GIG REPORT - Slightly Offensive (w/a Change in Venue)

This past Saturday night (1/15/10) my band SLIGHTLY OFFENSIVE was scheduled to play at Bar 99 Grill (Oak Lawn) however, when the drummer & I walked in to inquire where we should load in at, the bartender said “we've been trying to get a hold of you guys for the past 2 days to cancel. We don't have any power in the back room.” Ok, that's a problem. So I walked back there to see what the set up was and it was basically a bar in the front room (where we entered) and 2 narrow hallways on either side going to the back where we were to play. So pretty much 2 separate rooms...and it's just us. :( I looked at the “stage” and there was a pool table in the middle of it. They said they use a floor jack to move it over to the side when bands play. Ok, I'm thinking to myself this is pretty much a “dive bar”. Oh well, I get on Facebook and announce to the world that our gig has been cancelled & I call Cory (band leader/singer) to inform him of the situation. He thinks I'm joking. Now we've pulled pranks on each other in the past. He's called me while I was enroute to a gig asking for a ride...or can he borrow a mic stand, or I'd ask him to spot me some gas money when I get to practice...things that prior band members have done to us in the past, :D So I convince him, no the gig REALLY IS cancelled. By now the rest of the band is with me and Cory asks me “do you want to go play somewhere else?” I'm up for it so I ask the rest of the band and everyone is like SURE, we're already out here...let's go play somewhere!!! (NOW THIS IS THE HUNGRY ATTITUDE YOU NEED AS A BAND!!!) So I ask Cory, where do you have in mind? He says he's going to drive around the neighbourhood and see if any bars want a live band tonight. Ok, cool, call me when you find one and we'll be there. So he goes to the bar right across the street Barcode 99 (which I almost went to by mistake). No, nothing but older folks there...not a good fit for us. Then he drove down to the Goal Post (Oak Lawn) while Jennie (in a separate car) went to The Tilted Kilt in Chicago Ridge (next town over). The Tilted Kilt has bands but only on Wed nights and even then they're acoustic. So after she told them our story about how our gig got cancelled tonight they said SURE!!! & they'd pay us $400 too, SWEET!!! So I'm hanging w/the band at the original bar and Cory calls, “we're playing at the Tilted Kilt...Chicago Ridge”. Cool we're there!!! I get on Facebook again and announce the change in venue!!!

So we arrive at The Tilted Kilt, & now for those who have never been to The Tilted Kilt, its just like going to Hooters but the waitresses are dressed in short kilts and half tops that show off a TON of cleavage :shock: They're direct competition in our area is the Hooters chain...unfortunately I decided to wear a HOOTERS CHICAGO shirt for tonight's gig (great). So I walk in with my jacket closed and I walk up to the girl who seats the guests, I say to her in a low voice “I'm with the band tonight”...I open my jacket & show her my shirt & I ask “do you have another shirt I can wear”? She smiles and says she has to go talk to the manger. The manager comes over with a smile on her face and throws me a shirt from their stash and says “go change before someone sees you!!!” She was SOOOOO COOL!!! :D I promised her I would wear it out often when I go on vacation & stuff and take pics & post them on their Facebook page for advertisement.

Now the whole place is PACKED because it's the NFL Divisional playoffs are on and it's the Packers vs Falcons and in Chicago we HATE THE PACKERS!!! Its in our blood...we are taught from birth to HATE THE PACKERS so EVERYONE is glued to the TV's watching the game. So we hung out in front BS'ing with the managers. They asked what the band's name was and we told them SLIGHTLY OFFENSIVE and they asked us to just to keep it more on the “Slightly” side of things tonight... Ok, cool, no problem, we tone it down when there are kids around anyway. So after a table in the back area cleared we take the open table, flip it onto the pool table, push the pool table to the back wall and decided to start loading in the gear so that people know there is a band playing tonight and then hopefully they'd stick around to hear us. It also takes us an hour to set everything up so we wanted to be ready as close to the end of the game as possible. The manager announced over the loudspeaker that our band SLIGHTLY OFFENSIVE would play after the game and they had $2.50 bombs on special tonight. They got on Facebook, announced on FB that we were playing, & “Like” our band too. Our waitress “Nickie” said that we can have anything we want (drinks/food), just let her know (VERY COOL). By the time we started playing (11pm) the game had been over for maybe 1/2hr or so & the crowd was starting to clear out then. We played for 2 hours straight trying to keep as many people in the bar as possible but it didn't quite work as planned but the manager said the “trickle was slower than usual after a game.” Ok, I guess that's a compliment? Around 12:30am some of the more inebriated girls were asking for us to play Buckcherry's “Crazy Bitch” so Cory walked around the bar asking in the mic “any kids here...are all the kiddies gone by now?” This also gave management plenty of time to come out from the back to stop us but they didn't so we started playing the more “adult” stuff which the remaining people (15-20ppl) REALLY wanted to hear. By 1am I needed to use the bathroom so we took a break & I sat at the bar where the assistant manager was hanging out tonight and started a conversation w/him. He was off duty now & he was very complimentary, he said we were more “rockin” than the other band they usually have there on Wed nights & he was REALLY in the mood for that. I told him I know the band that usually plays here on Wed nights and they're a popular band and get some SWEET gigs but they're more of a softer “pop” band and we're a more “harder rockin” band than they are. It all depends on the bar's clientele and it's really what THEY like that matters. He said it was funny that we showed up because he was just thinking about going out tonight & maybe checking out a band and then Jennie comes walking in. He was like, sure, you guys can play, I don't have to leave & I can drink for free!!! A win-win situation for him!!! Now, while we were playing I was watching both him and his boss (the manager who gave me the shirt) and they were both singing and it looked like they were having a great time on the other side of the bar. So I sat with him for about 10min and I asked him what time did they close, he said 2am so I told him we'd get back up there and play till 1:30am then start packing up and we'd all call it a night.

I was kind of worried about the trickle of people out of the bar but they said that they have bands sometimes on the weekends and some special times during the summer months and they said they would call us for those gigs so LETS HOPE (fingers crossed)!!! Either way, I got my picture taken with 2 of the girls to commemorate our gig so if we don't get called back I still have those to remember it by :D I've never been in a band before that would've done what we did Sat night...drive around and try to find a place to play after a cancelation. Just being in a band with that kind of DRIVE TO PLAY is really what I like to see. It also makes me think that we should try that again sometime in the future... :D

Pics are will be up soon on my Facebook page (Tom McLaughlin) & on MySpace (Tommy Gunz) and I'm sure they will be up soon on the band's Facebook page “Rock Slightly Offensive Band” & at slightlyoffensiveband.com. Also check us out on MySpace too!!!

Next Gig 2/12/11 – We're BACK @ Jack Desmond's (10339 Ridgeland Ave, Chicago Ridge) where we played our NYE gig. Its our “CUPID SUCKS” (anti-Valentines Day) show where all the single people are invited to come and party w/us, bring pics of their ex's and cut them up etc. Lots of fun!!! :D