Day 0 - Let The Games Begin...

OK... So I didn't even bother to THINK about the band last night as it was a night off. I just chatted online and got some rest. That was the point of having the night off.

TODAY... I am going to do everything to throw myself into the zone and be hyper detailed about everything!

It is now 8:30 in the morning. I am going to put on the music, with lyrics of my show. Listen to it on repeat as i clean my house. I give myself 2 hours to clean up and downstairs and 2 hours to do dishes and toss that couch out by myself.

The next hour, I will work on problem songs while I shower and shave and all that.

After that, I pick up my rental wireless microphone from B-Sharp and go do soundcheck.

Once i am finished soundcheck, I am off to my massage of which i am totally looking forward to.

After that, i will likely go back to mcnallys and finish set up.

I will go home and practice (in my head) the songs for tonight on repeat as i print out new cheat sheets and prepare some cheese trays for the evening. I will do this until 8pm ish... and then i am going to McNally's so that i can rock out hard and put on the best show ever!

I am REALLY looking forward to tonight!!

I can't wait to see who turns up at the show!

Alright... Let's fucken RAWWWWK!!
Zubazz

Day 1 - Twas The Night Before Gigmas...

So far today, I have worked at work.... and come home and slept....

I have talked to various people who have been wishing me good luck... I have slept some more.. I have watched some online lectures at http://www.ted.com/ because I like going there to expand my mind on a daily basis. And i have not really done much about the gig tomorrow just yet.

I am trying to relax a bit.

I will likely end my day by watching Goonies... however.. i have a bit of a mess to clean up if i want to have people over after the gig... and I mean a real big mess.... the upstairs and the downstair both need to be picked up.. and i still have a couch standing on its side in my kitchen which i will need to find a way to squeeze out the door.

Last nights rehearsal went well despite the fact that i had a sore throat. I warmed up to my voice pretty good during the rehearsal last night and was pulling off highs and lows pretty safely. The strategy now is not to talk or sing until the gig.

I am pretty excited... but i just dont want to think about it yet. I am going to spend my entire day tomorrow obsessing on it.... but for now... just peace...

I will blog again tomorrow hopefully... and then of course after the gig!

Zubazz

Day 2 - Caution, Sore Throat...

Ok... So my throat is trying to tell me that it has had it with me... LOL... Over the course of the day, it has gone from a little ticke to an outright sore throat... I have been babying it all day with Strepsils, liquids, Listerine and anything else i can think of... I just ate some Thai food and put extra spices on it to make me sweat a bit since I dont want any chance of a cold coming on along with my sore throat...

Now... The big strategy is to have a REALLY BIG NAP before I go to rehearsal tonite. Try to sing as little as possible and speak as little as possible tomorrow and Thursday.

I KNOW I am going to be just fine... I usually don't stress out about things... but THIS is kinda getting to me.... And of course i knew SOMETHING would this close to the show. SO... time to relax and pass out for a few hours...

NOTHING CAN GET IN THE WAY OF ME PULLING OFF THE GREATEST SHOW EVER ON THURSDAY!!!

I am confident that I will have enough rest and enough time to heal up fully before the show. I just have to not be so up tight now and relax... it honestly feels like somebody punched me in the back of the kidneys and clocked me again in my upper back...

I CANNOT WAIT FOR MY MASSAGE THURSDAY!!! I am going to need it!

OK... nap time... See You Soon!

I WILL ROCK THE CASBAH! You just watch!
Zubazz

Day 3 - Fromage Et Trois!

Tonight we got our second last rehearsal under our belt. One more rehearsal tomorrow and then Wednesday night off to ponder life... Watch Goonies... Not think about stuff... Clean my house perhaps...



Who am I Kidding, I will be ALL OVER my lyric charts... Making new ones, seeing what kind of cheater notes i can come up with. I really dont want to use cheater notes, but it is going to be hard to do it without.... I would need a couple more weeks to do the show with complete memorization... Mind you, I just might study up enough and be in the Zone...



I think finding my way to hit that "In The Zone" area where i am just ZEN with the music will be an interesting challenge on Thursday. I want to have fun with the crowd and be able to pull off the songs without crashing and burning. I love the fact that i have experienced mentors in the band to give me words of encouragement to help me through some of my limitations. They don't show too much frustration with me, so I must be doing some things right.



