Hey Rand, excellent I guess you've seen what I've been up to , so In my humble opinion , just get out there and have fun. Keep going and you'll be amazed how things change. It s the best thing ever. Get through a few and keep going. So from down under, well actually singapore for a few more days " Good on Ya! "

So, this happened Saturday! It threatened rain all day, and even during our performance, but we only got a very heavy mist, which the band played through. After we set everything up and did a sound check for the band, I got out my Stick and got it all hooked up with the sound guy. The function was to start around 5:00, but we were there around 3:00 to set up and get ready. Around 5:15 people were drifting in, so I took a deep breath, climbed up on stage, and started playing.
It was crazy! I looked up, saw lots of folks watching, in the middle of my opening tune (Let It Be), and I hit my first blind spot lol! I got befuddled and screwed up. But someone came over to chat right then so i used it as an excuse to stop and recover. When he left, I started again, and got through it. Then I went on to 'Wonderful World'. Done it 1,000 times, but this time I got tangled up with my fingers not going where they were supposed to, and I stumbled mightily! I actually restarted, and this time it went pretty well. Of course the jitters were subsiding too, so the next few tunes went well. I played 'Imagine', then 'Mad World', and then 'Hallelujah'. We were facing a lake, and some people who came to the function, lived on the other side of the lake. They told the head guy that they heard me across the lake, and that song sounded beautiful. Woohoo!
Things were now going pretty well, the jitters were gone, so I finished up with a short rendition of 'Over the Rainbow' and then 'Rainbow Connection'. Then it was over! Much too soon lol! I played for about 45 minutes, there were 60-75 people getting food, chatting and enjoying the music.
My bandmates were really complimentary. The lead guitarist said he was impressed I had such a nice touch playing. The bassist was really surprised and impressed with the overall sound, and the other guitarist/singer was blown away... he said he never expected to hear what he heard! Several times they (and others) complimented me.

I was very happy with the performance, although I laid a few eggs! It went better than I anticipated, and now that I am no longer a 'virgin', I am actually looking forward to my next opportunity to play in front of people.

Unfortunately, the fellow who I asked to run my video camera, hit the wrong button, (standby instead of record) so I have no video. I did have a couple of pictures taken which I've included. I do have some band video, and I played bass on the Chapman Stick for one song (The Weight), so if I can figure out how to cut that one song out from the video, I will try and upload it in the future.

Thanks for the support all, and the good suggestions beforehand. It all helped to calm my nerves and made me feel much better about performing. Yup, I had a pretty lousy start, but recovered and improved. Next time will go even better! I am not very good, but as some mentioned, even Mary Had a Little Lamb sounds fantastic on the Chapman Stick!!

Good one Rand. Welcome to the Stick-in-public experience. It can be intimidating to attempt string navigation in front of an audience but you persevered and experienced the joy. Congrats on your fortitude and gratification of the moment

Steve A

Winning. Thanks for the awesome gig report, a great way to start the day.

Thanks Steve, and Gene. It was a real weird experience. I've played drums forever, and have not felt strange in front of an audience for 50 years lol! But the Stick is my first experience with a stringed instrument, and starting late in life I wasn't sure I'd ever get to this point. When I first started playing in early February 2015, I famously said if I could learn ONE song in 3 years I'd be happy. Well, now I'm ecstatic!

Here's a youtube video of our cover of "The Weight". Be kind... the keys and female vocalist have only been with us 6 weeks, and both had a lot of material to learn quickly. The bass player (who sat in on drums) and I decided to switch it up 3 weeks ago, and only played this at practice 3 times! This wasn't a real polished performance, but it worked for me!

Rats, I am getting an error stating that the video is not available?

NO VIDEO - NO KINDNESS

Uh-oh, it says the video is private. I wanna see it, bud - hook me up! I bet it's awesome!

Argh! Who knew lol! OK, I set it to "unlisted", so it is no longer private, and should work with the link posted here. Let me know if it doesn't.