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Nice report, Mark! Thought your gig was last weekend and wondered how it went. Fantastic that it went well, even more so to help you get about the distractions. Music is really good for that. Powerful stuff. Good set list and you're right that 'reaching' the audience is most of the entertainment factor. Aside from the strat, what other guitars and what amp/pedals did you use? My 2nd gig w/new band is this weekend. Maybe I'll use it to start a blog of sorts - sure enjoy reading yours.

Another nice entry on the 'saga of a band'. Always enjoy reading these, Mark, and per your comment on a gig thread I've considered starting a blog of my own as well. Thanks for taking the time to blog and share. Good luck in your further prep and at the upcoming gig!

Really enjoying the evolving tale you're spinning here, Mark. Holy Moly - 8.5 hour practice!! I'd be plum wore out and doubt I'd make it that long. Sounds like you achieved a lot tho, so time well spent. Excellent! Have the 'opportunity' to play for free here as well and at times I'll play those gigs. If the venue has a house nice sound system/lights/stage, I enjoy the music and mates, I'll generally say 'yeh'. The work to me these days is lugging equipment so if I can get round with just a guitar and amp and will enjoy it, then it's fun for me. In general, the spaces I'm thinking of aren't making a ton of money off of the live music.

How about '30 Days in the Hole' by Humble Pie. Nice opening harmonies... always thought that was a good cover tune and fits in well with the Stones/roots rock type material. Good luck in the countdown for the upcoming gig!

Nice entry, Mark. Enjoyed the read. Nice that you've reached stability w/members. You're prep for the gig reminds me of the scene in the movie 'The Commitments' where they play their first gig in a church (fun movie if you haven't seen it - they have drummer problems as well... as does every band). The strap sounds nice. I, too, like a good strap for a good guitar. Finished the Keith Richards book over the holidays and watched 'Ladies and Gentlemen...', which is a '74 film when Taylor was on 2nd guitar. Their peak period I think. Ya know you have to take off the low E on the 555 now Hope the practice and gig goes well. Looking forward to reading about it. Cheers, Randy

Nice blog, Mark and congrats on getting your new member fairly quickly In comment to your question, Mark, I don't think the perception of "you guys rehearse and I'll show up to do my bit" is limited to drummers. Balancing expectations, personalities, skill levels, musical tastes is an issue for any band/musician. It's compounded with both the number of members in a group and age. The older we get, the smaller the pool of folks wanting to play. For your core trio, sounds like a great deal as it's social as well as musical. Nice that you're doing all you can to make them welcome and that your practices/work ethic are organized/strong. Even with all that it's dicey to hold something together given all the other influences. Might be a bit odd, but I really don't have a band anymore. Current situation is what we kinda refer to as a 'musical co-op' and we get folks togther for a gig. No gig, no band. Gig, then we figure out who'll play what, maybe do a rehears if new stuff or member is included, then play the gig as 'the band'. Kinda takes that 'commitment' out of the picture. Or I suppose another way to look at it is that I'm in lotsa bands... we just don't practice much with each of them.