6/14/2025, Planets in the Ocean at Darrell's

Cool and delicious poster

Chris from Strong Suit offered up this gig a few weeks ago, with us and a band I'd never heard of called Miraco. It was on the same day as Haley's graduation, but since that happened during the day and we were headlining at Darrell's that night, I figured it would be OK. I ran it by Marci and booked it with Chris.

Over the next few weeks, I had forgotten about it but then realized that it was a thing and falling on graduation day. Trouble was that graduation was happening in Bellingham, and the show was in Shoreline. So there was a little drama, but ultimately we worked it out.

Headed to Bham around noon on Saturday, with an additional 40 minute delay thanks to 405N being closed, so everyone and their sister routed through our neighborhood. A quick stop at Trader Joe's for lunch and flowers, and then we were up in Bham an hour and a half later.

The grad ceremony was nice and quick and I was quite proud and happy to see Hay graduate with her fellow students. We met up for pix and some downtime at her house later, before heading to dinner at a local brewery.

After dinner, I booked it down to Shoreline, about an hour south. Traffic was light and I arrived a little before 9pm, just in time for Strong Suit to start their set.

I had asked the other bassists to share gear but Strong Suit's bassist was borrowing Miraco's bassist's gear. And Miraco's bassist said he had to get home to tend to his dog, so I was left hanging. I ended up bringing my Peavey MiniMax and my Avatar 210 as it was small enough to travel with.

Strong Suit took the stage and I guess it had been a minute since they played out. They had Andy Stoller subbing for Keith Ash on bass and I guess they had a sub on guitar as well. They played a shorter set and then played a cover of "Everyday People" with some guest stars (Kim V; a guy named Wanz who was on Mackelmore's "Thrift Shop" song) for backing vox.

Strong Suit and friends

After SS came Miraco. Two guys had big cowboy hats on and they definitely exuded some modern country vibes, but really, it was more alt-rock with some twangy overtones. Very solid crew of musicians. I do wish they had some harmony vocals as I think the songs would have greatly benefitted from it, but only the lead singer sang; they didn't even have a second mic set up for anyone.

Miraco

Miraco finished a nice set and vacated the stage. For both of the bands that played, there was a nice turnout. Since Darrell's still does old school start times (music at 9/10/11), that meant no one was sticking around for us unless they were there to see us. We at least had Barry and his guitarist from Miraco, Chris and Kim, and then I had Dennis and Marta, Christian (old coworker), Jim (new coworker), as well as our friends from Square Peg (the Steves, Dan and Bob). Our "superfans" Derrick and Monica were there, as well as Ted L and whatever other stragglers stuck around.

I set up my gear in the bathroom corner so I wouldn't be in direct fire of Robb's amp, but of course I didn't get a picture of the stuff. I rolled with just Goldie this time and was a little nervous as Miraco's guitarist broke a string on his first strum, but, like a pro, had his second guitar right next to him and on within 16 bars. Due to space constraints, I traveled with one bass, but it ended up being just fine.

We started our set a little before 11 and we've been tearing the roof off joints because, weirdly, we've been the heaviest band the past two shows. I almost feel sorry for the listeners because we are REALLY LOUD. But I guess that's the sound guy's fault (or Robb's ears??)?

Due to some drama after graduation earlier, and maybe residual emotion/feelings from that, I decided I had no Fs to give. I played with some energy and excitement, more so than usual. I went for it when singing because of that, but also because I couldn't really hear myself. I think I hit most of my notes, and there definitely were some clams up in there, but I had fun and I didn't care too much.

2/3rds of Planets, sorry Cass

As always with playing, it felt long and quick at the same time. I'd look down at my setlist and see we had 3 songs or so left, even though I felt like we'd been up there for awhile. And then I'd look again and we were done.

People were quite complimentary. I always love the vocal comments as for me, it's always a work-in-progress. Steve asked (not for the first time) what we do to get our vocals so dialed in. I sort of shrugged; we just do it. It helps that when Robb sends out a demo, he usually has layered vox, so I just pick one that stands out to me and work on that. Bass Steve was complimentary and constructive about his comments; I always trust what he says and appreciate his support for coming out and really listening.

Derrick shot video and I'm sure he'll be posting in the next day or so. His wife fell on stage coming over to grab set lists; I only heard it, didn't see it, but she was OK, thankfully.

Next up is the Central in about 3 weeks with Sunset Grooves. We are working on some 80's songs as it's 80's night, I guess. Stay tuned...

5/31/2025, PITO at Slim's Last Chance

Upon writing this, I realize it's been literally a month since my last gig. Seems so long ago, but also like it just happened. For Planets, though, it's been since early March, which is a pretty long hiatus for now.

Not a bad thing to have some time off, though; we were planning on rehearsing earlier in May to get dialed in for this show. Unfortunately, Robb's mother-in-law, Rose, had some health issues to where they brought in hospice for help. She seemed to bounce back after a few days, which had them thinking it was simply a flu, but a week or so later, she regressed and unfortunately passed.

