Adventures of a Cover Band
Episode 3: Band Overboard!
By Karin Elizabeth
Okay, I know that the title is cheesy. But that was nothing compared to the titles that occur when boating comes into play (No hard feelings, Jobbie Crew!) J “Captain”, “Cruise Director”, etc. What I’m talking about is playing on a boat. Yes, that’s right. We played a wedding on a huge yacht last weekend on Lake St. Clair. A YACHT!
When we first met Wendy and Steve, we were having an awful night. We were playing at Silky’s in Dearborn, which we normally have a lot of fun at, but that night Billy the drummer (who sings about 40% of the songs) was sick as a dog. I’m talking losing his lunch on stage. So poor Bill couldn’t sing a lick, and was trying very hard to disguise the fact that he was sick to the audience. I was bummed because I had to do all the singing. We were all in a terrible mood, and during the last set (the whole time I was thinking, “please, please let this be over soon.”) Wendy and Steve walked in and saw us. Being the awesome people that they were, they could see the talent through the misery, and actually liked us a lot! They mentioned to us that they were getting married, and that they needed a band for their wedding. Since I love playing weddings, I told them I would try to get a sub for our gig that weekend, even though it was only a month away. For a cover band, most weddings are a lot of fun, except when things go wrong…
Steve and Wendy came out and saw us several times before the wedding. I usually keep a friendly distance from my clients out of professional courtesy, but there was something about Wendy and Steve. They were the kind of people who you instantly bonded with, and they became not only our clients but our friends. They had a great sense of humor, and wonderful taste. They were an attractive couple with an interesting story and were clearly very much in love. I wanted to help them have the wedding of their dreams.
Yes, our part in Steve and Wendy’s wedding was being planned at the last minute, but they had some major plans for it that needed to be worked out, including many hilarious practical jokes that involved the band. For example, during the yacht’s eponymous “safety speech,” our sound technician Scotti would walk around the entire yacht with a Rubber Ducky inner tube on, and goggles. When the wedding party was to be introduced, the band itself, and the entire wedding party was going to wear “Blues Brothers” hats and sunglasses, while the band was playing the “Blues Brother’s Theme.” Awesome. As the big day approached I looked forward to everyone’s reaction, and to having a good time with some of the most fun people I had met.
Even the ceremony had humor. I had my friend Cecelia, a beautiful blonde who plays the harp come and play the ceremony with me. It was elegant and touching. At the end of the ceremony, as the bride and groom were introduced as husband and wife at the end, I began playing Social Distortion’s, “Ball and Chain” on my acoustic guitar and singing it. I watched Steve and Wendy walk off as a newly married couple cracking up. The song was Wendy’s idea, and Steve had no idea I was going to do it. The groom’s look of initial surprise, turned to a big laugh, was absolutely priceless.
As we were setting up, I noticed some big storm clouds approaching. “uh oh,” I thought, as I asked the cruise director if she thought it would be a good idea for us to stay on the third deck, which was only partially covered. My guys were starting to get a little steamed because they had already hauled our equipment up three flights of stairs, with no elevator. She assured me that everything would be fine. It was beautiful up on the third deck, and everyone would be up there dancing before we knew it. I figured that they were a professional charter company who had been doing this for a long time, and that they knew best. I always forget that weather trumps everything…
We began playing our first wedding set, which is a low-key jazz set, with songs like Frank Sinatra’s “The Way You Look Tonight” and Etta James’ “At Last.” It would have been perfectly romantic and elegant, had there actually been a sunset. Wouldn’t you know it, it started to rain. So my poor guys had to haul all of their equipment down to the second deck and set up again. Speakers, subs, amps, keyboards, drums, guitars, and tons and tons of “spaghetti” (all of our speaker wires and mic cords.) We all looked like miserable, wet rats. Wendy, bless her heart, was not crying her eyes out. When I looked over at her, she was dutifully running around trying to locate the Blues Brothers hats and sunglasses. The wedding party waited patiently while we set up again.
When we starting playing again, it was like magic. We played Steve and Wendy’s slow-dance song, “Amazed” by Lonestar (They told me, “don’t make it sound too country! We just like the lyrics!”) and from that moment Wendy and Steve were completely enamored with each-other all night, the way every dream wedding couple should be. Wendy’s daughter sang a song or two with us, and was an instant star! The crowd danced all night with a happy energy that could only occurs in times of overcoming adversity. My bass player, Jim, summed it up perfectly at the end of the night, “You take the good with the bad.” It takes something really going wrong for you to appreciate when things go right. Tonight, we had both at the same time, a sublime juxtaposition of right and wrong. Anchors Aweigh!
K
P.S. Check our Facebook (remedydetroit) for a photo album on this one…
P.S.S. I’d like to give a shout out to Steve and Wendy for letting me write about their awesome wedding getting rained on. I love you guys!