When things go sideways...
(Updated Nov 11- see bottom)
The last couple of gigs JPJQ has played have been... a little more exciting than one might ideally have desired. But whaddayagonna do, right? You do the best you can to roll with the punches, and so far, I am proud to say that the gang I'm rollin' with these days have taken the hits and come up swingin' every time. (See what I did there?)
Part 1 - Timothy Saves the Day!
Last month, we had a great show planned - an amazingly talented couple who are friends of ours had a tour booked to support her new EP, and they'd talked to us in the summer about booking a show for us to play together. So we called our friend Molly Dechenne, and, after her first choice venue didn't seem to be very responsive, she hooked us up with a night at The Waypost Venue and Bar.
But... oh, did I not mention that the amazingly talented couple happen to be Canadian? Yeah. So a couple of days before the gig, we found out that their work visa hadn't come through yet. So we're scrambling to fill the night. Our regular guitarist had a conflict for the date, so we'd hired another player, with the knowledge that he wouldn't be there until just before we were supposed to go on, so we asked our wonderful drummer, Timothy VanCleave, to take a look at the piano book. Worst case, he could comp for a few tunes, we could start our set a little early, and it would look super pro when the other guy came in and tagged him out.
... Except the other guy didn't show. There were extenuating circumstances, and we're all good. But suddenly, Timothy is on the hook to play our whole set. On piano, his tertiary instrument. And guess what?
He rocked it out! He totally saved our butts and guaranteed himself a place in pretty much every gig I book for the rest of my life. The bar was happy, the audience was happy, and we had the satisfaction of knowing that we'd been able to pull it together and put on a good show, despite some pretty trying circumstances. Victory is ours!
Part 2 - Show me the Way(post)
...Which brings us to this week. A few months ago, I booked a gig for JPJQ at a local bar where Adam had played (and I'd sat in) a few times. We were super-excited to work on some co-promotion with the bar: developing some signature "prohibition-era retro" cocktails, really trying to make it an event. I'd dropped off a bunch of promotional material at the club and emailed to check in. I thought I'd hear from them this week. And I did... boy, how I did!
On Tuesday (8 days before the gig, which we'd already started promoting on social media) I got an email from the club owner, saying the bar was closing (hopefully not forever, but who knows) and that he was sorry for the late notice but he had to cancel the show.
I mean, SERIOUSLY?! Cut a guy a break, wouldya?
So after a bunch of swearing, the guys and I swung into action again, and once again we were rescued by the Waypost. Such great people to do business with... they immediately stepped in to give us a date to play - the actual day our gig had been booked wasn't available, but they had the Friday Night(!) free, and were willing to let us have that!
The other guys in the band were great sports, moving their schedules around again to make this happen, we found another band (Old Soul Brew) to help us fill the bill (you want a little more firepower on a Friday night) on the first phone call, and everyone's jumping in to help promote the new time/date/venue.
The Moral of the Story Is...
When things go sideways, these are the guys I want on my team.
Thing is, I want them on my team when things are going smoothly and without incident, too. And I'd really like the opportunity to prove that!
****UPDATE****
Incidentally, the show was great - couldn't have gone better!
Everybody was not only there, but got there early and stayed all night, the crowd were super supportive and wonderful, we had amazing horn players (and singers) up with us for our whole set, Old Soul Brew were amazing, The Waypost were gracious hosts as always - such a fantastic time... if you weren't there you should come next time!
I also got to try out Facebook Live (streaming video) which worked (albeit I learned that I have to put my device in "portrait" orientation or else the entire video broadcasts sideways) but my dad actually got to watch most of the show from Edmonton, AB, which was pretty [bleep]ing cool!
Thanks, everyone!
