I Think It's Gonna Work Out Fine

It had been a while since the band had played a gig. Boag, Tim, Kenny and I had played the Cadillac Lounge as a foursome, but before that, the previous full-band show had been at The Horsehoe on Boxing Day--five months ago, So we were itching to get out and play, especially since we'd added a few more orginals to our repertoire, and had learned a whole slew of new covers that are fun to play.

Through the auspices of our keyboard player Bertie, we landed a three-set slot at Grossman's Tavern this past Tuesday night. Grossman's is a Toronto institution, though compared to some other live venues, it's a little more rough around the edges. Carol Pope and Rough Trade got their start there, as did countless other acts. Bertie's New Orleans jazz band, The Happy Pals, plays a saturday matinee there every week.

We were all happy to get the gig, but the idea of taking on a whole night, playing three sets, seemed to me like maybe we were biting off more than we could chew, especially after being off for so long, and having to learn a whole bunch of new songs. This was compounded by the fact that we had been having a little trouble getting all of us together for rehearsals. But, once we had the gig, we set out to get in as much rehearsal as we could. I think we had had one full rehearsal, and we had scheduled to get together again a few Wednesdays ago, when Boag had the misfortune of being hit by a car while cycling on College Street. He was all right (his bike wasn't), but that scuttled a much-needed rehearsal night.

I'm always nervous going into a gig. Waiting to go on, I always have to use the washroom about 4 or 5 times. Not sure where all that pee comes from, but it wants out. Abandon ship! I was getting anxious about this gig a few days prior, even after we got Bertie's other other band to open up for us. (It's a new duo with her friend Lara, called Mack And Hunt. This was their second gig.) That made our job easier, with only two sets to worry about. But I was still uneasy about our preparedness. And my own preparedness as well. There were a couple of songs where I was fairly shaky about my solos and other parts.

But then a funny thing happened. The day of the gig, I just stopped worrying about it. Something tells me the rest of the band took the same approach, because when we took the stage (actually just the floor at one end of the room), we rocked! We were just having fun--relaxed, easy, happy-go-lucky. Part of it may have been the venue. Unlike other places we've played, such as the Horseshoe and Lee's Palace, where there is a dance floor chasm between the stage and the audience, at Grossman's the crowd is right there in your lap, and you're on the same level with them. No stage.

It was also a pretty rambunctious crowd, for a Tuesday night. Grossman's is the type of place where there are always a few neighbourhood regulars hanging around getting sauced. And, like I said, it's a bit rough around the edges. In fact, just before we went on, there was a huge kerfuffle between some seemingly crack-addled woman and her boyfriend. I had seen them come in, and noted her behaviour, practically bouncing off the walls. Then, as I was at the bar getting a beer for the stage, the man, who had left momentarily, set off a firecracker or something just outside the front door, then comes running back inside pointing at the woman, and yelling "You'd better just call the cops right now!" She's screaming stuff back at him, and then they get into a stand-off around the pool table. He's starting to look like he's about to really attack her, and I'm standing about 10 feet away, wondering whether I should jump in and stop the guy (he was a fairly small-ish dude, didn't look like he'd be that hard to handle). But there were 3 or 4 guys, just patrons, standing closer to them, by the pool table, and they jumped on the guy before he could get to her, one of them putting him in a rather expertly done arm lock. They wrestled him to the ground and then escorted him out. Of course the woman is yelling at them not to hurt him.

And with that out of the way, we started playing!

The room was respectfully populated with various friends and co-workers and regulars. I think I may have heard a few heckles from the half-drunk regs at the beginning, but by about the fourth or fifth number, they were hootin' and hollerin'! "You guys rock!" Shouting out requests. It was a good feeling. There was one rather haggardly old dame who got up periodically to dance right in front of us, sans shoes. "Interpretive" I think they call it. The last time she got up to shake her thing, she jumped in and sang a verse of the song (I think it was during "Down By The Henry Moore"), and then on the way back to her seat, she tangled with a chair, and lost, wiping out rather heavily, landing on her ass. We kept playing, but looked on with concern. She was all right.

In the second set, this long-stringy-haired dude succeeded in badgering us to let him sing a song. For his moment of glory, he chose the Led Zep staple "Rock And Roll". Not part of our repertoire, but we did a reasonably good facsimile. The vocal stylings left a lot to be desired, but our drummer Gerry gets full points for finding his inner Bonham.

But it was a great night. Hot and sweaty and rockin'. It was like playing a roadhouse, without the chicken wire. Our best gig, and our funnest gig by far. We had a blast. We're booked in there again in late July.

Here's the set:

Grossman's Tavern - May 31, 2005
* = original song

1st set:
The Dick Ellis Ramble* (formerly known as The Mavis Ramble, soon to be renamed)
Fast Train
The Fever
Thelma Jane*
Men Without Women
Just My Imagination
Lanois Song*
Get It Together*
Down By The Henry Moore
I Can't Dance
I Think It's Gonna Work Out Fine
Shine A Light

2nd Set:
Orange Juice Blues (Blues For Breakfast)
Don't Let The Green Grass Fool Ya
I'll Be Back
Fed Up Blues*
When Will I Be Loved
Don't Think Twice It's Alright (vocal & piano only)
10th Ave. Freeze Out
Tupelo Honey
Comin' Home*
Lost Highway
Slippin' and Slidin'
When I Paint My Masterpiece