers, checking video feeds, and ultimately arranging what will become that night's "main event" for many fans. The thought always drifts in the back of my mind...will "they" come? The theater is empty then, and you can only imagine what it may be like later on!

So, like Kevin Costner's 'Field of Dreams' voice: "if you build it, they will come"... it's no rocket science to me, that this is what we've been doing for the past 5 years (& the goal since the band's inception)...we've been building it...the show... song by song, set by set, and with much sweat, and sometimes frustrations. We've tried to arrange something to please everyone coming to see us. But, you know it hasn't been an easy task...there's so much good music...so little time.

In our times, HOF has gone through some personnel changes, has purchased an incredible amount of gear (that seems to be like weed...constantly growing) , and we're busy going over, and fine tuning everything we do... trying it this way, that way... in order to give the spectator, (whether a hard core fan, or the general listener of the music) the kind of show which Pink Floyd produced before going mainstream (if you can say they ever did!) with The Wall, A Momentary Lapse of Reason, and the Division Bell.

But, you know we're nothing more than fans ourselves, having a blast playing the music while doing the show. It almost sounds unbelievable to say that it seems we never grow tired of it. I guess we'll continue to carry on doing our thing for as long as the crowds, or 2012 will let us. So..."is there anybody out there?"...YES, we know there is!...and we're very grateful that you've stopped by and said hello!

A show from the 'trip' to Sacramento told en fancy

We're in Sacramento.

2:20pm

Road cases. Staging Area. Power Dumps. Greenroom. Daisy Chain. Sound Check. Dinner.

Show time.

I'm swelling into G minor on my keyboard, balancing my volume control while keeping an eye on my band mates and checking my pedal board for first song accuracy. Everything on? Tuner? Check. Compression? Check. Chorus? ...on but not too much here (I can use my toe to rotate some of the excess off the edge and I do--chorus overkill is a cheap way to emotionally involve the listener and you lose the quality of the notes--especially in a big theatre like Crest--things you learn along the way say wiser men than I).

While holding my G minor on the keyboard damper I engage my guitar to make sure it's "all systems go". I tap my tempo button into my Loop Master and engage a slight delay before I get to that C minor on the keys--almost time for my guitar--enter Pat and the first beautiful, unmistakable, breaking notes of guitar delerium. Okay, I can see the first row of people now...little dark heads and white-ish grinning faces seem to float against the haze and lasers like mushrooms en hydroponic smoke...

...Lou's bass starts its crescendo...pounding...pounding...bigger...

Eddie and Drums enter...Lights go up and I can see the theatre in full. I stare at the ceiling--big, blue heart shaped curves and white tracers take me back to "Alice and Wonderland" I saw the day before...we're in the song now...but the architecture and artistry of this theatre is what I would call: Cheescake Factory on chill acid...it's a beautiful moment of connection...

...I left for a second but I am back (I see happy faces in the audience)

I go back to G minor.

I smell popcorn; I smell pot; I can still taste the lovely lamb shawarma and hummus dinner I had from the cafe next door--I love Mediterranean food--my energy for the evening to battle the munchies monsters...Rich tells me Top Gun is on the tele..."you can be my wingman anytime..."

Okay...take a breath...

Mark enters with first vocal line...

"Shine on you crazy..." Back to keys...blazing saxophone solo regular time, double time and finishing into a molten pool of golden brass and chilled guitar notes wrapped in a body of strings like coiled serpents inching back into their homes...

..."Mother will always find out where you've been..." Mel gives it just enough gravel and edge to produce a nice plate effect off the back wall and the large room was filled with leagues of rippling vocal bliss.

First set is over. Sweaty. I step on my water bottle as I turn to leave stage left.

Greenroom. I buzz the control room over the crowd and contact the sound engineer upstairs:

Who wants what?!..."More acoustic guitars. Bring Sax up 5db in stage right monitor mix. More backing vocals from the ladies in Eddie's mix...and could you give him a little more kick, pretty please, thanks."

Second Set. Lights go down. I'm lost in "Wonderland" again. Space--Astronomy Domine. Ok!

