Larry
"Uncle Larry"
Hi Larry
You were off to a blues contest with one of your bands.
Apologies if you posted it, but I missed seeing how it went.
How did it go, and what songs did you play for the contest?
James
Just James sent me a PM, so instead of answering him privately, I decided to share the story with everyone here. (I hadn't mentioned it at all, so you didn't miss anything James)
The 6 piece band I was in competed in 2013 and won a spot to compete in the IBC in Memphis Tennessee at the end of January 2014.
We left at 4:30 PM from just outside of Philadelphia, we had to be in Tennessee by 5PM the next day to sign in. I rented an economy car, and myself and the B3 player rode together, with me driving. Of course we departed in one of the worst snowstorms we had this year, and the first 4 hours of the 18 hour trip I couldn't do more than 35 MPH, as we got stuck behind 2 plow trains. They would not let me pass them. After 4 hours I finally shook them, but the snow lasted for the first 9 hours of the trip.
So I drive 1000 miles straight, we're almost there and I get pulled over by a Tennessee State trooper. He asked if I knew why he pulled me over, (I didn't) it was because my license plate was so salted over, he couldn't read it. He actually cleaned it off. Nicest State trooper I ever encountered. No ticket, everything was OK.
Get in Memphis, and had a fantastic breakfast before getting our room around noon. Got about 3 hours of non sleep before we had to get up, shower, eat, and sign in.
We finally got to play at about 9:00 PM that night. There were over 250 bands from all over the world, our venue had 11 bands. The venue we were in, The New Daisy Theater, was the biggest venue on Beale Street, so all the largest bands were slated to play there. As a result, we were there with 10 other bands, and they all had big horn sections, and some were choreographed. So we brought a knife to a gun fight. Had we been in a different venue, one without the horn bands, we might have advanced. But we were a 6 piece band with 2 keyboard players, so we needed a bigger stage plot.
We were pretty whooped the first night from the trip. We played better the 2nd night, but it wasn't enough. So we didn't advance. We played 25 minutes both nights. Mostly original songs, but we did throw in "Walking The Dog" and "Same Old Blues"
Memphis....the food down there was friggin fantastic. It was freakishly cold the whole time we were there, highs of like 23 degrees, single digits at night. So 90% of the people who would have been there....weren't. I visited Memphis Drum Shop while I was there and got some "souvenirs" there. (new beats, remo starfire head, sticks, MDS skull cap) We toured Graceland, (a lot cooler than I thought it would be) and we took a tour of the Gibson guitar factory. We drove by Sun Studios, but didn't take the tour. I wanted to see that and the Stax Museum, but that didn't happen. Did I mention how good the food was down there?
So beings that we didn't advance, We decided to drive home the next day. Drove straight through, 18 hours in more snow but not nearly as bad as the trip down.
All in all it was a fun trip. I did not expect to advance, I went down there to have a great time mainly.
That band broke up afterwards. The leader thought the band had run it's course, this was their 3rd trip down there, they never advanced. I'm not bummed the band split, it was not nearly as satisfying of a band as my trio is.
So that's pretty much it, nothing bad happened, and I got to see a whole slew of blues bands from all over, and ate some of the tastiest food I ever had.
You were off to a blues contest with one of your bands.
Apologies if you posted it, but I missed seeing how it went.
How did it go, and what songs did you play for the contest?
James
Just James sent me a PM, so instead of answering him privately, I decided to share the story with everyone here. (I hadn't mentioned it at all, so you didn't miss anything James)
The 6 piece band I was in competed in 2013 and won a spot to compete in the IBC in Memphis Tennessee at the end of January 2014.
We left at 4:30 PM from just outside of Philadelphia, we had to be in Tennessee by 5PM the next day to sign in. I rented an economy car, and myself and the B3 player rode together, with me driving. Of course we departed in one of the worst snowstorms we had this year, and the first 4 hours of the 18 hour trip I couldn't do more than 35 MPH, as we got stuck behind 2 plow trains. They would not let me pass them. After 4 hours I finally shook them, but the snow lasted for the first 9 hours of the trip.
So I drive 1000 miles straight, we're almost there and I get pulled over by a Tennessee State trooper. He asked if I knew why he pulled me over, (I didn't) it was because my license plate was so salted over, he couldn't read it. He actually cleaned it off. Nicest State trooper I ever encountered. No ticket, everything was OK.
Get in Memphis, and had a fantastic breakfast before getting our room around noon. Got about 3 hours of non sleep before we had to get up, shower, eat, and sign in.
We finally got to play at about 9:00 PM that night. There were over 250 bands from all over the world, our venue had 11 bands. The venue we were in, The New Daisy Theater, was the biggest venue on Beale Street, so all the largest bands were slated to play there. As a result, we were there with 10 other bands, and they all had big horn sections, and some were choreographed. So we brought a knife to a gun fight. Had we been in a different venue, one without the horn bands, we might have advanced. But we were a 6 piece band with 2 keyboard players, so we needed a bigger stage plot.
We were pretty whooped the first night from the trip. We played better the 2nd night, but it wasn't enough. So we didn't advance. We played 25 minutes both nights. Mostly original songs, but we did throw in "Walking The Dog" and "Same Old Blues"
Memphis....the food down there was friggin fantastic. It was freakishly cold the whole time we were there, highs of like 23 degrees, single digits at night. So 90% of the people who would have been there....weren't. I visited Memphis Drum Shop while I was there and got some "souvenirs" there. (new beats, remo starfire head, sticks, MDS skull cap) We toured Graceland, (a lot cooler than I thought it would be) and we took a tour of the Gibson guitar factory. We drove by Sun Studios, but didn't take the tour. I wanted to see that and the Stax Museum, but that didn't happen. Did I mention how good the food was down there?
So beings that we didn't advance, We decided to drive home the next day. Drove straight through, 18 hours in more snow but not nearly as bad as the trip down.
All in all it was a fun trip. I did not expect to advance, I went down there to have a great time mainly.
That band broke up afterwards. The leader thought the band had run it's course, this was their 3rd trip down there, they never advanced. I'm not bummed the band split, it was not nearly as satisfying of a band as my trio is.
So that's pretty much it, nothing bad happened, and I got to see a whole slew of blues bands from all over, and ate some of the tastiest food I ever had.
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