Going on Tour

Well, THIS has been an eventful week.

First, some background: one of the Internet communities in which I participate is the Unofficial Acoustic Control Corporation Forum, a forum about musical equipment made by Acoustic Control Corporation. Acoustic made guitar amplifiers, bass amplifiers, PA equipment and speaker cabinets (among other things) from the late 60s to the early 80s. At the time it was some of the best gear you could get, but for reasons I do not understand they fell out of fashion and for many years the brand was moribund, although within the last year it has been revived, and for the first time in a long time you can buy new Acoustic amps. But of significance to this story is that the amps they made in their heyday were really quite good amps, and often they can now be found for quite low prices---so the savvy consumer (e.g., me) can find good bargains. Over the last year or so I've managed to track down several Acoustic amps. A group of like-minded folk hang out on the Acoustic forum and exchange information, technical tips, and leads on gear for sale.

One of the other regulars on the board, Jesse, who runs the Acoustic MySpace page, also lives in Chicago. We met in person when we made a deal to trade a couple amps, and then I tried to help him with a problem he was having with a bass he owned. Last week I got an e-mail from him, saying that he and some friends were going to a guitar show on Sunday, and would I like to go with them? It worked out time-wise, so I went. The guitar show itself was not successful---I was looking for a Rickenbacker 12-string and they had none; hardly any Ricks of any description. If I had been looking for a Gretsch, I would have been in good shape; they were all over the place. And a not-very-surprising assortment of old Gibsons and Fenders. (Slight digression---so, not having found the guitar of my dreams at the show, I ordered a Rickenbacker 660/12 in Midnight Blue from a dealer in Wisconsin. It arrived today, but I have been warned not to open the case for 24 hours, to give it time to adjust to the temperature, having spent a couple days in unheated trucks and warehouses in the Midwestern winter. I am impatient!)

Also on the jaunt to the guitar show was Jesse's friend Bill and Bill's friend Kevin. Bill is a musician and had with him his latest CD, and we listened to it in the car on the way to the show. I liked it. In the course of the conversation, Bill mentioned that he was looking for a bass player for an upcoming tour. Such statements conjure visions of months spent crisscrossing the country, but it came out enventually that the tour in question was only about a week in duration---basically a trip from Chicago to New Orleans and back, stopping along the way to play shows. Six out-of-town dates were planned, with shows in Chicago before and after to bookend the event.

Now, I have been in many bands and played hundreds of shows at all kinds of venues, but one part of band life I never experienced was the indie van tour. As I've grown older and gotten more settled, I had just assumed that I never would---I wasn't going to quit my job to go try to be a rock star.

But I could certainly see taking a few days off from work to live the dream. So after a conversation with Jesse in which he assured me that Bill was a good guy and stable, I offered my services. Bill seemed receptive and after the show we came back and jammed a bit, and it seemed to go well. I was invited to meet and audition for the rest of his band, which happened yesterday. That went well too---I like the music, I like the band, and they seemed to like me. And most importantly, Kris had no objections to me taking off for a week in a van with a bunch of musicians, believe it or not.

So, it looks like it's on! Come April, I will be going on tour as bassist for Bill Tucker and Friends, playing dates in Bloomington, IN, New Orleans, Pensacola, somewhere in Alabama, and Chattanooga, with the shows before and after in Chicago. Jesse and I are going to outfit the band with a full Acoustic backline, which will be news in certain circles.

I am really looking forward to this. At 41, I assumed my chance to do this was behind me, and I am really tickled that I will get to do it after all. It should be a hoot, and provide lots of fun stories and pictures, and you can read all about it here. As the plans are confirmed I will post specific info here.

In other news: before I started this blog, I had a blog of sorts on my MySpace page. I didn't update it as regularly as I do this one---I'm not sure why, but for some reason I'm more likely to post here. Anyway, if you just can't get enough of my musings, you can find more of them there.