Drums. Paul and Don. I came in. “Penetration.” Hey, this is not bad. The people were tapping their feet to the music. And, unlike previous performances, I was not having recalcitrant finger problems. Finish. Applause.I started “Surf Rider.” Paul and Don came in. Drums. People again were tapping their feet to the music. My fingers were working, and, when they did not, they did not land on a clunker. They just skipped a note. Finish. Applause.
“We are the Lava Pups. We’re so happy to be here at ZuhG Life. The store has music and art by local artists. Our CD is there. Here is the title track. ‘Into the Flow.’” Whoops, a bit rough. Is my B string out of tune? It sounded okay when I was playing in other parts. My tuner was doing weird things, and I did not want to have to go back to it.
We finished. Thank goodness. Applause. Maybe nobody really noticed. “That was ‘Into the Flow’ from our CD, which is available in the ZuhG Life Store. Our CD is all original songs. Here is another song from our CD.” We went into “Sea Witch.” Foot tapping. We were even starting to get some head bobbing. We got to the stops at the end. Each time, the audience wanted to applaud but got that we were not done.
Finish. Applause. We were having fun. The audience was starting to have fun too.
Maybe I caught a glimpse of the what our day was going to be like earlier. I walked into the Java Lounge at 8:30 for coffee and thought, “That music sounds familiar.” Then, I realized “The Cruncher” was playing. The barista asked, “Isn’t that your song?” Trying to hide my pride and appear humble, I responded, “Yes, that is.”
That moment helped prime me for the ZuhG Life stage. We played. We were having a great time. So was the audience. One guy had his feet going and a grin of enjoyment on his face. His wife kept coming over to him and checking. She would leave a new bag full of merchandise and then head off. I assumed she was going back to the stores. He just was rocking out. Better than shopping!
Despite having fun, I must have been biting my lower lip. My sister kept pointing to her mouth and gesturing to make a big smile. I tried to smile. To play with my mouth open. But that was too much multi-tasking. Paul, however, was smiling all of the time. He truly has mastered multi-tasking during a performance.
“Here is a song by the most influential guitar player who is not in the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame. And it is the only instrumental song banned from radio air play.” We launched into “Rumble.” I managed to play the solo with my guitar at my knees. Paul was getting close to duck walk position. Attitude and fun!
The time came to take a chance in the set. No. 13 of the set list was “Runaway.” We had not practiced it as a full band. The bridge had given me fits. We had not discussed an ending. But, what the heck. “Here’s one that we have not played in public before. You probably know it and can sing along.” I went into the introduction. As we played the song, people in the audience were mouthing words. “I wonder . . . I wah . . . wah . . . wah . . . wah . . . wonder . . . Why . . . why . . . why . . . why . . . why she ran away.”
We stumbled into an ending. Well, sort of. The song ended. Not necessarily together. But it ended. Applause.
Somewhere in the proceedings, the audience pointed out that whenever I spoke I was giving “the finger.” Huh? “Whoops. Are any of you offended?” The response was an instantaneous and unanimous “no.” Let’s see. I gesture when I talk and I was holding the pick with my thumb and fore and ring fingers.
Countenance and flipping off the audience. Multi-tasking practice required.
We were on the downhill side of the set. We had the folks in the cookie store dancing. Some older guy was leaving and stood by the side of the stage. He was bowing to us. Bowing to us! But he was waiting for us to acknowledge him. More multi-tasking required. I nodded back. He smiled and went up the stairs toward the food court and the exit.
“We play instrumental music. But here is our only vocal number featuring Paul.” Paul: “How much do I get paid for this.” I replied, “Nothing.” Paul then yelled, “Wipe Out!” We were having fun. The audience was having fun. The cookie store was rocking.
“Lava Tube.” By now the audience had some of my schtick down. Whenever I mentioned the ZuhG Life store, several folks would say, “And your CD is available in there.”
We closed with our Link Wray Medley. Feet were tapping. Heads were bobbing. Passersby caught the primitive beat in their gait. Paul, Don, and Glenn were building up to the train wreck ending. Faster. Faster. Then Glenn lost a stick as if on cue. Don, Paul, and I hit an A major together.
Applause. “Thank you. We are The Lava Pups!” More applause. “Thank you and remember to support local music.”
As we packed up and talked to well-wishers and our friends, I looked at the sheet of things to pimp that I had taped to the floor of the stage. Was not going to forget those things because I had made notes. Got ZuhG Life and its one year anniversary show. Got Starbucks’ efforts toward job creation. Whoops, forgot to mention the Lava Pups website and Facebook page. Oh, well . . . .
Who cares? We had done what we do best. No pretense of sophistication. No pretense of complex musicality. Just straight ahead instrumental rock. We had had fun and made sure the audience saw that!