Yeah, I'm still a weather nerd. Yeah, we live in the desert... blah, blah, blah.
I grabbed this photo on my way out to the hot tub last night...
The weather station tells us what the temperature and humidity are outside and in different rooms in the house (the living room, the music room, the garage). I direct your attention to the upper right corner of that display - that is the outdoor temperature at 8:37 pm: 67º.
"Pretty nice for the evening - in February," you say. Look at the number below the temp... that is 1% humidity. 1%. And some people wonder: why a carbon fiber guitar? I can feel the moisture being sucked out of my body! The humidity in the living room and the music room is 40% - that's really good for the desert. We have a separate room humidifier in the music room for the well-being of my wood guitars. The carbon fiber guitars don't care.
For humans, it is important to hydrate. I think it is recommended that people drink 147 12-ounce glasses of water each day here in the desert. Seriously, it's freakin' dry!
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Joan and I are heading out this morning for "the band's first gig." I'll let you know how it goes.
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We are home from "the gig." It went well. This was my first time playing for something like this - it was for a memory care group; there are the caregivers and "the VIPs" (the adults with alzheimer's). We played for the VIPs while the caregivers were in a meeting; later, the caregivers then joined us. The crowd was receptive (good applause), and many of them singing along! Towards the end (we went about an hour and 15 minutes), they were dancing and singing along. It was pretty darn joyous. Some of it reminded me of a scene in the movie Cocoon.
There are some differences and similarities from when Mark and I played out "back in the day." Similarity: we were playing for people mostly our age; some younger or older, but "our people." They were into the music.
Some differences: back in the day, we had to memorize everything; today, we have iPads for our song lists and for "prompts" with lyrics and chords. In our younger years, we'd finish up sometime before midnight, pack out gear, and find a truck stop that was open all night; for this gig, we finished up just before noon, packed out gear, and were done in time to get the lunch special at a nice restaurant. ;-)
Back in the day, we played songs that were very current. Today, we played songs that had been current 30 to 50 years ago... it is important that you "play to your audience."
The person putting this on asked if we'd come back. She also said she knew there were restaurants and bars in the area that are looking for live music like what we were playing. We smiled and thanked her... I don't think any of us are interesting in playing out in a bar these days... heck, I'm not too keen in driving after dark (yes, that's a joke). All that said, the gear is smaller and lighter these days... and all of us were tired after hauling it in, setting up, tearing down, and hauling it out. It took several trips in/out with folding wagons loaded with gear; Joan asked if there was anything we could have done without: "Nope, I think we used everything we brought."
Mark said, "I need to go home and take a nap." I feel ya, brother. ;-)
Joan took some photos...
When I was playing out solo, I could go in with a guitar slung over one shoulder, the PA/amp, mic stand, mic, cords, and a guitar/vocal pedal in a rolling case. One trip. With 3 guys, it is more than 3 times the gear.
Even with all the schlepping, I think everyone involved had a good time.
A few snippets from the day (courtesy of Joan)...
2 comments:
It can get dry here (Boise is on the edge of sagebrush desert once you are outside of the irrigation grid). But never quite that dry. I'd go through a bottle of skin lotion every couple of days just keeping the old hide maintained.
When we lived in Alaska the winter heating season meant that we had to put about 10 gallons per day through the humidifier just to get the house UP to 20% RH. And we couldn't go any higher because ice would form on cold windows and then rot the windowsills. It was tough on everything - us, piano, cats, guitars. That is where I first got into carbon fiber, being the only thing that did not have to be cased constantly. My Monday morning chore was going around and re-wetting all the humidifier devices in my cases. Every. Single. Week.
I feel your life-in-the-dry, Earl. The whole room humidifier in my music room really helps. Plus, there is apparently something with the a/c that adds humidity. Still it was a warm one today - 86º when we got home about 2:30. PM. ;-)
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