The Lava Pups (minus Paul) have been practicing. You can call it “band practice.” Our goal is to play every song better than our last performance. The flip side is not to screw up.
At Cheri and Paul’s wedding, I had the opportunity to speak with Dave Wronski . . . yes, The Dave Wronski. Actually, being starstruck, I mostly listened as he talked about Fender Jaguars, his “project” guitars, and some of the things that can go wrong on the road.
He told of arriving in Europe on tour, opening the guitar case, and discovering that the usually competent airline baggage handlers managed to split the neck of the only guitar he had for that night’s gig. He found a guitar repair shop and asked to use the owner’s tools. The owner, however, was reluctant and insisted on doing the repair. As he fumbled about, Dave tried to guide him. Finally, through an interpreter and sign language, he learned that Dave worked for Fender and set up, built or repaired twenty or more Jaguars a day. The owner stepped aside, and Dave repaired the neck in time for that night’s show.
As he spun that story, a Surf Sunday at the Hotel Utah in San Francisco came to mind. From the stage after playing several songs and tuning innumerable times, Dave announced into the microphone, “Does anybody have a G string that will stay in tune?” In back of my mind, it was a D'addario wound G, but at my age . . . .
I did get in one pretty stupid question. “How do you stay on top of your game show after show?” His response was telling of what drives many musicians, “Fear of failure.” But for some reason, I really cannot picture The Dave Wronski checking to see if a puddle of pee is at his feet.
Maybe our band practices are putting the Dave Wronski principle to work. At some base level, each of us has a “fear of failure.” Even though we do seek to -- and never could -- attain the level of musicianship and competence of Slacktone, we do not want to walk out in front of some people and play a bunch of clunkers. As a novice band, we can get away with playing far short of perfection – particularly to an audience of family and close friends. Fortunately, none of us is prepared to accept that.
Therefore, band practice. If "fear of failure" will make us better, more power to it -- the Dave Wronski principle in action!
At Cheri and Paul’s wedding, I had the opportunity to speak with Dave Wronski . . . yes, The Dave Wronski. Actually, being starstruck, I mostly listened as he talked about Fender Jaguars, his “project” guitars, and some of the things that can go wrong on the road. He told of arriving in Europe on tour, opening the guitar case, and discovering that the usually competent airline baggage handlers managed to split the neck of the only guitar he had for that night’s gig. He found a guitar repair shop and asked to use the owner’s tools. The owner, however, was reluctant and insisted on doing the repair. As he fumbled about, Dave tried to guide him. Finally, through an interpreter and sign language, he learned that Dave worked for Fender and set up, built or repaired twenty or more Jaguars a day. The owner stepped aside, and Dave repaired the neck in time for that night’s show.
As he spun that story, a Surf Sunday at the Hotel Utah in San Francisco came to mind. From the stage after playing several songs and tuning innumerable times, Dave announced into the microphone, “Does anybody have a G string that will stay in tune?” In back of my mind, it was a D'addario wound G, but at my age . . . .
I did get in one pretty stupid question. “How do you stay on top of your game show after show?” His response was telling of what drives many musicians, “Fear of failure.” But for some reason, I really cannot picture The Dave Wronski checking to see if a puddle of pee is at his feet.
Maybe our band practices are putting the Dave Wronski principle to work. At some base level, each of us has a “fear of failure.” Even though we do seek to -- and never could -- attain the level of musicianship and competence of Slacktone, we do not want to walk out in front of some people and play a bunch of clunkers. As a novice band, we can get away with playing far short of perfection – particularly to an audience of family and close friends. Fortunately, none of us is prepared to accept that.
Therefore, band practice. If "fear of failure" will make us better, more power to it -- the Dave Wronski principle in action!