Seattle Week
Seattle has been coming up a lot in conversation lately, so I got to thinking about that Casino Royale week-long "tour" we did up there back in 2004.
We flew north super early, arrived around 9:30am, and checked into our hotel right on Pike Street downtown. But no time to dilly dally - we had a gig at noon right in Westlake Park as part of the summer "Out to Lunch" concert series.
The stage was completely backlined so all we had to do was show up and play to the randos wandering around. At this point I've been in the band long enough that I felt confident going down the set list without any prior thought or preparation. However, I noticed that we were aiming to do "We Gotta Get Out of This Place" by the Animals. I had never done that one live, but I figured I could wing it. When that came up, I dialed in an organ sound and asked what key we were doing this in. G? Cool.
Wes counted it off at a shocking tempo and then the horns started in with a jaunty pickup. Wait. What the hell is this? Oh! I misread the set list. The intended song was "We Gotta Get Out of This Town" by Nancy Sinatra. The funny thing is.. I knew this song existed, but I hadn't ever heard it in my entire life! Oops. My reaction was to act like I had a break on this tune and went to get a beverage. When the others grilled me later I explained what happened. Ha ha!
They didn't give me too much grief about it because.. did I mention it was my birthday? For dinner the whole gang went to the nearby Cheesecake Factory. I ate an oversized burger and drank too many beers. Of course my bandmates had to tell the wait staff so I was serenaded with "Happy Birthday" as I was served celebratory cheesecake for dessert. Despite the queasy stomach a bunch of us wandered up to the Space Needle and back, bar hopping along the way.
The next day was another outdoor public gig in Renton. We had to backline this ourselves and spent the day scraping together gear from local friends. The PA was problematic. There were minimal monitors so I had to share one fifteen feet away. Then that one failed so for half the set I was flying blind. But I'm a pro and know where my fingers are supposed to go so as long as I can hear the drums, bass, and guitar, I was golden.
We had nothing on the books the following night, but since this was back when all the members of the Fuxedos were also in Casino Royale, there was an impromptu Fux set done at an open-mic at the Liquid Lounge. Danny packed in as much chaos as possible within 10 minutes.
The next night we had a big show playing the party at the end of a National Governor's Convention at the Experience Music Project in Seattle. Being a high profile political event including 60% of the nation's governors, all band members needed to be cleared by the FBI. Naturally we did this well in advance, so I expected my arrival at the venue to be straightforward.
However as we loaded in I found they put the wrong name on my security badge (they printed the name of a former band member by accident). No problem, but their policy was such that they had to run a fresh background check on me before I could enter. This happened while I waited in the security check zone (and the national guardsmen with rifles stood by).
The agent only needed my SS# and then he got to work on his little computer while my fellow musicians easily went through security. They pointed and laughed at me through the windows from inside as I waited for the results. I joked with the agent, who was a nice enough guy, about what he's reading on the laptop screen just out of my view.
All clear. I was relieved I still got to play this gig, but slightly sad I never did get to find out what random notes the FBI has chosen to database about me. By the way Arnie, who was the California governator at the time, was a no-show.
After the big convention gig we had another day off, so we planned a band dinner - a pot luck of sorts which we assembled in our separate hotel kitchens. My offering were some pork chops which I grilled on the stove unaware at first as the room filled with smoke due to lack of ventilation. In a panic I opened the windows and waved pillows around to circulate the air, fearing the alarms and sprinklers would go off any second. They didn't. Yeesh that could've been a disaster.
Susan booked a solo show in the area that evening. A bunch of us learned her tunes in advance so she had a backing band. That was good fun, and for an encore we did "Hard to Handle" during which I played the best keyboard solo I've ever taken on that tune.
On the last day we had another public outdoor gig, in the parking lot of a mall next to a large Crate & Barrel store. There was a shade over the stage to protect everybody from exposure, except for me as I stood over to the side in direct line of the late afternoon sun. Luckily Dan had an umbrella which he opened and propped up and affixed to a boom stand to save me. Sweet.
So we were contracted to play until 8:15pm. Our flights at SeaTac 20 miles south of there were scheduled to depart at 9:30pm. Fearless bandleader Scrote organized taxis from the stage to be waiting for us as soon as we ended. Luggage was perched next to the stage and ready to go. We scrambled to change out of our costumes between parked cars and then fled the scene. By some miracle there was no traffic, no lines at the check in desk, no lines at security, and we ran to our gates just before boarding started. Amazing.
Once on the plane a stewardess picked up our group vibe and asked if we were a band. We said yes, and this was enough to impress her. So during regular takeoff announcements she told everybody on board, "and in the back we have Casino Royale flying with us." And then she hooked us up with free drinks. Nothing like that has even remotely happened ever on the zillion flights I've taken with original bands.