The Coyotes' gigs #2 & 3

[DravenX]

You've been to Durand and played The Club Car? That's cool! Durand is a great town! Bill, the club owner and Janice, the bartender are cool too! Did you guys get to see a bunch of young chicks flashing ya? That's why I'm in it! Rock and roll!

Yep that place to this day is one of my favorite venues. As to the chick thing I have an interesting story about that.

When we played there, there was a nice looking blond girl she looked a little young but she was in the bar way past time when minors should be gone. In any case the other guitar player (the one no longer in the band) proceeds to make Smalltalk with her and totally draws this particular girl in. As we are playing come to find out she was the bartender’s daughter who was something like 15 and was now totally infatuated with said member of the band. Mind you we find this out because a remark was made over the mic about the good looks of the girl while we where on stage. The bartender (mother) is not exactly happy about the situation but decides to use it to blackmail the band out of some free t-shirts. After the show our singer and the other guitar player hang out with the mother the rest of the night and all is well. Two days later we get a message posted on our myspace from the young girl expressing her love for said guitar player. Needless to say we made fun of him for weeks!!!

[hudpucker]

Aww man...I'm totally gonna tease him about it now!

[flintpunk]

Sorry I haven't updated in a while...I've had problems. More on me later.

Lisa came back and did the Halloween gig last Saturday. Before the gig she asked Rob (drummer) if she could re-join the band and of course he said yes. The gig went fine except for one hiccup during Before He Cheats where Lisa got pissed at her husband who was dancing with some other chick. She threw her mic down and tripped over a monitor trying to get to him, then she proceded to wail on him until he finally sat down. Meanwhile, the girls in the audience are all singing the song and Paul (the other guitarist) and I are looking at each other in amused amazement! We kept it going and Lisa returned to her mic and finished the song! Paul and I had a good laugh afterward both of us agreeing that normally you'd have to pay for that kind of entertainment. The drummer and bass player were less amused. Oh well, the show rolls on.

Now about me...The Wednesday before that gig, I woke up and half of my left hand was numb. My pinky and ring finger were useless. I attributed to sleeping on it funny and brushed it off. That evening when it hadn't gotten any better, I went to an after-hours clinic to get it looked at. The diagnosis, nerve damage in my elbow. They put me on some steroids hoping to reduce any inflamation that might be occuring. By gig time on Saturday, it wasn't any better. I totally mailed in my performance by playing only cowboy chords and playing two-fingered solos above the 12th fret. The bad news is that after a week and a half, despite several trips to the doctor, and several proposed remedies, my hand is not getting any better but worse! I have absolutely no feeling in those two fingers now. I can't feel my strings well enough to even play the cowboy chords! I don't have enough strength in my hand to play a blues progression. Typing this is a pain in the rump! I'm freaking out a bit.

I got a buddy of mine to fill in for me for the next month or so with the band. He's coming over tonight so I can start to walk him through the parts that I play.

Any of you guys ever have this happen? I remember OSA having a problem with his hand...Anyone else?

Later,
Al

[Gravity Jim]

When it's your ring and pinky, that's ulnar or cubital tunnel syndrome... similar to carpal tunnel, but in your elbow instead of your wrist (the ulnar nerve that connects to those fingers runs through there).

I've been dealing with both ulnar tunnel and carpal tunnel symptoms for a few months now (ever since I stopped taking steroids... my doc fiures the prednisone was masking the effect). So far, I've had good luck wearing a wrist brace at night and changing the ergonmics of my workspace a bit... no loss of hand strength yet, but if it happens, I'll have the surgery in a heartbeat.

[flintpunk]

Yep, that's exactly what the doc told me. Only in my case it came on literally overnight with no injury or warning. I'm a big guy with big strong hands and I've never had any kind of ailment like this. I guess between my hips needing resurfacing and now this, 40 is the beginning of the end!