Crunching guitar and I stack my chords from E minor to G to A and the chromatic descending pattern to finish into D major ascent...Pat takes first solo...Lasers in my eyes (Matt and Rich)...I moved too far out of my "playing area"...I can't see for a moment...

Select patch A106 organ on keyboard. I reduce volume to half. I throw my guitar around my shoulder and make my way to the lap steel. I lose the damper on the organ, grab the neck of my guitar wrapped around my right side and I step on my A/B box and engage the steel.

Engage delay, cut chorus, compression off and open the boost level here we go:

I push the neck of my guitar further down my right side and down my leg sliding the strap around my chest while keeping a firm grip on my pick and then snatch up the tone bar with my left hand to the 2nd swell of "Great Gig" on the lap steel...I look back at the screen and see stars and Sheri belting out the Dark Side Classic; the room is hers for a moment and all the instruments seem to float just for one beautiful second leaving behind the wetness and soulfulness of sweet voice in the upper vastness of the theatre heights...cheers...

Encore. Run Like Hell. I'm Comfortably Numb...we take our bow.

The alley behind the theatre? Slow down people, there's musicians back there!

Spring forward.

Gremlins at the State Theatre

Photo By: Frank Caltabiano

Wow what a wild weekend!  We were excited for the opportunity to play the State Theatre in Red Bluff California, a new venue on our schedule.  Whenever we go some place new there's always a little bit of confusion.  The typical glitches include the number of rooms needed at the hotel; what time we can load into the venue; the number of monitors, microphones and DI boxes we'll need; what time the house opens etc... but this show offered that and more.

Things started out great.  Venita, Derrik and Brian we're all there on time to meet us and open the theatre.  They were very welcoming and let us know that ticket sales looked good for the show.  We began unloading the gear and getting it onto the stage.  Everything seemed to be going well until sound check.  To start with, the sound system has seen better days. We were having a difficult time dialing in the sound so that everyone on stage was happy with the mix.  More then that however, was this strange low hum and the way the sound bounced around on stage.  There was also an unexplained hiss randomly appearing in our monitors, making it diffcult to get a clean sound on stage.  We tried to hone in on the problem but had to finally end sound check so they could open the house.  We discovered that the show was also expected to start at 7:30 pm rather then the typical 8:00 pm, so we had less time then expected to dress and have something light to eat.  We rushed back to the hotel, changed quickly and hurried back to the venue.  Venita was especially thoughtful and had arranged some light food and refreshments for us in the green room.  This too was interesting, since the green room was located next door in the dental office lunch room.  I'm sure we're not the first artists who have joked about "relaxing" in the dental office before going on stage.

Show time came and we stepped onto the stage.  We were slightly anixous since this was also our first show with our new drummer, Eddie Berman.  He's top flight so there was little reason to be concerned, but until you get that first show under your belt, there's always some butterflys.  Ironically it wasn't Eddie that caused the glitches on stage.  For the most part, the sound problems we'd experienced during sound check had disappeared but new things began to spring up.  Mellissa's microphone wasn't on for her solo in Thin Ice, so she quickly move to Sheri's microphone to finish the song; Pat's guitar when out on Sheep, so Mark covered by playing a solo on keyboards.  Luckily the second half of the show was much less problematic, but the monitors did go at the end of Darkside leaving us in the "dark."  We finished the show, took a bow and thanked the audience for coming to share this live performance experience. 

After we said our good nights, we quickly packed up and headed for to Shari's Resturant (at the recommendation of the theatre crew) for a late night meal.  Much to our surprise there were several fans there having a late night snack too.  They were all so complimentary and made us feel welcome.  The food was great and we ate, laughed and talked about the theatre gremlins that haunted our show.

The next morning we got ready to make our way home but found the gremlins had one last laugh...the tire on the cargo trailer was flat! Ironically there was a tow truck right there assisting another driver, so we inquired about engaging their assistance and proudly informed them that we had AAA.  Much to our surprise we were informed that AAA does not cover cargo trailor unless they're carrying ATVs or other types of vehicles (who knew).  So $110 dollars later and we were on our way home with memories of another wild musical adventure. It's true what people say...sometimes you just have to go with the flow...and that's exactly what we had to do this past weekend.