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in a blackout


pogo97

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many years ago, on an outdoor daytime gig at a flea market, we went acoustic until the power came back on. I had my resonater, the bassist had his upright, and the harmonica player was willing. Drummer played brushes, and we did some interesting things with our repertoire. Keyboard player found a guy selling a cheap melodica style unit and came back and sat in the last couple of songs.

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Hasn't happened to me much. Lost a nights pay in Calgary Alberta a billion years ago. I also recall that I worked with a singer who was essentially Mr. Entertainer. When we lost power one night, he told a ton of jokes and worked with the drummer doing songs like Under The Boardwalk, for about thirty minutes until the power came back on. Much respect to him. I should mention that the gig was in a fairly packed Rock club. Holding the attention of a bunch of drunken rowdies (without a PA) is no easy feat.

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I have an irrational fear, stopping short of phobia, of performing unplugged. There was a power outage once at a patio gig an hour away where I had just negotiated a higher rate to account for the extra travel. After my first set the power went out. When the owner came to ask if I could play unplugged I had to say no. The power came back on in time for the third set and I could play again, so I played two sets, but they had already cut my check for 3 and said not to worry about it. The live mic is some sort of trigger that allows my quiet, introverted, kind of awkward personality to get out of the way for me to start belting things out and joking around with strangers. Without it, I can't sing unless I'm alone. The brain is a weird thing.

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wow, that must suck, I mean the fear part. Have you considered seeing a therapist? You are the same person, and you know it, but you find the amplification frees you of your inhibitions? The brain is indeed a weird thing.

 

I'm actually a bit more reserved on mic, but it certainly isn't something I worry about, it is more about, well, off mic I am prone to saying some things in some ways that some people could somehow misconstrue as somewhat offensive on some level...sometimes...

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Ha, I've seen some folks for my ADD, but not for my conditional split personalities. It's kind of a novelty to acquaintances who come see me. Less so to my good friends who know how much of a goof I am. I've seen a stroke victim who was wheelchair-bound and could only speak in individual syllables grab a mic and sing the blues like nothing ever happened. At least top-five coolest things I've ever seen for sure. Brains, man.

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Can't remember the last time we had a power cut here, years ago though they were common because Greece was a richer country than Turkey and if their national grid was running short they would buy at a premium electricity from Turkish electric companies who wouldn't hesitate to switch off Turkish cities. It would happen maybe three or four evenings a week. Of course now Turkey is a very rich country and Greece has tanked so the shoe is very much on the other foot.

Re gigging without power, the closest I have come is having a house PA break down with no backup and I gave them an hour to fix it whilst having a drink and when they couldn't, collected my fee and left. I seldom play acoustic guitar anymore and reply heavily on loops and effects. I also wouldn't feel comfortable shouting jokes at the crowd.

So no juice no Stevie.

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I've been considering making my stage piano off-grid ready. It uses a 12 volt wall-wart, so it would be pretty simple to rig a power cable that hooks into, say, a scooter battery. This wouldn't be so much for blackouts (but I could see just keeping the thing in the van) but for outdoor playing, like a recent cemetery mass I played where we used a very long extension cord to power the piano.

 

Still just considering though: one more thing to carry around.

 

My real piano is already blackout-ready, but not especially moveable.

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Something like a duracell powermate will power a mixer and powered speaker for at least an hour, maybe two. Of course it has to be fully charged and brought along. I've done a couple of retirement home gigs with acoustic guitar and no mic. Easy set up! It would pay to have an acoustic that projects well acoustically.

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Pogo, we find about 85dba (slow response) a good start for retirement homes. We have a yacht club (almost a retirement home) that likes it no louder than 65dba during dinner, and then we can crank it up to an ear-splitting 80 or 90 for dancing ;)

 

The retirement communities have gotten better since the 'baby boomer' generation 'graduated' to that position.

 

When the swing era people populated those places, I'd do a sound check, then turn the volume up louder than I thought was appropriate.

 

Why? There was always the self-designated, "Turn It Down" or "It's Too Loud" person who would come up shortly after the first or second song with their complaint. I didn't matter how loud or soft, they were in the habit of making that complaint. They were usually aggressive or downright rude about it too. "Why does every band want to make me deaf - can't you turn the damn thing down.."

 

Then I would say, "Oh I'm sorry, I hate it too loud too. Let me turn it down a bit" and reach over so they can see me turn the volume down to the place I wanted it to be in the first place.

 

The apology disarms them (I'm a good actor) and they leave with a smile thinking they got their way.

 

Sometimes you just have to play the game.

 

But now that the boomers are there, and were brought up on Rock music, they like it a little louder and even occasionally ask us to crank it up. Although t learned that request could also mean play some faster music.

 

Notes

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