On a lighter note, I set my new $60 Davidson fake LP Custom for open G and I've been teaching myself some slide (never played slide before!) Maybe it's time to break out the Keef catalog and see what else I can do with open G!

Here are some pics of the fake Paul. Click on the image for the full screen pic. I'm going to make a slide holder that will bolt to the headstock and disguise the lack of an "open book" at the top. I'll also cobble up a truss rod cover out of steel. Should be a nice fake for the open G/slide stuff...

http://flintpunk.pictiger.com/images/12960400/

http://flintpunk.pictiger.com/images/12960410/

[Offshore Angler]

Yep, my doctor gave me Naproxin, which is industrial strength Aleve. Stuff really works, but as with all medical advice, consult your physician.

[Offshore Angler]

The gig went fine except for one hiccup during Before He Cheats where Lisa got pissed at her husband who was dancing with some other chick. She threw her mic down and tripped over a monitor trying to get to him, then she proceded to wail on him until he finally sat down...

In my best Flounder voice, "Oh man, this is great!!!!" Now you have to keep her.

[flintpunk]

Thanks for the advice guys...I'm all over it!!!

I used to be on Naproxin (I've got 2 bad hips from 30+ years of racing motocross) but after a couple years on it, it started messing up my stomach. Now I take Relafin twice daily which is much easier on my digestive tract.

[flintpunk]

In my best Flounder voice, "Oh man, this is great!!!!" Now you have to keep her.

Dude, I'm telling you that was CRAAAAAZZZZZYYYYY! Funny as hell! I'm definitely in it for the long haul now. You can't find that kind of entertainment just anywhere! We define white trash!

[Gravity Jim]

Man... that's not my idea of entertainment. If that kind of bullshit was going on in any band I had anyhting to do with, that would have been my last gig right there.

[flintpunk]

Here's where I'm at with it currently...

The music is good. We have a pretty good selection of songs. The crowds like us. The club owners like us. We are working regularly. I've spent time learning the material.

The drama sucks, but most of it is originating with 2 of the spouses. I have a feeling this will subside once the "newness" wears off. Both of the offending spouses belong to Coyotes with zero previous band experience. The last episode took place in an environment where that kind of thing wouldn't normally be too out of place. We're a country/southern rock band playing in hick bars to a bunch of rednecks (I fit in pretty well, btw!). It is what it is and I'm just glad to be playing. I'm trying to distance myself from the BS by having a good time and treating the situation like I'm a "hired gun" there to do a job. The singer and I are kinda square pegs anyway. I wouldn't be surprised if they canned me one day just cause I"m a dick.

[Plugger]

Man... that's not my idea of entertainment. If that kind of bullshit was going on in any band I had anyhting to do with, that would have been my last gig right there.

Oh c'mon... _every_ r&r outfit needs a little bit of the "spinal tap" factor thrown in... otherwise, we might start taking ourselves seriously, even to the point of imagining what we are doing is _art_...

And are you sure this wasn't staged anyway... I mean, during the song "Before He Cheats", you've got to ask...

-Mark

[Kap'n]

Man... that's not my idea of entertainment. If that kind of bullshit was going on in any band I had anyhting to do with, that would have been my last gig right there.

Jim, this is a Country Band we're talking about here.

My one and only experience playing in a country band, the other guitar player got arrested between setsfor non-payment of child support, and the gig was over.

Now that's country!

[flintpunk]

Oh c'mon... _every_ r&r outfit needs a little bit of the "spinal tap" factor thrown in... otherwise, we might start taking ourselves seriously, even to the point of imagining what we are doing is _art_...

And are you sure this wasn't staged anyway... I mean, during the song "Before He Cheats", you've got to ask...

-Mark

The irony of that is astounding! I hadn't even thought of that until you mentioned it! I swear it wasn't staged!!!

[flintpunk]

Jim, this is a Country Band we're talking about here.

My one and only experience playing in a country band, the other guitar player got arrested between setsfor non-payment of child support, and the gig was over.

