[thechat] Blue Moon Oasis' first gig

[Joel D Canfield]

Played our very first gig last night, and it was a raging success. We
played through our last break, got called back for two encores, and got
a 20% tip from the owner and an invitation to play again.

Played at a really nice steak house in historic Colusa (they have a
large bar for after the restaurant closes at 9:00.) Colusa being Colusa,
Bud (Duncan, guitar, fiddle, keyboards, vocals) had put together a set
list that leaned way toward country (his father is in the Country Music
Hall of Fame, so he's familiar with western swing and all that.)

We noticed as we started playing that folks were reacting better to the
few rock tunes we did in the first set, so as we started the second, Bud
just yelled, "You wanna hear country, or you wanna hear rock?" As if it
were prepared, the whole crowd yelled back "ROCK!"

So, Bud and Dan (Walsh, other guitarist) got to scream through "Voodoo
Chile", wherein I just hammer on one string on the bass with my thumb,
and they trade licks for ten minutes. Bud kicked out the drummer for a
bit, and we did the James Gang's "Funk 49", with a phenomenal drum solo
from Bud and some pretty snappy synchronized runs from Dan and I.

Bud and Dan are the two best guitarists I've ever played with, and we
all seem to click. Well enough, in fact, that at one point, Bud took
over the lead from Dan, and started yelling different chord changes at
us. We played along and turned out a pretty tight number, which Bud
announced afterwards was a Blue Moon Oasis original. Now, I know Bud has
written two albums of original material, but I hadn't played that one
before. He said, "Yeah, 'cause we wrote it on the spot."

Our only weak spot was the substitute drummer. He's not bad, but he's no
Bob Gonzalez (as with Bud and Dan, Bob is the finest drummer I've ever
played with.) I'm really looking forward to having the whole band
together when we play The Refuge on St. Patrick's Day, four weeks after
I return from Ireland.

Photos at http://BlueMoonOasis.com/gigs.asp (oh; and while you're there,
the recording quality on the MP3s is horrible; slapped together real
quick in Bud's living room so Danielle at The Refuge Steak House in
Colusa could hear Bud's fiddle playing. We can do better, honest, and we
will as soon as I'm back home.)

joel