3/5/08 – Bedford Ave -9pm-11:30 – Baby Soda – Patrick, Jared, Debbie and Jesse.
A pretty tame night by many standards and the first time in a while that we’ve played on the platforms.
We decided to meet at Union Square to hit that mezzanine area but a wheel chair blues musician was holding forth under the banner of MUNY. He was a fine player but I always know we can do better. In the 20 minutes that Debbie and I were waiting for the others to arrive he had about 5 people stop and probably only made about $5. I came up with a challenge that I think is utilitarian and fair and that I would love to actually try. Here’s how it works: One band plays for 15 minutes and then the other for 15 minutes. The band that has made the most money in that time wins. Both bands split all the money and the winner takes the spot. But, alas, he had the banner so we really couldn’t do anything about it.
Off to Bedford Ave. My guess was that the platform thing would not start really working for us until about 10pm as the trains come far too frequently. If trains are coming in every 5 minutes on both platforms it is hard to build a crowd or momentum. I was unfortunately very right. Those trains are really loud and effect the music pretty powerfully. We make some adjustments. If there is a train coming, it is better for the trumpet to be playing because at least it cuts. Sometimes I would play an extra chorus just so Patrick or Debbie wouldn’t have to try soloing over an incoming train.
The music was kind of weak to start and we were all cold. Jared an I both had been out until 5am the night before drinking and playing pool after our session at Mona’s so we were not in top form. It took about a set and a half for us all to wake up together and actually start playing music that deserved peoples attention.
We wound up not doing badly. Eventually around 10:30 the trains were slowing down and allowing us to play for a crowd that lasted up to 10 minutes at a time. Patrick had the Baby Soda CD’s in hand stamped brown paper bags. Kinda cute. We decided to sell the jewel cased Tin Pan CD’s for 15 and his for 10 – both for twenty. This kind of developed into an ongoing schtick between tunes. “For just ten bucks you can get a baby soda bag which may or may not contain a CD. Or you can get pay 15 bucks a definitely get a tin pan CD. Hedge your bets and get both for only 20” etc…
Over all, glad to making music as always and glad that we finally were able to get a good vibe and some fun crowds.
I always thought it would be a cool gig to have two bands battle it back and forth in a station.
This actually has happened. I play in the streets as well with a band called the Drumadics. Its definitely coming from a more aggressive street hustler type culture.
Briefly, we were there doing our thing (buckets, bass drum, bari sax, tenor sax, alto sax, trumpet) and as soon as we finished a tune this OG player starts walks out in front of us and takes a bow to the applause that we earned and starts to sing. And he was a fine singer, no doubt. In short, he was being a jerk.
Eventually, he was so boastful that he said he could play better than our bucket guy – Will Johnson. “Do you know who I am…?!” etc… It was a drag. But Will totally kicked his butt so there you have it.