Now that's country!

That is country! That one beats ours pretty solidly!

[flintpunk]

Hey Fezz, thanks for the great advice about the ice and massaging above the elbow. It's still too numb to play, but it definitely feels better. I'll keep up the regimen and keep you up to date on any progress. Seriously, Thank you! You are the first person who has offered any advice that has actually helped and I REALLY appreciate it. If you're ever in the enchanted mitten, I owe you a few cold ones!

[Mesotech]

Not to hijack the thread, because it's fairly entertaining as it is, but the added drama reminded me of a gig I saw 2 or 3 years ago.

I was watching Wayne Toups play at the Rice Festival in Crowley, La. Now Wayne has a sorted past, and it's not difficult to imagine just about anything happening at one of his gigs. This particular night, he was onstage singing and playing his accordian when some woman in the crowd flashed him. Wayne's wife jumped off the side of the stage and went for the woman. The police broke up the ensuing cat fight and arrested both women. Wayne left the stage for a few songs to try talking them out of arresting anyone, but the police weren't buying it. They told him he could come bail his wife out after the show. So Wayne goes back onstage and continues the gig. He was supposed to stop at midnight, but knew what trouble awaited him, and decided to keep on playing. They played until 1:00am, and would have kept going except someone pulled the power. This got Wayne even more upset, and offstage, there was another tussle, which got Wayne put into custody too. I'm pretty sure that both Wayne and his wife escaped any formal charges, but both of them being seperated for the rest of the night probably ended up being a good thing.

Now that's country.

[flintpunk]

Ok guys, it's taken me a while to organize my thoughts and put together some time so I can update you on the latest of The Coyotes' saga. Sit down, grab 'ya a cup of joe and enjoy! Ya just can't make this stuff up and truth is really stranger than fiction! I really wish I had 3 video cameras following this band around at all times...This would make one HELL of an MTV reality show!

Let's start by going back a few weeks to the gigs on October 19 and 20. This was the weekend when the singer originally quit. I neglected to tell you some of the side drama that was going on because at the time it was insignificant when compared to what was originally going on with Lisa.

After the Friday night gig on Oct. 19, we all went across the street and were having breakfast at a 24 hour restaurant. While we were sitting there, Lisa's husband Kurt was talking about how he had turned down the "house band" offering by the club for our band. I was in disbelief! I told him he had no business doing that as he wasn't even a member of the band! He replied that we weren't ready because we only had enough material to cover one night and the second night would be identical. I was furious!!! I told him regardless, that wasn't his call and that only the 5 people in the band could make decisions of that nature! I guess he figured since he knew the bar owner and he booked the gig, that he was our manager or something! I was so mad, I got my check and left. As I was leaving, I let it be known that this would be discussed at length at Monday's practice. Lisa followed me out of the restaurant and apologized and said she didn't know anything about it. She was totally on my side.

I decided to let it go for Saturday night so it wasn't on my mind and I focused on just playing good. We had some sound problems that night and I found myself in the audience playing and listening via my new wireless rig. I relayed the mix info to the drummer who runs the P.A.

If I recall, we had a pretty good night. Afterwards, we again went across the street to The Ironhorse for breakfast. This time I was sitting next to the drummer's wife. She's a 100 lb. hottie who is used to men grovelling over her and I'm pretty sure nobody has ever told her "no". The drummer's manhood usually resides in her purse.
So we're sitting there waiting for breakfast and she starts with "Al honey, I need to talk to you about something that you're not going to like." How many times have you heard something like that and thought something good was coming? She proceeds to tell me that I'm spending too much time walking around the bar with my wireless. I told her that's because we were having problems with the mix and I was relaying the info to Rob (the drummer). She says, "No. Robbie's been doing sound for 15 years and he knows what he's doing." She told me my job was to stay on stage and play my guitar. At this point, I friggin' lost it! I told her, "Stephanie honey, I'm going to tell you something you're not going to like!" I told her that the spouses in the band needed to stay the hell out of the band's business and I wasn't going to take any of this anymore! I re-iterated that there were only 5 people in the band and only 5 opinions that counted and she could shut the hell up. The drummer's jaw hit the table! The chick lost it, calling me every name in the book and the restaurant got really quiet. It became obvious that nobody had ever set this chick straight. Again I left. The ensuing days were filled with the drama of Lisa quitting, so the issue of spouses getting involved in band business fell to the wayside until...


