Post-game and some pictures from the Bluegrass Orchestra in the stage production of ?TIES?.
I had an incredible time doing this show? last time we did it was like 7 or 8 years ago with the original cast on opening night, and was limited to just a one-off role, The show just used our soundtrack for everything else from then on. This time the plan was to have a much larger band than before, and to put us in the orchestra pit of the Jefferson Center for Performing Arts.
http://www.jeffcenter.org/ Jefferson Center is a beautiful venue throughout? used to be an old High School in downtown Roanoke. Here?s the spooky Gothic front doors, and a view of the Auditorium from center stage.
For starters, the Director decided instead of us being in the orchestra pit, to make us seem more a part of the cast, and have us actually perform on-stage *with* the dancers, which was a logistical NIGHTMARE, but the stage crew made it happen. They set up a rolling platform with all our mics, and gear loaded on it in very specific order. Deal was, there?s an exactly 20-second total blackout at the end of the scene right before we go on? -I mean you can?t see your hand in front of your face- during that time, they roll our stage out, lock it in place, set the mics on marks, set my amp and three other direct boxes, then bound out of our path so we can hit our marks before the lights go up. 20 seconds is not a long time folks. It goes by even faster in pitch black. Thank goodness, to help our eyes adjust, they put us in a dark hallway in the wings off stage-right for 5 minutes before we went on.
For another thing, bluegrass and oldtyme string bands just don?t operate the same way as an orchestra does. Having two or more basses is madness, and you really don?t want to hear what a banjo section sounds like. (trust me ? I?ve been in line behind 400 of them at fiddler?s conventions) Anyway, what we did was combine two bands and divide up tasks to cut down on redundancies. The other bass player (a *true* bassist I should say) opted to sing harmony parts and just play a different instrument not commonly found in a string band ? a mandocello. There are two guitarists, but one of them was strictly playing leads and fills, while the other is playing rhythm to accompany lead vocals. The rest of the instrumentation was; fiddle, banjo, mandolin, and resonator guitar. We also had a utility guy playing dulcimer, harmonica, and even a bahran. (Irish drum) One of the aforementioned stage-hands took this fuzzy picture of us right after soundcheck.
Another of the fun perks to this gig was the accommodations? Jefferson Center has a vast area underneath the stage with dressing rooms, lockers, a kitchen, and a huge green room with a private entrance and exit for the musicians. This was where we spent most of our time during the shows... it had speakers so we could listen for cues.
The green room even had green carpet for my bass!
They saw to it we had everything we needed in there, but they were pretty serious about this rule. (yes, I found out the hard way)
In the maze of corridors down-stage, these directions were helpful.
Lots of clowning and comraderie with this bunch... I?ve known most of these guys for close to 30 years, and played with all of them in different groups. Each is an extremely competent player? I?m lucky to have had a chance to grow up playing around them all. Quick introductions;
David Austin on guitar/lead vox, and Keith Wood on dulcimer, harmonica, and percussion.
Jerry Wood on fiddle, and Eli Williams on lead guitar. (Keith Wood photo-bombed)
Curt Baker on resonator guitar, and John McBroom on mandocello.
Tom Ohmsen on mandolin, also a brilliant recording engineer. (with David Austin calling his bookie or something)
Tim Rhodes on banjo. Looks like he?s attempting to tune it this time.
Again, what a BLAST! It was sad to load out ?TIES-2016?, but the Waffle House was calling, and I had a bar gig on Sunday afternoon.
