TONE WORLD NEWS
Life's A Gas! May 19, 2004
Pre-Show.
To say it started as a typical day for a Slashtones' gig would be correct.
It was around 4 pm when I got a frantic phone call from Jasmin St. Claire and The Blue Meanie at an airport in Florida. They were down there filming a movie and had planned to hop on a 4 pm flight to NY, do the show, then catch the 10 pm flight back to Florida. Problem was, they'd just missed the 4 o'clock flight. I'm not 100% sure, but based on the commotion I was hearing in the background, I think Jasmin beat up the security guy that wouldn't let them get to the gate, but I digress. Meanie and Jasmin were on standby for a flight going out at 5 pm, and with luck, they just might make it into Irving Plaza. Well, they would have if that flight, like their previous one was landing at La Guardia Airport. This flight would have landed at JFK which by my estimate, would have gotten them to the gig way after we'd be done. "Ah, the best laid plans of mice and men..."
OK, it wasn't going to happen. I spent the next few minutes explaining to Jasmin they'd never make it even though she was determined to get on that next flight. They were p*ssed off to say the least. Blue Meanie and Jasmin are two of my closest friends and they will always do anything they can to help a good cause like this one. But they never would have made it for our set and the rest of the show was so tightly booked, there wasn't even a chance of them being able to introduce another band as all those slots were filled by other celebrity hosts.
(Having them there or not would not have taken away from us musically. They were listed as "back-up singers" but they weren't going to actually be playing with the band. The three of us had worked out a few comedy spots for between the songs. I won't go into detail, because they'll be doing a show with us at some point down the road.)
OK, so Jasmin and Meanie were out, what was next? The answer, nothing. The rest of the band all called to check in with me and it was smooth sailing.
Gabe Cynowikz, the Slashtones live photographer and band assistant got to the venue first to scout out potential groupies for us. He found a few, but then traded them to the Super Suckers for a beer. The rest of the Tone crew arrived and we set up for sound-check. Sound-check went smoothly and then we had our 'Spinal Tap' moment. The event organizers hadn't given us our passes that allowed us to leave the venue and come back. We then ended up having to go down to the box office, then we were sent to that back door, then sent back to the box office, then sent to a side door, then back to the back door... Yes, it was a pure 'Spinal Tap' moment as we, and members of the Dickies and the Sic F*cks, kept walking back and forth while someone (me) kept yelling: "Thank you Cleveland!". You had to be there....
Showtime!
I won't go into a note for note detail here, but rather just say it by far, the single best performance I have been involved with in the last 11 years of being in a band. The energy and musicality put forth was off the charts and had the crowd totally into what we were doing. I opted out of playing any of our ECW tunes and just hit them full force with our comedy tunes. And they liked us! They really really liked us! As did everyone backstage. I am now certain I made the right decisions regarding the direction of "The New Original Slashtones.
I won't jinx us and talk about the offers we got until they're carved in stone, but let's just say things went much better than expected. One offer I will talk about was the offer to play at the Joey tribute / Lymphoma benefit again next year. This causes a bit of a problem because i wanted to break this band up before then. Guess we may have to stick around for a bit... Or not.
There's lot's of other things that happened that night, but I've been waiting for someone to send me their recap before i get into detail writing about mine. I wouldn't be the best source to recount the events after we performed as I had indulged in a bit of the drinking of alcohol. And other stuff. The best I can say for now was that all the bands were great. The vibe of the night was off the hook and everyone, from fans, to musicians, to the stage crew and club staff had a great time. Budgie, Slashtones stage manager Mike Libretto, Gabe and I stayed and partied till the end. Mickey Leigh, Charlette Lesher and Arturo Vega outdid themselves in organizing this years event.
I've got a few more things to write about, regarding the show and what we'll be doing next, but this will be all for now.
Until next time, I'm off to see the Wizard.
Regards,
Harry Slash