The Halloween Gig

After the episode at the Halloween gig where Lisa threw the mic and beat her husband up, I packed my amp and pedal board up into their cases. As I was leaving, I passed the drummer's wife who was sitting at the corner of the bar. She grabs my arm and says, "She just f***ed us! She f***ed you, me, and the whole band!" I was tired and stressed from playing a gig with a hand that barely worked, so I just nodded and left. The "spouses" thing was rearing it's ugly head again, but I couldn't deal with it at the time.



The weekend of November 3rd and 4th

Lisa (the singer) and her husband and the drummer and his wife all attended a U of M vs. MSU party. The drummer stayed until around 9:00 PM and asked his wife to take him home because he wasn't feeling well. She took him home and rushed back to the party. Once back, she cornered the singer and confronted her about the throwing of the mic incident at the Halloween gig. Lisa told her to get out of her face. The drummer's wife stuck her hand in Lisa's face just to spite her. Lisa warned the drummer's wife to take her hand out of her face and the psycho stuck it right back. Lisa shoved the chick to the floor and was asked to leave the party. Monday morning, I get an email from the drummer to the whole band minus Lisa telling the story and how it was totally unprovoked on his wife's part (I know better, I have sources!). He says that she's not allowed over to his house any more and that he won't play in a band with her anymore. He adds that if we want to continue on with her and without him, he understands! Typical passive/aggressive b.s. I forwarded his email to the whole band with the following message...

Crap!
I need some time to think!
Later,
Al


The drummer is livid with me that I sent his email to Lisa. Oh well. At this point, I really don't care. As Monday goes on, I get an email from the other guitar player telling me that he scored us a well known female singer who had retired from a prominant local band about 5 years ago to give it all a rest. The girl's name is Patty and she was really interested in singing again. I figured what the heck, the drama is hillarious and I may as well give this thing another shot.

Patty shows up and is incredible. She jumped right into Lisa's songs and we were able to pick up several of hers. She has a bit more range than Lisa up top, so now we can do some stuff we couldn't before. We've had 4 practices now and it's going well except...

Except the drummer's wife has been at all of them! At one point, she tell's Patty, "You'll always get the truth from me. I'm the one in the group who's not afraid to be honest!" Huh, who told her she's in the group? Another time, at the end of one of the practices, she was telling everyone about her temper and she says, "I'm such a bitch, ain't I Al?" to which I replied, "You're a real Yoko!" She got really mad and goes, "I ain't no Yoko and you guys ain't The Beatles!" On that note I left. This is still very entertaining and I really enjoy throwing subtle jabs at this chick because she is such an Uber-bitch!

Other news...
My hand is still messed up and not improving. It's been 3 weeks now. I have an appointment with a neurologist next Monday.

Other other news...
Do you guys remember a while back (back when The Coyotes were just starting out at the beginning of summer) when I was telling you that I got asked to play with a couple of really talented guys in a full-on retro-country thing? These guys are REALLY good! In fact, I get nervous just playing around them. Anyway, they've been hanging around The Coyotes' gigs and I talk to them regularly, especially about all this drama! Everyone gets a big kick out of the stories! So I get an email from the one guy and he asks, "Are you ready to leave all that b.s. behind and come play with us yet?" I told him that of course I'd love to play with those guys, but it was a matter of confidence. I told him that they were like Minor League players and I was still playing high school ball. 10 minutes after I reply to the email, the other guy calls me up and says, "Hey, I'm coming over to your place tonight." I told him, "Cool, what's up?" He says, "I'm gonna bring over some Hefty bags and we're gonna pack up all your baggage so you can come play with us!" He told me not to worry because they know exactly what I can do as they've been watching me for weeks and they still need a rhythm guy. I told them I'd do it this time! I'm really stoked. The only problem will be if my hand is going to be a long term deal. I'm going to hang with The Coyotes until this other thing gets rolling and then I'll go exclusively with this other deal. There's so much that I wish I could tell you guys about this other band, but I'm sworn to secrecy for now. This one is gonna be big. Well, big for me anyway!

