In a previous post I indicated that I would be working at the notorious local restaurant (featured in Restaurant Impossible on basic cable) where musicians are expected to play for nothing, or damned near it.
Now it can be told that I tried my best to fit a totally unique musical genre into to format there for three gigs, two of which were lauded for their originality and volume appropriateness, and the last of which was. even though we played to two tables and the bass player's grandfather at the bar, accused of playing inappropriate music at extreme volumes by the owner, who was not even there.
It didn't take too much deductive logic to figure out that the complaints came from the help, which was having a time of it talking to each other in the absence of the owners.
The band was a saxophone quartet we call the Bootleg Saxophone Quartet. The reason is I've always thought the music business could be brought to its knees by a band called Various Artists releasing an album called Self Titled.
Once I became aware that Tennessee O'Hanlon was in town it was at once easy and inevitable to dust off my sax quartet library, which consists of light saxophonic Americana like Henry Cowell's Sailor's Hornpipe, Geo. Cobb's Saxophobia and G.E. Holmes' Memories of Steven Foster, published over a hundred years ago by C.L. Barnhouse, my dad's old publisher. In equal measure, there's all the wonderful Lenny Niehaus arrangements for the Hollywood Saxophone Quartet, arrangements requiring string bass and drums.
No matter. We'll probably at some point play in front of this restaurant and make a good deal more money than we made in the restaurant. In fact, I remember in the seventies when we pulled in over $20 an hour each an hour playing Christmas music on what was then called the Pacific Garden Mall. That was tall cotton back then.)
I'll be going in tonight with a guitar-based quartet willing to slug it out for two hours to be paid in a meal. I'll check it out, but I believe in the saxophone quartet, especially with Tennessee on baritone. Some venue out there is needing this concept without knowing it.
Meanwhile, Stella by Starlight in Bb. It could be worse.
I could own a restaurant where the help frolics when I'm gone and double-crosses the musicians when I return.
