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GIG REPORT - The Od...
 
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GIG REPORT - The Odd Pops @ The Irish Legend (Willow Springs

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(@tommy-guns)
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This past Sat night I played a “fill in” gig with the band THE ODD POPS @ The Irish Legend (Willow Springs, IL). I was here for a wedding reception last year and they had a band crammed in the corner & we did the same. The layout had us in one room w/22 people in it leaving only 1 table open and the main bar in the other room w/about 15 people in that room. The Irish Legend is a little secluded pub & supposedly “haunted”. :D It used to be a speakeasy of Al Capone's and a brothel back in the day. The Willowbrook Ballroom is right across the street which is also haunted (Resurrection Mary fame) and The Irish Legend uses Willowbrook's parking lock for spillover parking. I thought that was pretty cool for an October gig!!! :D

They sent me a song list and I learned the material over Labor Day weekend. The following weekend we got together on Fri night and Sunday afternoon and went through all the material. After that I drilled on the material & worked on my patches up until gig night. Everyone got there on time and we loaded in and setup.

We played 3 sets Sat night and even though we hadn't played together since our first practice 3 weeks prior by song 4 I thought we REALLY sounded good playing together.  Sat night we played a LOT of classic rock & a couple of Santana tunes which was challenging for me at first but I really started to enjoy playing his songs over the past month and I mentioned that to my wife who came out to this gig. Before we played “Black Magic Woman” they introduced me to the crowd as “Tommy Gunz” which surprised me since I never mentioned my stage name, that was pretty cool. Oviously they did some research on me. This was the first song that really FEATURED me playing lead guitar Sat night...and I NAILED IT!!! :D I mean I played that song like I was Santana's teacher Sat night!!! :D I'll remember that one for a LONG time to come. 8) After we finished this song the crowd just ERUPTED in applause and when we took a break my wife and in-laws who also came out were IMPRESSED with my playing that song. :D I was riding high going into the 2nd set which again featured me playing lead guitar on Stevie Ray Vaughn's “The Sky is Crying” as the opener. This one even though I played the opening licks correctly the rest of it just didn't have the “magic” as the other one did. I'm not a big fan of playing the “blues” so maybe that had an affect. We ended w/Tom Petty's “Running Down a Dream” which we jammed out the ending and I improvised a lead over it and while walking to the bar afterwards I had a patron compliment me on that lead (very cool)!!! :D During our 3rd set we played some Matchbox 20 which I thought we sounded amazing playing Sat night and we had the crowd singing/dancing along and people in the other room were doing the same. Great crowd response and feedback from the bar who said they wanted the band back again soon (so I did my job)!!! :D They asked if I'd be available again if they're other guitar player couldn't make some gigs? I said if I'm available sure!!! I already know your catalogue!!! :D

My next gig is a return engagement, LIFE IS DRAMA is BACK @ Booben's (109 E Chippewa St, Dwight, IL) on SATURDAY (10/29/11). It's their HALLOWEEN BASH so if this is anything like it was last year at Jameson's (AND this place has a barbers chair for doing shots), so you know it's going to be a FUN NIGHT!!! We're dressing up in pirate costumes and it'll be our debut gig with our new bass player & we have 5 or 6 new tunes we learned!!! We play from 10:00pm-1:30am.

Thanks for reading and all the great comments & KEEP ROCKIN' !!!!

Ambition is the path to success...persistence is the vehicle you arrive in!!!

 
Posted : 04/10/2011 7:28 pm