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Friday, July 30, 2010 15:19

Posts Tagged ‘Arizona’

Running on Empty, but Surviving

Sunday, September 13th, 2009

Rock music heals. Seriously.

All day Saturday, I was feeling lifeless and drained. Barely had an appetite. Fell asleep on the couch three times. That’s not like me at all. Maybe I just really needed the rest.

Anyway, that’s all a pretty bad time to have a midnight gig. The show was at Crabby Don’s in Gilbert, way far away from me. Might as well be New Mexico. I put off my departure as much as possible to still get there an hour early … excessive? Maybe. But venues love Hung Dynasty because we’re punctual and reasonable. More than a few times, we’ve bailed out venues that’ve had last-minute cancellations.

I was still feeling foggy after a few Ibuprofen tablets; I also planned for some caffeine and sugar when I bought what I thought was a Mountain Dew. But no - I missed the dreaded moniker of assy flavor: Diet. Ugh!

But from the first riffs of Rampage, all symptoms abated. We played a pretty good set. The reactions were a bit odd, though. Nobody seemed to like our rockafied versions of The Gambler and Turning Japanese. Seek & Destroy, though, got a huge reaction, including one girl grabbing Todd’s hand and kissing it.

“You’re never gonna wash that hand again, are you?” I asked after the tune.

“Nope, but I sure am gonna soil it!” he said.

All the originals went pretty well. Next time we play Crabby Don’s, we’ll likely pick a more metal-oriented trio of covers.

Show Friday!

Thursday, June 11th, 2009

I’m pretty excited - tomorrow (that would be June 12), we’re playing at Hollywood Alley in Mesa. I consider it one of the best live music venues for local and regional bands. Great atmosphere, great stage, nice sound system and a very cool staff. We’re the first band on, which I always like. You get time to set up, and it’s all laid back. We start at 9 p.m.!

2610 W. Baseline Avenue, just in case anyone reading this can join us!

Spinal Tap Moment #2

Thursday, June 4th, 2009

A quick note about Spinal Tap Moments - they’re not in chronological order. Or logical order of any kind.img_5198

One spring, I snagged the band an out-of-town gig. We went to Prescott to play at a venue called Sundance’s Place. It’s near the town’s infamous Whiskey Row, once known as a slab of watering holes for grizzled hermits, cowboys and real outlaw bikers. Now, it’s pretty much the poser crowd - though it still gets lively.

I’ve been to Prescott many times, but never before stopped at Sundance’s. I was in for a treat. This is a real rock ‘n’ roll venue. People are there to hear loud music and get crazy.

I just didn’t realize how crazy. Let’s take a quick inventory:

1. During our entire set, an autistic guy was break-dancing on crutches!

2. A grizzled old rocker kept slapping me on the knee and wanting me to give him “the knuckles” or a high-five after every guitar solo.

3. A buxom drunkette stormed the stage and rubbed various parts of her anatomy all over Todd during one of my solos. Todd kept on playing and actually blocked her from stepping on his pedalboard. The proper course of action, of course, would’ve been to let me worry about the guitar stuff, drop out of the song, and give the lass the proper attention.

4. While leaping off the stage and onto the floor during one song, I mis-judged the awesome power of my quads and rocketed straight into the ceiling WITH MY HEAD. Yes, I might be your hero - but I’m sometimes the goat, too.

Now that is what we call fun!

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