Hippie polka wedding

Texasstratgal · Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 11:24 am Post subject: Hippie polka wedding

In college I played in a bar band. We played rock/funk/r&b plus originals - basically anything fun - in the local clubs, 4 sets a night. I played rhythm and sang, and really enjoyed it. I was also studying music at the time in college, classical and jazz guitar and music composition. I played guitar in the college's jazz ensemble too.

One day this hippie guitarist/singer guy named B called me up and asked me if I'd play guitar in a band he was putting together for a friend's wedding. He told me it would be fun, it was low-key and wouldn't be wedding-ish at all. I said sure, I'd give it a shot.

At the rehearsal, he started yelling out names of all the standard wedding tunes, most of which I did not know and I didn't have any charts for (neither did he). I told him that I wasn't a top 40/wedding guitarist, and he'd probably be better off with a couple other guys I knew who did that stuff regularly. Well it was then that mellow hippie guy B showed his true colors. He turned into Hippie Nazi B, saying, "You told me you were going to do it, and you're going to do it!" Being a mild mannered 20 something girl with zero confidence and past mean father issues, I crumbled and agreed. He gave me the set list and told me to learn it. (I think I had about a week). It was a very strange combo of top 40, rock, jazz and hippie songs (grateful dead, not my favorite, and folk music).

The gig was memorable, for sure. Luckily, the band had a couple guys in it that I knew - the happy stoner drummer who was a good friend and the trumpet player from jazz band . They were both funny nice guys. I had tried to learn a few of the tunes in the meantime, so I wasn't completely hopeless. But it turns out that the bride's family was Polish, and we were informed several songs in that they wanted to hear polka tunes. The only thing we all knew was "Roll Out the Barrel" and no one knew the words. The trumpet player piped up that he thought he remembered them, so we were off. Well it turns out he only knew one verse, which he proceeded to sing for 10 minutes straight. I'll never forget that verse the rest of my life. At the end of each verse, he'd sing "One more time!" I remember looking up and seeing the bride's father with this look of pure happiness on his face, so I guess they enjoyed it enough.

The rest of the gig kind of went by in a blur. They fed us some strange Polish hippie vegan food - tofu kielbasi and the like. I didn't humiliate myself totally, but it sounded pretty bad to me and it was about as enjoyable as a root canal. The funniest part was, after the gig I was so relieved, I went into the back yard of the place and there was K the drummer, getting stoned as usual. I hardly ever smoked pot, but figured what the heck, why not when he asked me to join him. After two hits I realized that I was completely blotto, and K laughed at me saying how it was some incredible Hawaiian pot that a friend of his had given him. All I wanted at that point was to be put into the car that we had all shared coming up and go to sleep for the ride home.

Right at that moment, who should show up but Nazi Hippie B, informing me that he was going off with some friends and that I would have to drive the International Scout loaded with all the equipment back to town. This car was a huge tank and the place we were at was way up in the mountains. I said "Sh#t!" and K the drummer looked at me and couldn't stop laughing.

I think I drove about 5mph the entire way home down twisty 1-1/2 lane roads in that giant beast. The guys in the back kept singing "roll out the barrel" the entire way and laughing.

When I got home my boyfriend (another guitarist) asked me, "How was the gig?" I just shook my head and went straight to bed.

A few years later, I did sub in a wedding band one summer, singing. It wasn't nearly as painful as that gig.

djStratUk · Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 11:30 am Post subject:

Wow, what an eventful night...... Laughing

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SAguitar · Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 12:44 pm Post subject:

Wow, now that's an experience! Hee-hee-hee!

I can hear 'em now...

"ROLL OUT THE BARREL, WE'LL HAVE A BARREL OF FUN!" Laughing

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SAguitar · Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2008 12:52 pm Post subject:

That one reminds me of a gig I did one time in a Cowboy/Hippie bar, and this straw hat came up to one side of the stage and asked me for a waltz for him and his girl. Meanwhile a long hair on the other end of the stage was asking my buddy for Honky Tonk Woman by the Stones. We met back at the drummer and talked it over. The drummer says, "Sure, let's do both of 'em. I'll sing it." So yes, we did Honky Tonk Woman as a waltz, in 3/4! I had no idea how it was going to work, but we pulled it off. That was interesting! Laughing

About halfway through it, our drummer ran out of words, and it morphed into Trailer Park Woman! We had the Trailer Park Blues! Cool

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...all the gray areas are becoming black holes...