Re: Audiences, go figure

anything@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
On Sun, 02 Mar 2008 21:08:58 -0800, Daniel Nestlerode
<dnestler@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

So today, March 2, was the Tule Fog Fete as Caswell State Park in Ripon CA,
about 20 mins north. Beautiful day: temps in the 60s, lots of sun, a few
clouds making the sky interesting.

As part of the fete, my buddy Ken collects a bunch of folks, calls us the
Zero Visibility String Band (get it?) and volunteers us to be the musical
entertainment at an event that benefits the Great Valley Museum in Modesto.
The gig ran officially from noon to 2:30. We played from 11:50 to 3:15.

Interesting group of folks. Four guitar players, octave mando/mando/guitar
hammered dulcimer player (Ken), mando/mandola/guitar (me), and a bass
player. We all know a ton of traditional folk, contemporary folk,
bluegrass, fiddle tunes, and some blues. We play well: learning on the fly,
harmonizing lyrics heard for the first time in the first chorus of the song,
playing hot breaks, etc. All played to general applause and approbation in
an open-air setting that lacked a formal stage and adequate seating.

So Bob (AKA Roosterfish --need to ask him about that) asks me to sing "The
Weight." We settle on key of A, and I take off hoping that the opening and
interstitial chord run won't kill the jam.

It does.

I forget the lyric to a full verse. No one can follow the chord run, not
even the bass player. F#m and C#m are too much for most bluegrassers,
especially in the same song in sequence.

The thing is, by comparison to all of the other music we've played to that
point and will play for the rest of the afternoon, a train wreck. Timing is
off --well that song has weird timing anyway-- but we suck. Suuuuuck. I was
happy to finish, we were all relieved at the end, and Roosterfish even
apologized for asking me to play it.

So guess which song gets the loudest applause? Yep, "The Weight."

People will clap more for *** they know than they will for solid gold they
don't recognize.

<sigh>

No complaints. It was an afternoon well spent and I wouldn't take back a
second of it.

Daniel


We always get a good response to 'The Weight', and I can't work out
why it's worth the bother half the time - there's about nine million
verses (all slow), goes clunkety clunk for about half the first set.

However, if the band is feeling funky and the audience feels like
dancing...I love it.

Pete


Don't you know? It's familiarity. They're not applauding you, they're applauding themselves for recognizing the song.

-Raf

--
Misifus-
Rafael Seibert
mailto:rafseibert@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
blog: http://rafsrincon.blogspot.com/
Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rafiii
home: http://www.rafandsioux.com
.