Back to the Zen thing though... I have a lot of things that i am going to want to remember... Like the positions and stances that put me into a solid, state. I breathe a certain way, I stand a certain way, I dance a certain way... I know I am going to fall into it... What is REALLY important to me is that my mix is right... i need to be able to hear myself really well, not have to push my voice too hard to get it out and have a decent mix of the other musicians. Other things that i will need to think about are what i can do with the freedom of a wireless microphone because i am NOT used to that. At the same time, I wont have TOO much room to mess around and just as well for the feeling of this particular room.



To be honest, my voice has been getting a little wear and tear lately because i have probably had to push it too hard to get the sound to where i wanted it to be.... I am going to be really careful in the next couple days. The back of my throat tickles... If i wasn't being so ANAL with the Listerine everytime i feel something back there, I would likely be very sick by now. I ALWAYS get sick this time of year. Just need to make it a few more days and then I can afford to get sick. My tonsil area is clear of that infected feeling, except for this one spot that is connected to my nasal passage.... But i REALLY don't feel like taking Listerine through the nose... Mind you, it ain't a bad idea to try and get rid of infection there... I bet you it is a NASTY FEELING and i would hate myself for doing it.... HA HA HA... Let's take a dare right here right now at 1am.... ALL BY MYSELF... nobody to witness this one... ok.. i am going to do it... Listerine up the nose to get that back nasal passage touching the tip of that tickling tonsil giving me trouble....



THIS IS GOING TO SUCK... (I will let you know how this goes)



Well... AS you can Imagine... Snorting Listering Sucks... It burns a bit... Not for long... and then you have a nice fresh smell....



Did it work? It kinda feels like it did... Don't sniff hard after that or you WILL cough though.... I really think that made a difference... thats fucked up.... HA HA HA HA!



SO......



I bought $90 of cheese today.... am i crazy? YA... but...



I LIKE CHEESE!



Good thing I am in THIS band... Fuck...



I bought 4 DVD's today... GOONIES being one of them... It is kind of a theme film for the band... Stand By Me.. a classic... Spinal Tap... cause i have never seen it (yes, I can hear you groaning at me.... but i WILL watch it!) and the Gene Wilder version of Willy Wonka... because i have to have both versions of course. I think it is going to be fun to watch those movies this weekend. I am looking forward to it all.



OK... i am going to shut up and go to bed now...



Me Love You Long Time!

Zubazz

Day 4 - Big Rehearsal

Last night at the Tequila Mockingbird show was great! I rocked out at the front of the stage for the whole show... It was a blast and a half. They invited me up to finish the first set off with Crazy Train... I was honored that they let me finish their set off! It was a good performance with the exception of some guy unplugging my microphone on me in the middle of verse 3... I got it back though... The crowd was fun!

I woke up around noon... listened to the set list a little and then surfed the net.. I should not allow myself on the internet to surf... i lost a few hours doing that.. I should have been clearing my house out so it is clean for after the gig.... I MAY have people over... ok.. who am I kidding, there will be an all out party... People are taking days off to hang with me... of course i am going to party!

After wasting too much time, i went to rehearsal at 4pm today and we had a five hour rehearsal without Dan and covered the entire setlist and 2 encore songs (just in case people want more that night) I tried to do most of it without looking... There were a few songs I watched the whole thing along and so I am going to have to really spend hard time on those songs. It is coming down to the wire and it is time to get REALLY serious...

I think I am getting better at giving and taking cues from the band now... It is starting to come together.... Of course the obvious worry is: Will we all pull it together in time? The answer is OF COURSE WE WILL!!

PoSiTiVe!!!! Staayyy POSSSSITIVVVVE..... Man... ha ha ha!

We all knew this would be a bit of a rollercoaster ride... Here... Let's book a gig in one month and then we HAVE TO PULL IT TOGETHER BY THEN!! LOL... Of course i would love another month to really polish it to perfection... but that isn't as rock n roll as Riding The Ragged Edge Of Disaster! It's like our songs talk about... Riding the Razors Edge Into The DANGER ZONE!!! That is TOTALLY how I feel right now... it is nerve racking and fun all at once!

Instead of surfing the net and going to sleep like a good little boy should now... I am going to find some songs for Kevin to add to set break and then I am going to rewrite ALL of my lyric cheat sheets.... Highlighting only words that will queue me off and song endings... THAT IS IT... I am going to probably hide cheat notes everywhere.... it is my first gig... so i am allowed. But I am needing them a lot less now... I just have to get to the point where i am not relying on them for a couple songs.

