No longer a virgin

[billeyler]

Tonight I called my first tip with a live band...with virtually no rehearsal!

For the first time in probably decades the NM Central District Dance featured a live band...Bill Bailey and Country Classics. They had a VERY long hiatus in playing for square dancing...Bill B told me during a planning meeting a month ago that they had played for some of the earliest Nationals in the 50s. I'm sure he and his wife had to be somewhere in their 70s.

In any case, almost all the callers in the central district got to call a tip...except that the band was over-LOUD, it was nice to have them there. I did a patter call to O Lonesome Me, and a singer to Oh Baby Mine. Nary a breakdown on the floor.

Yehaw!

Comments

[billeyler.livejournal.com]

I was curious as to why they wanted to use amplifiers and speakers, even though we voiced concerns about that at the planning meeting last month. There was a fiddle, two different electric guitars, a keyboard and a bass guitar.

After the first tip, a number of the dancers squared up either at the back of the hall or on the south side as far from the musicians as possible. The caller was BEHIND the speakers, so we didn't have a sense of what the dancers were hearing.

Many sat out after the first few tips, and some left that were noise sensitive. I'm sure they turned down the amp a bit early on, but not enough. I left at 8:30 myself, since I was feeling a bit underweatherish and the loudness was distracting.