{"id":1092,"date":"2017-10-19T14:46:04","date_gmt":"2017-10-19T14:46:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/?p=1092"},"modified":"2017-10-19T14:48:55","modified_gmt":"2017-10-19T14:48:55","slug":"ftv-frat-parties-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/?p=1092","title":{"rendered":"FTV: Frat Parties Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0During the two years I played in Knockdown, we only played for one frat party. \u00a0We had our regular monthly three nighter at the NCO club (guitar player Ray was a Sergeant in accounting, so we had an inside track with the NCOs), numerous party dates at both the NCO and the Officer’s club, company parties for places like Montgomery Wards, plus more wedding receptions than you could shake a stick at. \u00a0As the only non-Air Force \u00a0member of the band, I was doing all the bookings and union contract work. \u00a0Ray hadn\u2019t thought of it first, but when I joined as the first non-service connected member of the band, it was a logical step for me to become \u00a0the contact guy because the AF guys weren\u2019t allowed to join the musician’s union. \u00a0Nobody grumbled about being affiliated with the union because having your name on their master list lead to more bookings than we could have picked up just casting about on our own. \u00a0If someone needed a band for an event, they often called the Local AF of M 218 secretary to get the names and phone numbers of available bands.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0One of the reasons that we didn\u2019t play a lot of frat parties was simple: \u00a0we were always booked three months or more ahead of the current month. \u00a0I would religiously type up a master calendar for January, February, and March and start filling in dates. \u00a0When the calendar was full, I would make a copy for everybody in the band, type up the next three months and start filling in dates. \u00a0If I had a dollar for every job I had to turn down, I wouldn\u2019t be rich, but I could have at least bought some slick new wheels and tires for my pickup truck. \u00a0I estimate that we played around 250 to 280 dates in the two years I was with Knockdown. \u00a0It is a good \u00a0bet that we turned away at least as many jobs in that time. \u00a0My answering machine in those days was my mother, so I posted a copy of our filled calendar dates by the phone and it saved me a lot of call backs. \u00a0Mom would say, \u00a0\u201dOh, I am sorry, they are already booked on that date.\u201d \u00a0It was kind of a nice problem to have. \u00a0I never had anyone turn us down for a booking because of the cost but I did have a couple of gigs offered to us with a \u2018special bonus\u2019 tacked on if I would dump one job for another. \u00a0The standard line I used was, \u201cNope, sorry, I have a contract and I would never break a contract. \u00a0If I did that to you, would you be happy?\u201d \u00a0Having a contract worked both ways and had someone tried to back out of a booked gig once I had the paperwork in hand (and no one ever did), I had the union\u2019s backing to get paid if we had a valid contract. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Somewhere along the way, we did end up with a frat gig at the Mather Inn in Ishpeming. \u00a0I was told it was a dinner party with a dance to follow, so we showed up expecting to set up in a dining room. \u00a0The room where they were eating was long and narrow. \u00a0The tables were set up in one long row with seating for about 20 couples. \u00a0There was just enough room between the chairs and the walls for the servers to do their thing. \u00a0When I expressed my concern about how we were going to set up in this room while dinner was being served, the kitchen manager said, \u201cOh, this isn\u2019t the dance hall – you can set up down there and they will come down to dance after dinner.\u201d \u00a0This made sense until he showed us the dance room. \u00a0Picture an empty hotel room that would normally house two double beds, a dresser, table and some sitting chairs (but no bathroom as there were common bathrooms at the end of the hall). \u00a0Granted, the Mather Inn was an older hotel with larger rooms than today\u2019s norm, but it was still small for a dance hall. \u00a0\u00a0We set up in the smallest configuration we could and still filled one quarter of this converted guest room. \u00a0We tried to keep the volume down at first and finally said, \u201cForget it! \u00a0They knew they were hiring a band to play in a postage stamp sized room, so we will play the same way we would in a larger room.\u201d \u00a0It was the smallest gathering I can remember being hired to play for, but they must have invited all their friends to drop by. \u00a0By the third set, if the the place had caught on fire, I would have had to break the window behind me to get out because there was no way we would have been able to wade through the sea of bodies dancing in the room and out in the hallway.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Sledgehammer was another story. \u00a0We played a variety of gigs but I don\u2019t recall any frat parties in the nine months we played for pay. \u00a0We did get booked to play in the lobby of Majors-Meyland Hall for a few hours, but I believe that was a university sponsored special event. \u00a0It wasn\u2019t really a dance as much as a social event with people coming and going. \u00a0There is a good possibility that my future wife and I were in the same room during this gig, but we wouldn\u2019t know it until we compared notes some three years later.