RBC Band News: online!

I'm not one to lie about things, and I'm the first one to admit I'm wrong.

I was wrong for a number of reasons on Friday night.

First, my wire wasn't properly plugged in. Therefore, there was no sound for "Get Ready" and the all important intro (and more) of "I Want You Back". I thank Greg for playing that part well by himself.

I was the last one to adjust the amp and probably knocked my own wire loose just enough to not have sound.
So that was my own fault.

Second, I apologize for drowning you out when I did come in.
Greg and I were way too loud last night. It's hard to imagine how the amp got turned up accidently to 10. But it happened. It could have been when someone carried it. It could very well have been me. We don't know for sure. But it got cranked up. No matter what, it's our responsibility to check cause... STUFF HAPPENS.

***Just a reminder to everyone not to go two feet near any electrical equipment before a show. I try to stay away from my own equipment. I know how things go wrong a little too well.

Could anything have been done to make this situation better?

Answer: Absolutely.

After I tapped a key and nothing came out of the amp, Greg and I got Nick's attention by telling him not to start the show. Nick thought it'd be better to start because in a competition setting we can't wait around.

This is true.

HOWEVER, we did not have to rush into it like we did.
We talked to Mr. Powers after the show. It was established that in a game situation, especially, it would be okay to wait a minute for the pit to finish setting up. We did things a little differently last night. We came onto the field from the opposite side. I had to set up the entire keyboard on the field and not in advance like I normally do. (I will always set up in advance before a competition)

The drum majors now know that they can't say that the band is ready when they're clearly not. Even if it makes us look bad. It's 10 times worse when an instrument isn't playing at all because we didn't wait an extra minute.

So back to apologies.
Most importantly, I'd like to apologize for being sarcastic to Adrienne before we started the third number. This is kind of what happened.

Adrienne : "Pit are you ready?"
Sarcastic Sam: "OH YES. GO AHEAD. IT'S A GREAT SHOW!!!"

By this point I was very angry with everything that happened, and I was venting my frustration. Unfortunately it was at Adrienne. And the show, actually, wasn't too bad besides my obvious problem.

But I can't do that during a competition. The judges will be like, "Okay, why is your keyboardist flipping out???"

So I'm sorry. I just got caught up in the moment.
And I apologize to Juls too, who had the great advantage of playing drums those first two numbers and seeing me rush around trying to find what was wrong, and just seeing me act like an idiot, in general.

I just wanted to discuss all of this so everyone is clear on what happened and what could have been done about it. Hopefully everyone learned that such a thing can happen during the show, and that you need to work around it. Find out what's wrong and fix it if it's your problem. Continue the show at all costs. At the beginning, I was playing an unplugged keyboard. It took me a song and a 1/2, but I finally came back. (good thing, too, because it was in time for ABC !)

It's better to make these mistakes now and not later. Get them out of the way and move on.
It's in the past now.

Let's get ready for Sunday.