The Music Gig That Almost Made Me Go Insane
My band was performing in Bowen in north Queensland Australia at the Kings Beach Hotel. We were playing in ‘High Voltage,’ tribute band to AC/DC.
We were up to about our 7th song in the set when I noticed our rhythm guitarist had broken a string. About 60 seconds later I myself break a string. No problem, me thinks I will get my spare Gibson SG, be playing again in 45 secs. I look around. No SG- my rhythm player grabbed it for himself, too lazy to change a string on his guitar!!! Ok, so I think I will very quickly change my own string with the help of our stage roadie. Another 20 seconds goes by. Old mate breaks another string on MY spare guitar. The drum and bass extension solos, singer doing a bit of improvisation over the top, no problem until bass player blows his A string. As many of you would know most AC/.DC songs are in A. He switches to the E string 5th fret- not as nice a sound but it’s cool enough in an emergency. We are going to be okay I thought until the drummer has broken his snare skin!!!! This can’t be happening!! Just can’t be!! Apollo 13 didn’t have this much coincidental bad luck!!! By now my string is replaced so we have a 3 string bass, one guitar, a singer looking remotely pissed off and looking for a rock to hide under, and a drummer gesticulating widely for help with his snare but the show goes on. Old mate rhythm player is back on deck and the bass player is going to play 3 strings for at least the next 2 songs until, the roadie goes to truck and get the spare bass (not often bass players break strings!!).
Finally the snare skin is replaced all guitars are back working. We start up exactly in the spot where we first lost a string and continue as if nothing happened. Never break the song, just pile on the improv in the middle section because the show must goes on!!! Ironically, the song we were playing was “Hell Ain’t A Bad Place To Be.”
Now I can see everyone with stage experience saying “well they should have changed their string before the gig!’ Truth was we changed our strings every night, bass strings every 6 gigs!!! We all bought our strings from one supplier and we just got a faulty batch.
The moral:
always have spare strings closely accessible, a spare guitar where possible, drummer, at least a spare snare skin or maybe a spare snare drum and also spare kick drum skin and a singer who can remain nonplussed when all hell breaks loose around him!!
Because the show must go on!!
Axebay
http://www.articlesbase.com/music-articles/the-music-gig-that-almost-made-me-go-insane-694900.html
I'm so stressed, i almost feel like i'm insane? i'm only 15- what do i do?
I’m so stressed, i almost feel like i’m insane? i’m only 15- what do i do?
i started high school and i’m so worried about colleges and my future because everyone seems to know who they are going to be but i don’t have a clue. so just in case i need good grades so i can get into a good college at the least. i’ve been trying really hard for a 4.0 and i’m taking honors classes and it’s hard and i’ve already dropped one honors class and i still haven’t gotten over it and i have so much homework and i try to out-do everyone becuase i want to get the best grade or appeal to my teacher. i joined clubs but i had to drop out of two, i volunteer for one of my clubs so it takes up a lot of time. i don’t have many friends or talents adn don’t get out of the house that often. i realized that i was getting stressed when my friend looked me inthe face and told me i looked like a had two blacks eyes. i don’t have black eyes but i have dark circles nad bags from how i don’t sleep enough or eat enough and how i have been sitting in my room doing homework adn studying so much. I’ve tried to do something i like but it actualy made me more stressed like i went to an art fair but instead of taking everything in i freaked out becasue i felt like i wasn’t going to have enough time to finish this or do this. I tried to relax soemtimes after school- like sit down and listen to my music but instead of relaxing i just get paniced.
i’m so… i don’t know. i don’t think it’s stress or stuff, i just don’t know. i feel like i’m going insane.
what should i do.
my friend told me to take a weekend off but i can’t this weekend since i’m leaving to visit my grandma in the hospital, volunteering and sunday i have chruch service and after that i’m going to finish my essay that i haven’t started because i totally forgot about until today.
firstly, you need to find an emotional outlet within your life that you can access at home, whenever you like. i suggest yoga
i’m 14 and understand the pressures of exams and choosing your life when you don’t know what you want to do
sometimes people just try too hard and you need to learn to do what you have to do and possibly some extra, but not to overdo it
also, bags under your eyes are genetic features mostly, however they can be exasperated by lack of sleep.
just keep your options open for as many colleges as you can, then hopefully you can find something that interests you
References :
silly – if you try to work out the next 10 years off your life
you WILL be insane
so R E L A X – you are only human
believe it or not – you get the same 24 hrs we are all blessed with – SO
plan your work – and work your plan
get out a calendar – or print one of the internet – lotsa freebies
fill out each day for the next week
assignments due etc – -
I do the same thing on a spreadsheet where I keep my daily BP readings for my doctor
and saw I had a class to attend last night for work – HOLY COW gotta be there
in 75 minutes – - thank GOODNESS for planing ahead
when alzheimers sneaks up on ya!
love your gran – that’s a treasure hopefully you will have for a while
I lost mine at age 30
and you can do it – one day at a time
all the best!
References :
First of all, based on the description you are offering of yourself and your situation, I don’t believe that you are "insane." I’m not speaking clinically-I’m not a professional-but it sounds like you in the same spot a lot of people get into when they have high expectations of themselves. It’s real easy to take on too much and start to feel overwhelmed, then your self confidence starts to take a hit and you can start into a downward spiral that is difficult to recover from.
The first thing to do is just take a deep breath and just mentally acknowledge one more time that you are a normal human being who just has too much going on right now and that’s why you are feeling the stress, and it is OK for you to feel that way. You have a right to your emotions, and you have a right to feel overwhelmed at the moment, what you are experiencing emotionally is entirely normal whether you are 15 or 50.
In a lot of ways you are fortunate to be mature enough to see what is going on, even if you don’t quite understand it or know what to do about it. I didn’t start to understand what stress was doing to me until I was in my 30s, by being smart enough to recognize this stress instead of denying it-the way far too many people do-you can avoid developing bad habits and routines that will affect you long down the road of life.
So see, you’re already way ahead of most people. Now, if feeling overwhelmed is paralyzing you-if you can’t seem to get out of the starting blocks on stuff you need to get done sometimes, there are ways of dealing with that too-but that is also a common reaction to task related stress, sometimes we feel like we have misplaced priorities or are procrastinating, and that can make us feel that we are not very good people. Like say…feeling that we don’t have friends or aren’t especially talented. I’m not saying this is what is going on with you, but feelings of being all alone and not worthy go along with this feeling of being overwhelmed.
The thing is to not feel guilty about it, you are not a bad person because you get overwhelmed and react to it. You just have to recognize it rather than deny it, then think in terms of what your priorities and goals are personally-what YOU want, not what your family, friends and teachers want-and focus on that.
Oh-also, it helps a lot to pause for just a moment every day and appreciate something special in your life. Weather is a good one, regardless of whether it is sunny and warm or snowy and cold, just pause for a moment while you are outside, take a deep breath and look around, then close your eyes and feel the weather on your face, listen to it. Just for a moment-it’s kinda cool, like when you eat something and make a point of noticing the texture instead of just the taste of food.
One step at a time. You’re doing fine-honors classes, extra curricular activities, visiting grandma, volunteering, Church-that’s a lot of stuff, give yourself credit now.
References :