I was on the road with my friends’ band, Working Class Hero; The John Lennon Tribute, in a show I wrote for them called, A Day In His Life. We were set to perform in Beaver Creek, Colorado, a ways from Vail, in a beautiful theater that was under an ice skating rink set in an outdoor shopping mall. The man in charge of the facility was taking us on a tour. He was extremely proud of the place which was all natural redwood and real beautiful. We were all appropriately awed and when he finally finished giving us the history of the place I asked him how old it was. He said he had been there seven years but the theater itself was about fourteen years old. I then very innocently (seemingly) asked, “Well, when are you going to paint?” His jaw dropped open and he had such a look of horror on his face at the idea of painting all the gorgeous redwood beams that I couldn’t play it straight anymore and burst out laughing.
The guitar player in Working Class Hero had a friend who lived nearby, it may have been in another state but close enough for him to come to the show. His name was Harley and he was a professional roadie. I really enjoyed the stories he was telling us backstage about the various big name rock bands with which he’d toured. When the show started he sat in the audience and I went to the sound booth in the back of the hall.
Working Class Hero had members who were also in the Beatles tribute band, Revolution, and they had a show for which they had to leave the next day so Working Class Hero’s bass player didn’t bring his own bass but used Revolution’s bass for the gig. Revolution’s bassist was the soundman for A Day In His Life and was in the sound booth in the back of the theater with me.
After about the third song in the show the bass breaks a string. I turn to the bass’ owner sitting next to me and ask if he has any spare strings. He says he does but they’re back in the hotel room. He’s not the one playing the bass in this show so he didn’t think much about it. The bass player is using someone else's gear and didn't bring any spares either.
I notice Harley getting up from his seat and walking to the back of the theater. I don’t know at this point if anyone in the audience had noticed the broken bass string as the bass player was good enough to cover the song using the remaining strings. Harley might just be going to the restroom. This is a disaster. I see the bass player run off stage with the bass and return for the next song empty-handed as he had to operate the multimedia part of the show from the stage. The next song, Help!, sounded weak without the bass and this was only the fourth song is a twenty song show. As soon as the song ended the bass player ran offstage again and returned a moment later with the bass. It had all four strings and he played the rest of the show with no problem.
After the show I went up onstage to help break down the gear and the bassist called me over. He wanted me to see something. Harley had noticed he had broken a string and got up to go backstage to see if he could help. When the bass player ran offstage he handed off the instrument to him. Harley had restrung it by taking an extra guitar string the guitar player had and tied it onto the bass string to extend it enough to restring it. I’d never seen anything like that before. I didn’t even know that was possible. That was one of the most impressive things I’ve ever seen and shows you that a professional doesn’t worry about whether something is right or wrong or even if it’s possible, he just gets it done. Thanks Harley.
The guitar player in Working Class Hero had a friend who lived nearby, it may have been in another state but close enough for him to come to the show. His name was Harley and he was a professional roadie. I really enjoyed the stories he was telling us backstage about the various big name rock bands with which he’d toured. When the show started he sat in the audience and I went to the sound booth in the back of the hall.
Working Class Hero had members who were also in the Beatles tribute band, Revolution, and they had a show for which they had to leave the next day so Working Class Hero’s bass player didn’t bring his own bass but used Revolution’s bass for the gig. Revolution’s bassist was the soundman for A Day In His Life and was in the sound booth in the back of the theater with me.
After about the third song in the show the bass breaks a string. I turn to the bass’ owner sitting next to me and ask if he has any spare strings. He says he does but they’re back in the hotel room. He’s not the one playing the bass in this show so he didn’t think much about it. The bass player is using someone else's gear and didn't bring any spares either.
I notice Harley getting up from his seat and walking to the back of the theater. I don’t know at this point if anyone in the audience had noticed the broken bass string as the bass player was good enough to cover the song using the remaining strings. Harley might just be going to the restroom. This is a disaster. I see the bass player run off stage with the bass and return for the next song empty-handed as he had to operate the multimedia part of the show from the stage. The next song, Help!, sounded weak without the bass and this was only the fourth song is a twenty song show. As soon as the song ended the bass player ran offstage again and returned a moment later with the bass. It had all four strings and he played the rest of the show with no problem.
After the show I went up onstage to help break down the gear and the bassist called me over. He wanted me to see something. Harley had noticed he had broken a string and got up to go backstage to see if he could help. When the bass player ran offstage he handed off the instrument to him. Harley had restrung it by taking an extra guitar string the guitar player had and tied it onto the bass string to extend it enough to restring it. I’d never seen anything like that before. I didn’t even know that was possible. That was one of the most impressive things I’ve ever seen and shows you that a professional doesn’t worry about whether something is right or wrong or even if it’s possible, he just gets it done. Thanks Harley.
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