I’m glad I was not as officious as I usually am with the post-gig report….
….because four days after the Bitter End showcase, The Truants got offered a gig two doors down the street at the Red Lion. A real real gig. 7-10 pm on a Wednesday night. Three sets! And no-door, no-tip bucket money.
Three 45-minute sets. We have the material, but I am both thrilled and exhausted just thinking of the possibilities. Just the thought of seeing THE TRUANTS on chalkboard on a Bleecker Street sidewalk is enough to make my cheeks hurt from smiling.
My new bass player, Al Sklar, gave me the name of the Lion. He plays there regularly with another British Invasion band called (are you sitting?) No Mersey. I sent them a video after the showcase and they got right back to me. Now, all we have to do is deliver. It looks like late January, early February. I’ll let you know.
Okay, back to last Friday. We had a little drama at the final rehearsal when my lead guitar player, Joe Gagliardi, who was filling in with the band before us, told us they were also playing “Hey Little Girl.” We scrambled and worked up “Twist and Shout.” Don’t get me wrong. I love the song, but it’s a little bit of a cliche for my vision of the band. But you cannot deny it as a crowd-pleaser. I had to look at some YouTube to get it the way I wanted. Let me say this again about Ringo Starr: He never gets the credit he deserves. He was the perfect drummer for them: Solid, original and comparatively zero ego.
Here’s the set list: (medley) It’s Gonna Be Alright/Runaway; Barefootin’; Bad to Me; Mercy, Mercy; Roll Over Beethoven (which I introduced by saying “One man’s band is another man’s karaoke….”); Steppin’ Out; Twist and Shout; The Night Before; (medley) New Orleans/Come On Now; (encore) Till There Was You.
My wife, Adrianne Tolsch, taught me how to put a show together 30 years ago at Catch A Rising. So, I know how to build energy. A ballad as an encore, you say? I know what I have. Gabriel crushed it, and had the crowd in his palm even before he dedicated the song to his wife.
As always, the time went too fast and I kept thinking about going up on the last notes of “Come on Now.” But come on now. We’ve been together a year and eight months, done eight gigs and been through five bass players. And we are now on the brink of our first big-boy gig. I haven’t sold my latest novel, but to manifest this, at 54, is beyond humbling.
