A person I know sings for two bands; one hard rock, and the other a mix of classic and new rock. The hard rock band I've been going to see for years. The "mix" band however, I hadn't seen till last night.
He invited me out to see them earlier this past week and I said sure; when and where? And that is when things went slightly off track.
He gave me the name and location of the bar, and the time they would be on; 4 - 9.
"4 to 9?"...Now that's an odd time. Usually, when he plays, it is from between 7 and 8, to closing (around 2am). He said it was a matinee show. (Okay, odd...but OK.) He explained they needed to done and cleared out by 9, "that is when the karaoke starts".
??Karaoke? His band was the "warm-up act" for KARAOKE? This wasn't looking so good all of a sudden. Funny as hell, but still...how BAD does a band have to be to be the opener for walk-on's to canned music (guess I was going to find out).
My next nervous moment was when I got to the approximate location, I couldn't find a bar with the name he gave me, it involved "horses"...like, "Wild Horse", or "Crazy Horse". When I finally figured out where the bar was, it DID have a horse name to it...like "Pony". Alright, maybe this would work.
He also failed to mention it was a biker bar. Not that I mind or care. Most of the places he plays are biker bars. This one was serious about it though; all leather, ink, and metal...and that wasn't the bikes. I was OK with that too. However, he also failed to mention, it was BEHIND a gay bar. Not that I mind gay bars either (having friends of alternative lifestyles). But, take one wrong door and your world just went sideways, and YOU were a new stand-in for the Village Persons.
Now, just how many things are wrong with this whole picture...funny as hell, but wrong. A "classic rock" warm-up act, for karaoke, at a bar who's name you can't remember, that is a serious biker bar (karaoke in a biker bar? really?), and behind a gay bar....hmmmm. Nothing unusual or odd here.
But it was worth it. The band handled a lot of older pop-rock, rock, and some newer stuff very well. And not surprising, 3 of the 5 of them were not "young" musicians, my friend (not too much younger than me), was close to the top end of the middle in age. They did all the songs justice. And any doubts I had about karaoke in a biker bar were quickly squashed as most of the bar joined in on various songs. I also have to say, when a song was out of someone's range, no matter how many beers died, they didn't even try to sing along. A really good group in there.
It was a good time. And still funny as hell to think about.
Music happens.
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