rock lotto.
I played in Moe!'s Rock Lotto last weekend. Participants submit their name and the instrument they play. Then the names are drawn from a hat to form bands. The bands have about a month to write a 20-minute set, and then everyone gets together to rock. Fun times.
I can't say that my band, The Sinking Swimmers, was the best band. I can't even say that we were good. But I can say that we had two things no other band had: band merchandise for sale (t-shirts), and costumes. It turns out that playing bass while wearing a buoyancy compensator is more comfortable than one might expect. Bit sweaty though. The important thing is that our shirts sold out. I'm a marketing genius.
A few of the other bands were great. Most of the players are part of Oakland's wicked experimental scene (I'm pretty sure I was one of the few people there without at least one music degree), so I expected some pretty avant stuff. And there was some, but there was also full-on DEATH METAL. Ah, the band I should have landed in.
I may have mentioned this in the blog already, but I'll say it again: the Bay Area is amazing. We've been here for about a year, and in that time I've met dozens of great musicians and a handful of full-time audio engineers (gasp!), and I've seen a lot of amazing shows. In 15 months, I've been surrounded by more music than than I encountered in 15 years in DC. It's truly inspiring. I always defended DC, but now in contrast I can see that DC kinda sucks musically and socially. Bradee and I keep asking each other "why didn't we move here years ago?".