More later!
Al

[Plugger]

I love this. The Coyotes' drama/music quotient probably belongs in the Guiness book of World records. "I ain't no Yoko and you guys ain't The Beatles!" Just classic.

So how many gigs have you played in total with the Coyotes? Four or five?

-Mark

[Kap'n]

It's cool that you're able to step back a bit, and laugh. You have to, otherwise it'll kill ya.

Retro country is cool. I've been diggin' on Hank Sr. and Patsy recently.

Gotta have a fiddle and a non-pedal steel for authenticity.

[Kap'n]

"I ain't no Yoko and you guys ain't The Beatles!" Just classic.

Instant comeback

Anything you say, Courtney.

[flintpunk]

Mark, the Halloween gig was #6! I think the biggest factor in the whole thing is that the band was assembled by the drummer, Rob and former singer, Lisa. They had been friends since they were kids and neither had been in a band before. They both had siblings that played together in a band called Thin Ice that enjoyed some local success a while back. I think both of their spouses saw The Coyotes as a gold mine! Everyone knows crime doesn't pay and neither does music!

Great line, Kap'n! I'll archive that one for sure!

[flintpunk]

Gig 7 report...

The Coyote's Gig #7 on Wednesday night went without a hitch. The new singer worked out really well although I'm not sure she's totally in to it. My hand is getting a little better, although I'm really still not playing all of the songs exactly the correct way.

The drama for this post (which really isn't drama)...Remember my buddy Mike's band, Nevaeh that was going to fill in for us at the Halloween gig until Lisa came back before getting canned for not taking crap from the drummer's wife? Well, they wound up getting a gig for this weekend that we were originally scheduled for. When the club owner heard we had lost our singer, he dropped us and scheduled Nevaeh. It worked out ok because we booked another job. Anyway, Mike is at the club Wednesday setting up for this weekend and the club owner asks him to play that night too! His singer is out of town for Thanksgiving, but he accepts the job. He calls me and tells me what he's done and he thinks he's in trouble because he doubts they have enough material to pull the job off. I gave a quick call to Lisa and she shows up and gets them through.

The Coyotes were only scheduled to play our gig from 8 pm to midnight and the club where Nevaeh was playing was only a couple minutes away, so I packed up quick when I was done and went over and jammed and sang another 2 hours with Mike, Lisa and the other boys from Nevaeh! Fun night!

[dirtdog]

....and she says, "I'm such a bitch, ain't I Al?" to which I replied, "You're a real Yoko!" She got really mad and goes, "I ain't no Yoko and you guys ain't The Beatles!"

Awesome story, looking forward to Chapter 8, "Just when you though nothing else could go wrong".

DD

[boobtube21]

This saga is killing me, it's hilarious! I agree, it's great that you can take it in stride and see it for what it is--nothing life shattering, just pure comedy and at the end of the day, one heck of a ride. Not that it isn't stressful sometimes though.

I'm stoked for you man, doing some retro-country! I've been wanting to do something like that for a little while now. Since taking up the steel, I've been listening to a lot of Lloyd Green ("Mr Nashville") and I found this--take a listen, it's badass. Lloyd green on the steel, George Jones on vox.

http://lloydgreentribute.com/vocalcl...orgejones1.mp3

Might be an old standard for you and some others, but it's new stuff to me, and I dig it.

