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Sven Erik Seaholm: “(At) the Spirit Club one ne night, I got pretty excited during a performance there and being that I had a wireless guitar setup, I flew off the elevated stage and into the crowd. Except that I forgot that they had their stage monitors mounted on the ceiling. I was violently reminded of that hard fact as my forehead smacked the corner of one immediately after leaping upward. The momentum of my lower body continued its upward arc until I was out over the crowd and exactly horizontal to the floor, at which point I dropped like a stone, 8 to 10 feet down. Amazingly, I was totally unharmed by the 'fall' and actually continued to play throughout the incident, finishing the song and returning to the stage. I was feeling pretty rock star about playing it all off, until some guy yelled out "How's your head?", followed by about 1 and a half minutes of the loudest roomful of laughter one could ever imagine.”
Stoney B (Stoney B Blues Band): “I remember playing at The Kingston Mines in Chicago. I was there with my band playing a hot solo of the Blues. I was really into it, and I sometimes play with my eyes closed. While playing , I heard the crowd yelling & screaming. I knew that I was "on" with my solo because it even sounded good to me. Little did I know that my speaker was on fire! My drummer screamed at me " Stoney look behind you " When I turned around my speaker was a blaze. I stopped playing as the crowd was still screaming. I've never even heard of anything like that happening to anybody. I unpluged my amp and put my guitar jack into the house PA, and kept on playing !! Yes, the club got a little smokey…”
Lindsay White: “I hosted a monthly showcase at a Downtown Bar & Grill and it was a tough one. If anyone was ever listening, they were either on the lineup or asking you to play Sweet Home Alabama. They soon installed what I'll call a "Wheel-O-Binge-Drinking" and that's when things got really bad. Once a guy got so drunk spinning that wheel, he threw up about 5 feet from me while I was mid-song. Now I always joke that my music literally made someone sick, although I'm pretty sure it was the wheel.”
Serge Belongie (SO3): "Our shows at the Leucadian in San Diego were always a fun time. One night in particular a large, tattooed, and inspiringly inebriated gentleman wasn't quite ready for the music to stop. He came to the band with tears running down his cheeks and told us that his brother had just passed away. He needed one more song. We couldn't turn down such a request and played on! The man began to dance like no one was watching. To add to the drama he began undressing himself, down to nothing. I'm not one to judge, if the music inspires so be it. To top it off he came by and gave me a sweaty naked hug as a thank you."
Danny Green: “A few years ago, I was hired to play piano for a harbor cruise. They had an electric grand piano, so I was thrilled that I didn't need to load any equipment on and off the boat. The first thing I noticed when I sat down at the piano was that the keys were kind of salty. Not the ideal situation, but not a big deal. Then I started to play and the piano would only sound one note at a time. I spent a while working on this, and finally fixed it. I then noticed the right pedal was messed up. I had to press it once to sustain the notes, and again to release the sustain. To make matters worse, when I pressed the left pedal, a bossa nova drum beat started playing. So all this happened before the party began. About 15 minutes into the party, we're already out to sea, and a drunk woman comes up to me and says, "I can play piano!" She sits down next to me and places her wine glass on the piano and within about 5 seconds the boat rocked and her wine spilled into the piano. The piano fried (since it was electric) and that was the end of the gig for me. I still got paid and got to hang out at the party for the next three hours, watching the crew try to fix the piano with a hair dryer.”
Sven Erik Seaholm: “(At) the Spirit Club one ne night, I got pretty excited during a performance there and being that I had a wireless guitar setup, I flew off the elevated stage and into the crowd. Except that I forgot that they had their stage monitors mounted on the ceiling. I was violently reminded of that hard fact as my forehead smacked the corner of one immediately after leaping upward. The momentum of my lower body continued its upward arc until I was out over the crowd and exactly horizontal to the floor, at which point I dropped like a stone, 8 to 10 feet down. Amazingly, I was totally unharmed by the 'fall' and actually continued to play throughout the incident, finishing the song and returning to the stage. I was feeling pretty rock star about playing it all off, until some guy yelled out "How's your head?", followed by about 1 and a half minutes of the loudest roomful of laughter one could ever imagine.”
Stoney B (Stoney B Blues Band): “I remember playing at The Kingston Mines in Chicago. I was there with my band playing a hot solo of the Blues. I was really into it, and I sometimes play with my eyes closed. While playing , I heard the crowd yelling & screaming. I knew that I was "on" with my solo because it even sounded good to me. Little did I know that my speaker was on fire! My drummer screamed at me " Stoney look behind you " When I turned around my speaker was a blaze. I stopped playing as the crowd was still screaming. I've never even heard of anything like that happening to anybody. I unpluged my amp and put my guitar jack into the house PA, and kept on playing !! Yes, the club got a little smokey…”
Lindsay White: “I hosted a monthly showcase at a Downtown Bar & Grill and it was a tough one. If anyone was ever listening, they were either on the lineup or asking you to play Sweet Home Alabama. They soon installed what I'll call a "Wheel-O-Binge-Drinking" and that's when things got really bad. Once a guy got so drunk spinning that wheel, he threw up about 5 feet from me while I was mid-song. Now I always joke that my music literally made someone sick, although I'm pretty sure it was the wheel.”
Serge Belongie (SO3): "Our shows at the Leucadian in San Diego were always a fun time. One night in particular a large, tattooed, and inspiringly inebriated gentleman wasn't quite ready for the music to stop. He came to the band with tears running down his cheeks and told us that his brother had just passed away. He needed one more song. We couldn't turn down such a request and played on! The man began to dance like no one was watching. To add to the drama he began undressing himself, down to nothing. I'm not one to judge, if the music inspires so be it. To top it off he came by and gave me a sweaty naked hug as a thank you."
Danny Green: “A few years ago, I was hired to play piano for a harbor cruise. They had an electric grand piano, so I was thrilled that I didn't need to load any equipment on and off the boat. The first thing I noticed when I sat down at the piano was that the keys were kind of salty. Not the ideal situation, but not a big deal. Then I started to play and the piano would only sound one note at a time. I spent a while working on this, and finally fixed it. I then noticed the right pedal was messed up. I had to press it once to sustain the notes, and again to release the sustain. To make matters worse, when I pressed the left pedal, a bossa nova drum beat started playing. So all this happened before the party began. About 15 minutes into the party, we're already out to sea, and a drunk woman comes up to me and says, "I can play piano!" She sits down next to me and places her wine glass on the piano and within about 5 seconds the boat rocked and her wine spilled into the piano. The piano fried (since it was electric) and that was the end of the gig for me. I still got paid and got to hang out at the party for the next three hours, watching the crew try to fix the piano with a hair dryer.”