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0After Sledgehammer ended and I moved to Ontonagon, I got a call from my old guitar player Barry who asked if I was interested in playing a frat party one Saturday. \u00a0I asked if he had a band going and he informed he that the gig would be with the Gordon Coleman Trio. \u00a0The \u2018Gordon\u2019 in the GCT was a balding bass player who made a pretty good living at booking jobs and then combing the AFof M Local 218 musician roster for available musicians to play the gigs. \u00a0I don\u2019t know how much he charged for his services, but I am pretty sure he made money because he paid his hired guns less per man than we used to charge per man for full band gigs. \u00a0No doubt he paid himself extra for doing the bookings, making the phone calls, and bringing the PA system which is just fine. \u00a0Having been a band booker, just showing up to play is much less work and just showing up and getting paid to play as a hired hand was fine with me..<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0On the appointed night, I showed up with my drums at a very large home that had been converted to a frat house in east Marquette, sandwiched in the neighborhood between Arch and Ridge Streets. \u00a0I was right on time, but the rest of the band had already set up and had apparently retired to the basement bar to kill some time. \u00a0They had left me just enough room for my drum rug so I set about cramming myself into an area that was much too small but we didn\u2019t have much choice. \u00a0Did I mention the \u2018stage\u2019 we were playing on was the landing at the top of a double wide staircase leading to the second floor of this massive house? \u00a0The word \u2018landing\u2019 is a little misleading, because there had been an obvious attempt in the architecture to make a little sitting area where the stairs switched back on the way to the next level. \u00a0With that said, I could have held my arms out with drumsticks in hand and touched the guitarist (Barry) and keyboard player (who I never was introduced to that I remember) without leaning much. \u00a0Gordon and his bass were positioned to my far left and when Barry moved side to side, I could see to the bottom floor where I could occasionally see people traveling back and forth. \u00a0I never did figure out which floor they were dancing on, but in this case, we certainly were \u2018the house band\u2019 because we were playing to a house and not to the dancing crowd we could not see.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0We had a good time. \u00a0We bounced song ideas off each other and played a mish-mash of songs based on all of our previous bands. \u00a0Barry and I got to lead them through some of our old Sledgehammer tunes. \u00a0The keyboard player was into The Moody Blues so we did <\/span>Nights in White Satin<\/span><\/i>. \u00a0I should have learned his name because when we finished he gave be a big thumbs up and said, \u201cI really like the cymbal wash you used and how it built up during the chorus.\u201d \u00a0I said, \u201cThanks\u201d and stored that away for the next time I played <\/span>Nights in White Satin<\/span><\/i> some six years later with a version of Easy Money that had Dave Morehouse singing the same tune. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Was I disappointed that the frat parties I played at weren\u2019t as wild as they are usually depicted in the movies? \u00a0When a gig involves people laughing, dancing and having a good time, it is a good gig. \u00a0The only time I ever witnessed a fight of any kind at a gig was in a bar, but that will have to be a tale for another day. \u00a0Were the frat parties we played at more fun than wedding receptions? \u00a0Another story for another day but I will end here by noting that I played for some wedding receptions that were more wild and crazy than any frat gigs I got to do! \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0As an epilog to this story, I encourage readers to revisit the <\/span>Animal House<\/span><\/i> party scene to get the full flavor of what most frat parties are not like. \u00a0As you watch it<\/span>,<\/span><\/i> take note of the band called Otis Day and The Knights who figure prominently in the basement party scene at the frat house. \u00a0Otis Day was played by an actor who was able to make a career after the movie by forming a real band called Otis Day and the Knights. \u00a0They are still active and apparently get to play more than a few primo gigs in Lost Wages (sorry, Las Vegas). \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Now that the WOAS West Coast Bureau is located in Eugene, OR, I also have to push the parody of the party scene that the Nike (Phil Knight of Nike is a big University of Oregon backer) put out shortly after Marcus Mariota played his last football game for the Ducks (https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=11fZVVkmy5o) (The 2015 Nike version is proving hard to find now so the video listed here is a side by side comparison of the the 1978 original and the 2015 version). \u00a0\u00a0The updated party scene \u00a0is populated by former OU athletes and if you are a sports fan, you may even recognize some of them before they roll the credits. \u00a0One may also notice Otis Day is a tad older looking in the 2015 version! \u00a0If you weren\u2019t aware, the University of Oregon campus in Eugene was used to depict the fictitious \u00a0Faber College in the movie. The \u2018Fishbowl\u2019 student lounge featured in the movie\u2019s memorable food fight scene has been renovated since then, but I can at least say I have had a cup of coffee on a movie set!<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Top Piece video – here is the University of Oregon take on\u00a0Shout!<\/em>