The Night Before

The callouses on my fingers have that dull throb that reminds me of the work-out they went through last night. My voice has that rasp—less from singing than from barroom-level conversations and cheers for the second band, the host band, the BUM STEERS.

The Walter Mittys are so thankful for this opportunity to be part of last night's benefit. The unexpected chance to take our show to the stage. The feeling of watching a good crowd of people enjoy themselves and support this most-worthy cause. The many faces of friends some of us haven't seen in a long time.

"Last night is a night I will remember you by...."


~slatts






JACK DAY of the Bum Steers
sent me this message regarding the success of this fund-raiser:

"K-dog - you and your band mates helped us raise over $2000 for the fire victims....can't thank you all enough for your time and talents!!! Awesome job as always!"

It's SHOWTIME!

In twelve hours we'll be a half-hour into our set at tonight's benefit dance for the fire victims of Northampton and Holyoke Mass.

I'll be heading south to the Florence VFW around five this evening. My fellow Walter Mittys will probably all be there around 5:30 (they all live closer).

The host band and the arrangers of this fund-raiser, the Bum Steers, will no doubt be there, coordinating the logistics of the event.

Walter Mittys drummer, Paul, and myself on bass, were once members of the Bum Steers—in fact, that's where we met. That band is full of great guys who have always made "having a good time" priority one. They're all originally from the city of Northampton, so this arson tragedy—no pun intended—"really hit home."

It's an honor to be invited to help with this cause. And, musically, I look forward to sharing the stage with these guys tonight.

My band—the Walter Mittys—are ready.

It's SHOWTIME!
























Details of this event can be found here:
http://thewaltermittys.blogspot.com/2010/01/about-our-upcoming-show.html

Now, comes the hard work...

The paring down of the set list and the assembling of the order.

We when were in the early days of discussing this upcoming benefit show (see previous posts), Sonia threw out in one of our email volleys the need for "two hours of music." The estimate based on the average bar-gig of being a four-hour night—this one shared by two bands. I immediately replied, "Everyone pick six songs"—absolutely based on nothing, except maybe the crazy notion that 24 songs, 12 songs-a-set, sounded like a good idea.

So, for the past two weeks we've been rehearsing 24 songs. Our estimates were not that off. We ran the recording last night pretty much straight through—no pauses after songs—all our rehearsal room chatter, all the moving about to change instruments, all the unplugging and re-plugging of any amp or effect switches, etc. etc. etc. And it all came out to about an hour and 55 minutes.

What doesn't work in this equation are the following:
1. Our set time is 1 hour and 30 minutes.

2. We grouped our songs to be rehearsed in order of instrument changes ie., all the songs where Jim plays accordion and Sonia plays guitar followed by all the songs Jim plays guitar and Sonia plays sax followed by all the songs Jim plays keyboard and Sonia.... and on and on. This makes for ease of switching instruments and it saves time and we will use some of these back-to-back songs in our final set list but it also limits the variety in our song choices and styles—one of what we feel is a strong suit of our band's sound.

3. There's bits of talk in between the songs on last night's recording—but mostly of the nature of "Hold on a minute, I need to tune this E string" or "Is everybody all set?" But in all, there's no where near the space allotted for the proper introduction of songs, the acknowledgment of the people involved in putting this benefit together and the announcement of things to come—in other words, all the normal "live-show" stage banter. All that is not accounted for.

So, as Sonia heads off to a much deserved vacation, Jim, myself and Paul will begin that daunting task of "coming up with a set list."

Now, this may be the point where some one out in the blogosphere might be thinking "HA! Sonia takes off and Jim, slatts and Paul fix the length of the set list problem by cutting out all her songs!" But that thinking comes from those who have not heard her sing. Chances are she'll come back to find she's singing ALL THE SONGS of our new "made-to-fit" set list!

Stay tuned...

ABOUT our upcoming show....

A concert/dance will be held on January 30th at the Florence VFW to raise funds for the families recently displaced by fires in Northampton and Holyoke.

At least 3 families were displaced and 2 people killed in multiple fires in Northampton on December 27. At least 15 families were displaced when fire destroyed a Holyoke apartment building on December 23.

All admission proceeds will go to the Pioneer Valley Chapter of the American Red Cross, which has been providing food, shelter and clothing to the Northampton and Holyoke fire victims. Two local bands have donated their time for the show.

Doors will open at 7pm at the Florence VFW, 18 Meadow Street, Florence. Admission is a suggested donation of $10. Music starts at 7:30 with roots rock band The Walter Mittys. At 9:30, country rock band The Bum Steers take the stage.



The Bum Steers can be found playing barroom stomp cow punk at the intersection of Johnny Cash and The Ramones. The Bum Steers are: Jim Dadmun (guitar and vocals); Bill Knittle (guitar, bass and vocals); Scott Delisle (bass, guitar and vocals); Jack Day (harmonica, percussion and vocals); and Paul Ayotte (drums and vocals). (www.thebumsteers.com)

The Walter Mittys mix rock, folk, country, blues and zydeco into a unique bar to barn to bayou and back sound. The Walter Mittys are: Kevin Slattery (bass, vocals); Jim Reilly (accordion, guitar, keyboard, vocals); Paul Yandoli (drums, vocals); and Sonia Barrera (sax, guitar, vocals). (www.myspace.com/thewaltermittys)

Last Night at Band Camp

Early this week we were invited by the Bum Steers' harmonica player, Jack Day, to join his band in a benefit show for the Victims of the Northampton, MA arson fires. We accepted and details are still being worked out.

We decided as a band, that we would probably need about two hours worth of music ready. Depending on whether it's just the two bands—or more—that would give us plenty of material to choose from.

Our set list looks like this:

Sea of Heartbreak

Dirty Old Town

Jolie, Jolie

They Call Me The Breeze

Fisherman's Blues

All the Way to Jericho

Big Trouble

Cry To Me

Unforgiven

Angel From Montgomery

Train, Train

Incognito

Jockey Full Of Bourbon

Honey Don't

Spiderweb

Dead Flowers

Reconsider Me

One After 909

I Got Loaded

Sarasota

Rock Me

All Along the Watchtower

Don’t Think Twice

Jack Daniels is a Friend of Mine

We ran through all these songs last night—it made for a long rehearsal. On my ride home, I listened to the recorded play-back. My ride's only an hour, so I'll listen to the rest to and from work today.

So far, everything sounds good.

~slatts