Each piece is a potential thing to be forgotten - Forgotten picks or straps; forgotten song sheets... directions to the gig, the time slot of the gig, the merchandise, Forgotten cables or stands... a monitor or a main, a mixing board... an amp... a guitar...
One time, we drove all the way to the gig, 2.5 hrs. away, and I forgot to bring a mic stand. Fortunately, we had Joe's drum kit and some duct tape. We taped the microphone to a cymbal stand and Joe went with one less cymbal. We didn't have room for it anyway, right? Actually, the stage was so narrow that we could barely fit the bass drum, and we had to climb up a ladder to get up onto it.
I've forgotten to bring my guitar; I've forgotten to take my guitar home. Lucky to have a girlfriend to call and bring it to me on the first one. Lucky that people were honest on the second. When I left my guitar behind at the New World Brewery over night once, I returned the next day to find it unharmed, sitting under the scaffolding with every sticker and string still in tact. I'm told that a few PBR sipping hipsters took it for a strum in between foosball matches...
In another crazy moment of brain fart, I actually forgot that I had a gig. I'm walking through Wal-mart at 9:30pm on a Tuesday and I get a call from the manager, "Where the hell are you? You were supposed to start 30 minutes ago!" Whoops. What can I say? I don't usually play Tuesday nights...
Forgetting things is one problem, but what's even worse for the ego is forgetting ideas and thoughts. See, with things, you can usually call your girlfriend to save you, or you can improvise your way out of it. Forgetting ideas however, usually results in an ego tragedy. Like for instance: forgetting the lyrics. My mind has drawn a complete blank on lyrics to my own songs a time or two, and quite often on the hundreds of other artists that I may cover in any given 4 hour gig. Over the years though, I've learned that people aren't really listening for the most part and repeating the first verse is an easy trick to getting away with it. If you forget the bridge just repeat the verse and chorus with a smile. Whatever. People know all the words to very few songs generally. Of course, how much you forget dictates the severity of your potential train wreck, and whether or not you are recording...
But one thing you can't really recover from is when you forget the melody to the song. And you're the lead singer...
Which leads me to one thing I will never forget: The first time I bombed in front of a huge audience. I was going to sing a song for my church congregation of a few hundred folks. I was still young, 12 yrs old and very green as a performer. This was a huge step for me because at the time, I was mostly introverted with performing. I had only played in front of a few friends and close family. I had written my own song, and I was scheduled to perform at the end of the service. Backstage prior, I was warming up my voice and preparing. I had just bought a capo from the music store, which for you non-guitar players, allows one to easily transpose songs into higher pitches. I tried it out on the song, and because it raised the pitch higher, I was forced to sing the song a little harder and with what felt like more conviction. So, I decided to go for it - I would sing the song in the new, higher key. But once I got out there, I forgot my note...
I searched for it and searched for it, bouncing from note to note like a moaner getting a massage. My desperation to remember the melody cascaded into an onslaught of self-doubt and subsequent lack of effort that comes over a person who publicly accepts defeat... I powered through the song with a face as red as a mid-life crisis corvette and hands shaking like a chihuahua. When it was finished, (even though my loving and supportive congregation showered me with applause) I knew the inferior quality of my performance, and I walked off the stage in shame - my head held low to the ground.
Afterwards, the great consoler that is my mother came to meet me and asked, "What happened? Halfway through the song your face got red and then you held your head down the whole time?"
"I couldn't find my note. I forgot the way the song was supposed to go." I replied in embarrassment.
"Well next time don't be such a baby about it. Don't be awkward. Be confident, and no one will ever know that you have no idea what you're doing."
Of course, these are great words of wisdom to live by. Besides, I was 12 - all I had to do was chalk it up to puberty.
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