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SATURDAY August 22, 1998 Working For The Whale I enjoy performing at Sea World. It's a nice theme park for doing a BTO show there. The stage is outside and in an area that's highly visible (the stage is located at the entrance and exit to the theme park). Per my suggestion, I asked the band to set up a little bit closer together on stage so we didn't feel like we were too far apart. Nate suggested moving the entire rhythm section up on my drum riser. I didn't like it at first but after trying it , I thought it would be beneficial for the rhythm section to be able to hear each other. It's very hard to make suggestions in the band with guys getting sensitive about it. When I'm thinking that I have an idea for making the band sound better or perform better, if I bring it up people get offended. I won't mention any names, but someone in the band was fluctuating their tempo feel and I noticed, so I brought it up at the next rehearsal. This stunt immediately caused a verbal fight amongst me and that individual and that individual totally disagreed with me. Needless to say, I now learned that to bring some deficiency (in someone's playing) up at a band rehearsal is of course going to make the culprit deny an accusations and allow himself to save face. So I believe the best thing to do is to bring a problem up to the individual in a private setting, instead of embarrassing the guy in front of his peers. What can I say? The Sea World show was a total blast! We, the band, had fun. However, one of the guys in the band kept giving me some pretty mean looks on stage. I was wondering what the problem was and it was only later that I found out that people were upset because I was 15 minutes late. And late, meaning 15 minutes later than the time we were supposed to have arrived. The problem was, that the wife and kids decided at the last possible minute, to go along with me to the Sea World gig, thus making me late by a whole 15 minutes. I was thinking to myself, 15 minutes late for what? I made it to the soundcheck which was at 6pm, and I was there for the downbeat. I don't understand the logic of this band sometimes. But I've been thinking, that I can always get to the gig on time if I needed to. And I think that some of the guys in the band that are less experienced musicians, are probably using this excuse about time to put something, anything on me. Yes, I can always get to a gig on time, but the question is, can some of the guys in the band play without making the mistakes that they do? I think it's a valid point. During the first break Shannon, Jamie, Marc and I were ambushed by some fans at the stairs leading off the stage. I was happy to chat with them, and to sign autographs on the CDs that they bought from us. It's kind of weird to talk with adoring fans, when your wife and children come to get you. I guess I caused some surprised looks when these fans ( mostly girls ) saw that I'm married and have a family. Sorry girls! I ran into the girl that is a big BTO fan, and from whom I bought Baskin Robbins ice cream from in Kearny Mesa. I walked into this Baskin Robbins ice cream parlor one day. I was wearing my BTO cap when the girl that was going to serve me ice cream started screaming, "Oh my God, are you with Big Time Operator?" I said yes and she freaked. She mentioned how she was a big fan of ours, and that she'd seen us at Neiman's 5 times. She had a hard time finding venues that were all ages in San Diego, so she ended up going to The Club Caprice in Redondo Beach just to see us and thus be able to go to a club that was all ages. It's funny that since I mentioned this to the guys in the band, about there not being enough all ages clubs in San Diego, now we're producing our own all ages show, along with Chelsea's dance workshop! I just knew for a fact that there was a growing segment of swing dancers under the age of 21, and they needed a place to dance. So now we're providing a place for everyone to dance, so they don't have to go to Los Angeles every time they want to swing dance! Well, I'm lookin forward to this dance this Saturday at The Amore Club near The Casbah. Eddie Carter from AM1360 KPOP dropped by after the Sea World show and introduced himself to me. I had met him on the Barflies Mailing List and he had told me he was coming down to greet us. It was nice of him to say hi after the gig. CDs Played Today:
Dave Weckl - Heads Up
The Big Lebowski (video) The Apostle (video)
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