[melody]

You should call the band The Jerry Springer review...

[flintpunk]

You've got that right!!!

[Offshore Angler]

Or "The Drama Queens" (of the stone age?)

[flintpunk]

Gig 8 was last night. This was the second gig for the new singer. The band was TIGHT and the new singer did really well. We had a heck of a night, but...

I can feel the tension in the air! The drummer's wife wouldn't say a word to me last night. Later, I heard the drummer talking between sets to her. They were pissed that I set Lisa up with Mike's band for Wednesday's gig. I asked them what the big deal was being that:

1. I'm still friends with both Lisa and Mike.
2. It was a one time deal because Mike's singer was out of town.
3. I'll always do my best to help any of my friends out any time I'm able.
4. WTF, it's only Rock and Roll!

The two couldn't say much and it was over. I told the other guitar player that I was afraid that I'm in their crosshairs now to be the next one axed (not that I really care...) He assured me that he and the bass player might have something to say about any moves like that! Whatever. Another day on the soap-opera set.

Last night, our gig finished at 1:00, so I ran up to The Club Car where Nevaeh was playing. As I walked into the bar, they called me up to sing Fast as You. I didn't even have my coat off! After that, they started Whole Lotta Rosie, a song I often do with them. I'm glad we did them in that order because Rosie PUNISHES my voice! It's cool whenever I get to sing with Nevaeh because I don't get to do any real hard rock with The Coyotes.

[melody]

I'm glad your new singer is working out! Singing any thing that Bon Scott did has got to be hell on any voice.Still think hes The shizzle...

[flintpunk]

I've been woodshedding like crazy this week. We're playing a company Christmas party in Midland. I had to learn 5 Christmas songs from traditional recordings and translate them to guitar. Then yesterday I'm told there's some kid at this company that sings Elvis and we're supposed to do 4 Elvis songs. I picked up the recent Elvis 1 & 2 cd's at $16 each just to get the songs I needed! I've been thrashing on those 4 tonight and tomorrow we've got one more rehearsal. This band should really be called Chaos. I hope this goes smoothly!

[Gravity Jim]

"Like sands through the hourglass..."

[flintpunk]

Ok, so this morning I get an email from the drummer. The company owner wants to play Name That Tune. The drummer wants me to put together a bunch of songs that we don't already play for the game. I guess the other guitarist and I will switch off songs with just the two of us playing...Mwah-ha-ha-ha! Out comes all the punk, hair-band and grunge stuff! I am a child of the 80's ya know! That will totally eff with my band!

[dirtdog]

I was trying out for a new band last night (as a bass player....one of my guilty pleasures is hammering out 8th notes for bars on end).

I couldn't help but recall the drama with flintpunk's band when we were swapping war stories over pints after the audition was over.

At one point, the rythym guitarist (female) was talking about a former singer in the band (also female) and how this singer had a bit of a thing for a former guitar player (male). Apparently, this male guitarist fabricated this fantasy where they were getting it on (singer and him) and, get this, TOLD HIS OWN WIFE that he was cheating on her with this singer when nothing was actually going on.

Fortunately, these freaks are FORMER members of this band, so hopefully the residual drama will be minimal....

Oh, and they offered me the spot unanimously half-way through the audition. I may take it....

DD

[flintpunk]

Congrats! Good luck. If the drama's there, take it in stride and you'll be fine. I try not to get emotionally involved in this band and look at it more like a job. The other "project" I'm working on is with some really close friends and there's no drama there...Just really good times and really good music!

[dirtdog]

thanks flint!

I've gone through my share of band drama and becoming waay too emotionally involved. I have since decided the best strategy is to just "let it be" unless it really starts getting in the way. In which case, I'll simply move on....

Could be entertaining...for a while, anyways....

DD

[flintpunk]

The '74 Tele makes it's first stage appearance in my hands tonight! Woo, Hoo!