Last night my band ICED INK played at the Fine Line Music Cafe in Minneapolis. When I read or hear the term "music cafe", the first image that comes to my mind is a waitress coming to my table with a plate full of CDs for me to slice up and eat. "Mmm... this Crash Test Dummies disc is quite delicious - try some with A1!" Speaking of eating music, I remember watching the show "Real People" when I was a kid all the time, and one particular episode featured a guy that ate weird stuff. One of the weird things he ate was a record album. He also ate light bulbs.. and a bicycle; tires and all, but I digress...
Bodies are weird things to be trapped in, especially when you’re performing. Medication was a topic of conversation last night while we were listening to the other band's soundcheck... Prozac, beta blockers, all that other good stuff. I have never been fortunate enough (ha ha!) to digest such things, but it got me thinking as I was up on the stage: is there a pill that you can take so you don't sweat so damn much? Christ. All I do is sweat. Usually there's hot stage lights to blame, but not in this case. The temperature of the venue was actually quite cool. There was absolutely no real reason for me to be perspiring; yet halfway through the 3rd song of our set, I saw water drops appearing on the body of my guitar. Several of them - courtesy of my sweaty head. I was not feeling the least bit hot, yet was perspiring like a madman. I hardly ever get nervous when performing (if at all) these days.. maybe any nerves I would have had somehow figured out how to leave my body in a sweaty mess rather than shaky hands or forgetting my guitar parts?
They say sweating is a natural air conditioner for the body, which is fine, but I really don't need it if I'm not feeling hot or feverish. Are you listening, Body?? I appreciate your concern to keep me at a comfortable room temperature at all times, but sometimes I'm already there and you're doing all that work for nothing. All you're doing is making me more thirsty, god dammit!
The show went great and a good time was had by all. I told the audience we were raffling a turkey off on the band's website. This was incredibly false information. If you are a fan that happens to be reading this and has high hopes of winning that turkey, sorry, Buck-o. There's no tooth fairy or Santa Claus, either.
Cell phones: can't live with em, can't throw them on the floor and stomp them into little bits and pieces when you get a less than desirable call that you probably shouldn't have answered right before your band sound checks.
