I rehearsed today for the last time before our week long gig in NV starting March 22. See 4 Way Street - click Schedule for details.
I still haven’t met the bass player (I’ve practiced 3 times witht these guys). They changed the format from a 3-set to a 4-set gig set last week, so now I have a whole set of “Neil” tunes (which is actually good). I’ve got a couple of acoustic ones the 1st set, and the CSN set I’ll just sit out. The CSN&Y set (4th) I have a couple more Neil tunes but that’s about it.
It should be interesting…
Also, I tried twice to upload a new song I’ve been working on but soundclick.com crapped or my connection crapped out on me. I’m definitely getting DSL in the new studio.
WAY COOL!
You’ve got a blurb down on http://www.4waystreet.net/MeetTheBand.htm already.
Hope you have loads of fun!
Hey Mr Soul:
What a great page … Thanks for that link… I’m checking the photo page… Looks like that stage is full of the “Energy”… to m 
e…
Do you do your own house mix from the stage?
Bill…
Thanks for checking out the link.
Right - they added me to the “family” recently.
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| Do you do your own house mix from the stage? |
That’s a very good question. This is a 7-piece band and has no sound man, so yes - they mix from the stage. I don’t know how they do it but they do. My guess is that the mix is not correct.
Hi Mr Soul:
That happens a lot around here, these days… A Show/Tribute Band has to be awful rich to have an Audio/Lighting man… these days… Good “House Mixes” from the stage comes over time… Stages that I worked on, where house mixes were done that way, came by cassette tapeing the stage every night… The only thing was, someone had to listen at the tapes… lol… The mixer settings only changed if someone said, after listening the the tapes came up with the idea that the mix, could be better…
It was strange though… It always seemed that it was the drummer or the bass player that got the job of listening to the tapes… 
Nobody else wanted the job…
Bill…
I’m ready to roll - 
What’s that neck PU ? A Dynasonic ?
Ah, so you noticed. It’s a Seymour Duncan vintage mini-humbucker. Neil used a Firebird mini-humbucker on his '53 Les Paul called Old Black.
Drove to the gig yesterday - 420 miles from my home! The traveling through the Sierra’s but bad (white-out for many miles) but it could have been worse.
The Carson Valley Inn is in a little town called Minden in the Carson Valley. Nice country side & beautiful scenary.
We went on a 7:30 and finished around 11:30. Pretty easy gig but we’re doing sound from a somewhat cramped stage (there’s 7 in the band). The bar was not well attended (Tuesday night) but we got could response from those that were there. No brag - but the Neil Young stuff gets the crowd going more than the CSN stuff.
The CVI is a pretty large casino. We play on a raised stage above the bar. From stage, I look at upon a sea of slot machines - alittle bazarre. Alot of people in the audience smoke & the smoke comes right up into our eyes & noses. At least, no one in the band smokes - I hate smokers.
I’m working remotely today with my laptop. I’ll try to check in tomorrow.
Mr Soul
Did our second night last night. We re-did the sets to work out the things that didn’t work (odd transitions, etc). Things were much smoother on stage & we were able to finish the complete sets. We have to do set and fixed lengths sets becasuse less people gamble while we are playing (but they drink so I don’t know what the big deal is).
The “Nash” guy (Jim Whooten) blew his keyboard amp on the 4th set, so he’ll have to run through the mains tonight, unless they can figure out what’s wrong with his amp.
One interesting thing I’ve never seen before is that they have a plexi-glass “curton” in front of the drummer. So allows him to play hard but keep the sound managable. We are required to play at 90 dB which is very quiet but so far the noise police have not harassed us (yet).
Yeah, the plexiscreen. Looks bloody awful but sure makes it easier for the mix dude, as well as anybody who’s gotta stand right in front of the thing. If frontline vocal mikes are only a few feet in front of the kit, this can save a lot of pain. I saw a lot of them in DC when I used to live/play there, never saw any in Oz back in the day. My drummer in DC hated them, the sound bounced back at him and he didnt like it at all.
Yeah better save my ears than the drummers
Last night things really started to click! The band is very tight on the CSN songs but they aren’t used to the way I do the Neil tunes, and likewise. We finally got Southern Man to work acceptably. We also got a couple of Neil requests but rarely get others. I may demand more compensation next time 
We got nabbed by the dB police last night & had to turn down alittle. The crowd wants us to turn up but not the dB police.
We rigged up a little Fender sidekick amp into a monitor for the keyboards and it worked quite well.
My new Epiphone '56 LP keeps breaking E (1st) strings at the bridge. When I get home I’m going to get a new graphite bridge and throw the stock piece of junk into the recycle bin.
I’ve got 2 more nights & then I return home. The band has to play on Sunday also.
Hi Mr Soul:
That’s a nice report on your stage… Somehow-or-other I wouldn’t trash that bridge… I’d look closely at it to see if there may be a “Sharp” edge on it that breaks the string… You may be able to “Buff” the edge of it and mabey, save it from throwing it away… What guage is that string? Just wondering… Mabey, think about the same guage string from another brand-name. Sometimes the Die that the string manufactuer uses to draw the string, is “Rough” …Another Die from a different brand name could work on your guitar… Something to consider… Could you be useing .009’s or .010’s on that guitar?
Bill…
Check what Bill said. Also, look carefully at your picking technique. I have an Epi Les Paul Custom I kept strung with EB 9’s. I NEVER broke a string on that guitar. My son plays it most of the time now and he uses EB 10’s. He can’t make it a week without popping the high E. Kid just bashes the bejeebies out of it!
TG
Some of us likes to WHACK it. I used to break insane amounts of D strings of all things. A slightly softer pick was all I needed to redeem the situation. Anyway, Graph Tech saddles are supposed to be pretty good from what I’ve read 
Oh there is nothing WRONG with whacking it…(did I just say that?). The angle at which one attacks the strings can make a big difference in breakage. Personally, I don’t like trying to slap a string on my guitar after every third song. Just gotta be careful thats all.
TG
| Quote (gtr4him @ Mar. 25 2005,18:05) |
| Oh there is nothing WRONG with whacking it...(did I just say that?). |
Nah. Continue to breathe through your nose
I dropped a pick guage, fixed all my string breaking problems (I used to smash the snot out of my fingers when I played live - blood everywhere - makes the strings verys sticky and they grab at the pick. White vingar is the trick).
Willy.
Thanks guys but I’m already doing what you suggest more or less. Once I switched to medium guage strings (.011) on my Ibanez LP, I stopped breaking strings altogether.
The string interface on the Epi bridge is very sharp. I’ve only broken E strings (1st) on this guitar & one right after the other, so I believe that the bridge is at fault. The lead guitarist in the band suggested the better bridge.
The gig last night was good, although I think we played best on Thurs. The bar was packed & people were sticking around so as not to lose their seats. You guys these guys must be hard up for music, because one couple was dancing to “4 & 20”
The lead guitarist (Gary - his bio is on the 4 Way Street web page) is recording each gig w/ a mp3 recorder and then dumping it to his laptop. It will be interesting to see if anything comes out.
Last gig tonight for me and then I begin the +400 mile trip home. Talk to you later.