Needless to say, Cass and I stood down for a few weeks. We've played together so long that even if we just showed up at the gig unrehearsed, we'd be fine. That said, we finally got back to a quick rehearsal on Thursday and it was just fine.

Last night, we headlined at Slim's in Georgetown. Last time we played there was in 2023, outdoors on the flatbed, with about 10 people in the crowd. Hoping for a better turnout this time. I was backlining my gear and brought the Avatar 212 and my new-to-me Peavey MiniMax 600.

I can't remember if I mentioned it before, but I have an Ashdown ABM300 amp that was given to me for free as it wasn't working. In September of 2023, I took it to a local tech guy who had fixed my Trace when it was acting up. Fast forward until now, and that guy has ghosted me. As a result of posting about that drama on TalkBass, a kind fellow offered up his Peavey to me as he didn't like it (fan was too loud). I took him up on his offer and let it be the backline amp for the night.

I showed up around 6:30. Cass was already there and Robb pulled up with his friend Chris as I loaded in. Surprisingly enough, for a downbeat of 8pm, I think all the other bands' members were already there. Talk about punctual!

Due to cooler weather (despite the two previous days being around 80°F), we had to play indoors, where there's a small stage in the corner. The sound guy was setting up his cabling, so we let him have a few minutes before getting the backline on stage.

After getting set up, there was no sound check so we just shot the breeze. I didn't have dinner, and I'd heard the cheeseburgers were good, but I got sticker shock: $23.50 or so for a cheeseburger, so I passed and got the wings instead. A little overdone and over sauced, but at least I got some food down in a timely fashion.

At 8pm, the Jon Hyde band took the stage. A tight little five-piece, playing some good ol' singer-songwriter type rock and roll. Jon with a black Rick, a guy named Bruce on keys, a guy named Kaben (who goes by Buzz as well) on a short-scale Danelectro (!), and another guy named James singing backs, playing acoustic and harmonica. And, my boy Perry from way back on drums. They played a nice set of songs that were quite enjoyable and nice. I do wish the sound guy had dialed the vocals up a bit; as Jon would talk between songs, I couldn't really hear him. Singing was only a little better.

My bass amp did great. The Danelectro sounded tight and articulate and definitely held its own in the mix. I was pleased with what I heard.

The bassist is back in the corner.

After Jon's band came the Rallies. Planets has played with them a few times now. Great band, great tunes, great dudes. I've gotten friendly with their bassist, Ben, who plays an olympic white/tortiseshell P and it sounded great in the amp. He's a really tasty player as well, pulling off some great lines with this band. Their drummer, Lee, is fantastic: he's powerful and dynamic, with a solid foundation for the band. Brian on lead guitar is new to the band, but he played great. I was really struck by how good he was. Not super flash, but everything he played was just right and I loved it. Steve played acoustic and sang and he's got the frontman looks. All around awesome band.

The Rallies

We got on the stage soon. I was able to see my friends show up, including my old pal, Aaron (it was his birthday), my gen Z co-worker Ruthie and her two friends, another old music friend Andi and her partner Alan (who is one of Cass' college pals). A bunch of the people that were there for the other two bands filed out before we played, which we sort of expected, so it was nice to have some other people take their place.

We were also super loud. I think Robb may have some high-end hearing difficulties. He's played music forever and I don't know how good his ear protection routine has been over the years. His tone is usually pretty bright and up front and even with my earplugs in, it seemed loud to me. The first two bands definitely were loud, but not overly so. All I know is when we started, my bass seemed low, but I didn't want to touch it too much; I don't know if it was due to Robb's guitar being too loud or if I was too close to my rig or if it was my overdrive effects. It wasn't too bad, but I would have liked more to it.

Phil B showed up and took this pic.

Yours truly being overly dramatic

Anyway, I think we played pretty well. The monitor system at the club has the speakers mounted at ear-level. With the speaker firing directly into my right ear, I could definitely hear me and Robb's vocals, but man, it was loud. He was singing crazy loud too, which didn't help. I saw the other bands' singers backing off their mics so I tried to do that as well. Robb said his monitor wasn't too loud, so I think that was why he was right on his mic.

Overall, no colossal screw ups or flubs. Felt good about my playing and singing, and the band's performance. Broke my pick sometime during the set so flipped it around and did my best. Had some great feedback after the gig. People were quite generous with their kind words. I got a chance to talk to Cathy Pants (from Coool Babies and other bands) as well as the other band members. Mike and Amy were gracious and friendly, as always. Just a fun night and a great reminder why I love doing this, even if the band's entire take was $66. With my cut at $22, I lost money as I paid $23 for my wings and Coke. Oh well, it's not the money for me, it's the music and the hang.

Side note: at the end of the night, Cathy saw a drummer's gear under the pool table. Cymbal bag, snare, sticks, all of it. It wasn't Cass' stuff, his was in his car. We put out the texts and it turns out it was Perry's stuff. He had helped Cass load out and forgot to grab his own gear. Haha, good times.