Well... I have a long ways to go... So I will get goin now...

Zubazz

Days 7, 6 and 5 - Almost Tha'ere...ALLLMOST THA'ERRRRE!

FUCK... it has been hell juggling work and rehearsals and trying memorize shit in the last few days... Work was incredibly hard because of the lack of sleep i have been experiencing... in fact i reached out for the caffeine pills a bit more than usual this week so i could manage it... i didn't want to take too many though because i know that speeding up my system too much will get me sick... BEEN THERE... DONE THAT... Bought the T-shirt and all that!

We added like 3 songs to the set just this week and so that has been challenging in and of itself... one of the songs, i haven't even LISTENED TO lately..... But i don't want to listen to it now because that would ruin my version of it, whatever that would be...

Seeing the big over sized posters is awesome! I am loving it! They charge me up every time i see them...

I am stoked to hear that a lot of people are coming to this thing... i have learned a lesson though... nobody wants to buy tickets in advance when they are the same price as the door... what can i do??? So it feels like a gamble almost to see how many people show up to this thing... LOL... However, from what i hear, it will be standing room only though... NOT BAD FOR A THURSDAY NIGHT! Just people that i work with alone will fill the place up... but we have more than that coming!

This afternoon i have to go BIKINI shopping for one of our Bikini Cheese Girls.... LOL.. nice... I can get used to this BAND THING..... LOL!

One of my biggest worries this whole time has been keeping my voice in shape for the demanding set list that we have. I am pretty sure the songs go through my entire 3.5 octave range. I have been known to get sick like CLOCKWORK during fall months and again in like February... So i have been rather conscious about wearing enough clothes outside and trying to sleep as much as possible (not happening this last week) and other things... On THURSDAY night after rehearsal, I was a total DUMB DUMB and got into a conversation outside afterwords with Kev and Brad about whatever... and i was in my Shorts and a TSHIRT.... coupled with a VERY SHORT SLEEP before work, this was spelling disaster.... SURE ENOUGH i get a tickle in my throat around NOON... i was like NOOOOO!!!! and so I scoured the office for throat medicine and found some when i noticed some at a coworkers desk... that tied me over till i got home and Listerined the hell out of my throat every couple hours. I should do it again... my throat feels a little stretched now.. but that is likely from Friday night karaoke.... I still had a full range last night.... So I am just not going to talk much till tonite....

NOW.... Tonite i am going to see a great band! My friends in Tequila Mockingbird are playing out at McNally's and you should really go to check them out! It has been WAY too long since i have seen them play, but it is hard to go see them when they only play FRIDAYS lately and that is the night I work... SO.... Now I have a chance to go out and support my buddies! Can't wait!

OK... So next assignment is to find out which songs i need to work on and then mercilessly repeat them till i don't want to hear them any more and then do it some more! Listen to songs over and over till it HURTS!!! And TRUST ME... with that much repetition... IT HURTS!!! Dude... Learning this many songs in this short of a time can REALLY suck! BUT... it is TOTALLY worth it for that moment in time when it all comes together!

One more thing before I go though... I am really liking the attention that I am getting lately... Case in point, last night... Now usually girls ask me if i am in a band every night at karaoke... Usually I say "well, not really" or "I am between bands right now" or just "no". They get this kind of disappointed look and then they walk away... LAST NIGHT, i get the same shtick.... "Are you in a band?" and i am like "YA... We are playing on Thursday, you should come check us out!" and NOW they are clambering for my attention... ALL NIGHT... I never paid for any of the 10 drinks I had... Girls bringing ME shooters for no reason... THAT is what it is ALL about! I know that it is so cliche and stuff, but it is like suddenly... You are a significant person when you are in a band. I mean, it is just interesting to me how that works on SO many levels... but it is one of my biggest draws to music... I am SOMEBODY when I am an active participant in music... ESPECIALLY with a band... THIS is a subject I can go on and on about though, and instead i am going to stop so that i can execute my master plan for this weekend...

Thanx for tuning in... See ya tomorrow!! (Or Tonite at McNally's)
Zubazz

Day 8 - I FINISHED THE POSTER!

RIGHT ON!!

Now i have more work to do before rehearsal at 10pm tonite...

See ya!
Zubazz