"MYSTERY BAND REVIEW #2"
This was a 5-person band. The lead singer was a woman named, "Shelly".
The 6-string electric guitar player was a man about 22 years old, named
"John". He also sang songs, when a request came up requiring a male
voice. There was a heavyset woman playing the drums, who had a wonderful gospel
voice. She reminded me of Janis Joplin, although vocally had a different style.
A heavyset guy in a work shirt with sleeves cut off at the shoulders was doing
the bass guitar. A dark haired guy with a mustache was playing steel guitar.
The group came from Nashville, TN, although I learned that Shelly lived in this
northern area when she was a kid. Now, though, her accent was purely southern.
Shelly's appearance, voice, and style were strictly mainstream Country. Her blond
hair was worn at a length reaching just past her shoulders, and was curly; kind of
crinkly. My guess is that she had a perm and perhaps a dye job to achieve that
appearance; an effort guided by an estimate of what would be most likely to assist
success. It was also something one couldn't avoid noticing, that Shelly has some type
of physical disability involving her back, hips, and ankles; she struggles to not let
it interfere with her performance, but her ability to walk smoothly moving from place
to place is hindered. If my opinion was of any value, I'd recommend to her that she
adopt the use of a tall stool with a backrest on stage. That would relieve her of a
physical obstacle standing between her and the performance she's probably capable of;
a performance which I don't think we really saw while she was on stage at the LVD
Casino. In other words, I believe she needs to put her ego into its place, accepting
the reality of who she is (re. the body she lives in). She also needs to drop the
preconceptions of what will or will not lead to musical success and income (re.
standing vs. sitting while singing). Please note: I don't feel I'm out of line, saying
these things. If and when I ever go back onto stage, I intend to spend the entirety
of my peformance time sitting on the type of tall stool with backrest which I'm
recommending for Shelly. Playing guitar standing is a young man's game; a flashy thing
to do, which requires a lack of physical infirmities in order to do it properly.
Given my miscellaneous physical problems, it would be self-defeating to attempt to do
an entire (or even, most of) a performance standing up. I think Shelly should adopt
the same line of reasoning and coping method I intend to apply for myself.
The bass player and the steel guitar player both stayed very much in the background
throughout their gig at the LVD Casino. They both spent most of their stage time sitting
down, next to each other, off to one side of the stage. I don't remember them singing
anything other than backup vocals for the sake of refrains and choruses. (Maybe it just
didn't stand out, when they did?) I don't know if this means they aren't talented
singers - or, if there's some other explanation? Perhaps the vocal skills of the 6-string
guitar player, John, Shelly, and the drummer fulfilled everything the band was attempting
to accomplish? I do know that the band was put together for this gig; was told that, by
the steel guitar player.
The female drummer was a heavyset woman with a disposition that lived up to her wonderful
voice. She told me that she's active singing gospel in her church, on a regular basis.
She's a person that, given the opportunity to do so, I'd do my best to have as a friend.
The 6-string guitar player, John, was talented in terms of lead guitar, rhythm guitar,
comping, and vocals. There were several songs where Shelly took a break, wandering about
off to the side and/or off stage, while John sang the song. There were others where she
took the part of backup vocal and/or chorusing. I think I might have more to say about
John than what I'm going to include here, but I was distracted during their show by the
presence of an old friend I'd run into - and, that old friend was getting quite boistrously
drunk. So, all I can really include here, is that John was skilled, knowledgeable with a
large repertoire, and talented.
Shelly did 2 things several times during their show, which I should mention:
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Several times, she engaged the crowd in a type of toast. She'd announce
that it was "Time for a holler, and a swaller"; raise a glass
up high in front of her, and ask the crowd fer a holler. Once she'd received
it, she'd tell everyone it was time fer a swaller - and, she'd take a big
swig of whatever it was she had in that glass she'd been holding up high.
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2)
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Repeatedly, she reminded the crowd that they should take good care of
their bartenders. This, I suppose, is good PR for interacting with employees
of the place the performance was being held.
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I'm going to top off this Mystery Band Review by mentioning what I consider
to be a "Don't Do That!" item. There were several times during the
show, where Shelly would seek applause from the crowd in the middle of someone's
instrumental solo, via calling out the musician's name and what instrument they
were playing - and requesting a "big hand" for that musician. It's a
pet peeve of mine, because for me an instrumental solo is like a sentence - and,
whenever someone commits this blunder, they're requesting applause before the
musician in question's finished whatever wonderfully phrased thing they're
saying. I can see that seeking such approval from the crowd, combining it with
stating the player's name to enhance name recognition is potentially beneficial
toward long-term economic success - but, NOT in the middle of the solo.
Instead, that PR maneuver should be conducted immediately after the solo's
conclusion - or, immediately before it begins (for the sake of drawing attention to
the marvels to come).
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