I have worked at the various mechanics of this performance for quite a while, so I didn’t have a lot of anxiety over execution
This seemed like a good opportunity for me to start working at separating the The Ramone live performance form Live karaoke
I want the stage performance to become a review of the cultural impact of The Ramones
The word “Review” having two different connotations

The traditional definition for review is “A type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance, and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own during its golden years from 1916 to 1932.”

In my case, “music” is Ramones and the “sketches” are the snippets of video that I use in the transitions of the set (I’m still figuring out the dance part)
There is also a modern connotation of the word in that I see it as a review of The Ramones akin to what you would see on Youtube, hear on a podcast or read in a book
This is an attempt to approach the subject less from a traditional tribute band platform and steer it towards a One Man Show

This was the first performance where I employed the video as transition-intro to certain songs, plus the opening montage
I only had 30 minutes so I just rifled through the set
One of the things I learned recently was to give the audience a little time to applaud
I decided that the video segments were ample time for the audience to clap

The setup was quick but I got constructive criticism from the sound man (sorry, I forget everyone’s names when I am in setup-anxiety mode)who told me my tracks
coming out of the Roland P-10 Visual Sampler were too low and I should bring up the volume
That point was re-affirmed by my friend Carson who said that there was a hum during the quiet-er parts
I explained the volume deficiency and how it was probably because he had to work to get a decent gain level

I am using my own monitor coming out of a small mixer next to the video sampler because I have discovered an interesting thing about my hearing when onstage
I need different settings in my monitor over the course of a show and there simple wasn’t any time for me to keep asking the board for different EQ settings
My earbuds are still broken and I need to fix them as soon as I get the cash
Once they get fixed, I will be able to ditch the monitor and run everything through my in ears
The only thing I will need is my guitar through the monitor for feedback purposes
The majority of mistakes I made were as a result of me trying to adjust my monitors during a song
That’s when I fumble a chord or forget where I am
I need to train myself to fix those things at the end of a song and just work through it
The one and only monitor issue is the vocals and that is mostly because my voice is not in shape enough to project correctly at all the different pitches and dynamics
I currently have a headset mic running through a DOD Vocal processor but that is only for muting purposes (if I have to cough or there is a spike in feedback)
The only “effect” right now is the limiter to prevent feedback
That headset mic can be a little “whistle-y” and is not really designed for loud stage environment
I need to get someone with some knowledge to set an EQ for me
I also appreciate that the sound guy pointed out that I was a little too long getting my stuff off stage and I reflected that I was a little too disorganized in my breakdown
It’s mostly because of cables I need to tripe them together
They got all twisted around during setup and it took extra time for me to get everything untangled
My “send” cables from the guitar and mic are all triped together, I need to do the same with my other connectors

As far as the performance itself went, I had a good crowd during the beginning of the show which was half comprised of the friends of the bands and other customers
People seemed to enjoy the concept and it was fun to watch peoples’ faces as they realized what I was doing
I could even see people on the sidewalk stopping and watching what I was doing through the open bay door
They all seemed to be discussing what I was doing and pointing at the screen as they were watching, which is a great sign that the concept translated all the way out to the street
The crowd size ebbed and flowed but all in all I think it was a pretty good showing for the opening slot on a 4 band bill

I learned some new things to adjust and tested out some new concepts
Unfortunately, I got distracted when I set up the video camera
I turned it on but did not press record
This is frustrating because I have yet to get an entire performance that turned out well on video
There is only a small snippet of this show taken by Carson

My goals are to record the bass track for the new set of backing track videos and build a much deeper catalog for longer sets and Live Ramones Karaoke
The next thing is to book more gigs ASAP!