Whew.... Whadda Week!
It took a while for me to decompress after our performance at The 443 Social Club and Lounge. You coulda carved a better man out of a banana yesterday. But I'm back at it today!
This was our very first public performance, although I carefully crafted its parameters to be as low pressure as possible.
Billed as a "Behind The Curtain" show (Basically a rehearsal made public with the tickets being only made available to the financial supporting members of the club's VIP patronage platform) the show sold out within 24 hours of announcing the event.
The band needed a stress test to more accurately gauge its level of preparedness for our upcoming show at The Center For The Arts of Homer, an intimate 450 seat theater in a converted church.
On Wednesday, we stuffed a 4 piece horn section, a six piece rhythm section, and two George-O-Lettes across the 443's stage and onto its floor, to literally shake off rust, expose our under-addressed shortcomings, (and nerves along with the expected number of surprise brain farts) in front of a paying audience. It was the first time all of us played together at one time. In fact, it was the first time some of the band members even met each other, let alone play together.
Was it perfect? Nah, it never is at this stage. The Gumbo still needs to cook down to let the flavors all blend together properly. You just gotta let go and trust the process sometimes.
But we got through it, and there were many highpoints that were worth savoring, particularly while performing the new material that will be on our upcoming CD release, "The Compendium Of Unruly Caterwauling".
Playing "Down In New Orleans", "Come Too Jesus", "Marie", "Wrong Set Of Horses", "Lost On The Levee" and "Slow Drivin' Man" and watching folks wide eyed gaze and gaping jaws (while feeling the reactions and listening to audible gasps from the audience during certain sections) was pretty soul affirming for me. I know people think I'm crazy, but I know what I hear in my head is how I want the band to sound. We got real close for a maiden voyage. So maybe not so crazy after all.
The event was a success, raising over 9k for The 443 Music Collective, the club's nonprofit component.
In the post show social network victory laps on Facebook, the reviews that came in were glowing. I'm a much harder and harsher critic of myself, but I did appreciate the kind encouragement from folks that not only are a fundamental part of the "Community Music Intelligentsia", but are actual patrons of the musical arts... the same type of rare person such as yourself that realized a long time ago that to create unique and special work, artists need financial help to create them. As a matter of fact, one 443 VIP was so inspired that she subscribed to our patronage program at the "Diamond Encrusted Ewer" level the next day.... a profoundly significant show of support that couldn't have come at a more opportune time.
The 443 and The Hungarians have been pursuing a similar survival strategies concurrently. It was cool to join forces momentarily for the greater good of not only both entities, but for the community in general. A lot of music artists, both local and national, depend on that patronage model to keep the doors of The 443 open.
Please make sure to tug the coattails of friends about the patronage support systems for The 443 and The Shuffling Hungarians Media Project. Positive "Word Of Mouth" is the most worthy form of advocacy. All of you make the impossible find its way to "probable", and in the case? It actually materialized in the flesh!
Onward to the theater show at The Center For The Arts Of Homer. I have a few exclusive tricks up my sleeve for that one, so hold onto your hats.