Yesterday my good friend Drew "Junior" Davis and I competed in the Long Island Blues Society's talent contest, trying to earn the right to compete as the LIBS's representatives in the 2016 IBC.
We didn't win, and I was pretty disappointed. But I was fairly happy with our performance, even though we made a few mistakes. This was our first real gig, so I think future shows will sound even better.
Long Island Blues Society member Mike Osip filmed us and posted some of it on YouTube. He films lots of Long Island live music and other cultural events; his YouTube channel is like a "what's happening on Long Island." If you have Long Island roots you should look him up on YT.
Here are the first three songs for your (hopefully) enjoyment:
Thanks 1847! We made a few mistakes, but we only rehearsed a few times prior to playing in the contest. This is actually the first gig we ever did in front of other people.
As far as Custard Pie goes, I have recordings of him doing the same song as "custard pie" and as "tater pie". The music and lyrics are basically the same. I don't know why he switched from doing one to the other. Maybe Gary (Sonny Jr.) might know?
Thanks Owen! I was happy with how we played but you are right, we could have definitely "worked it" a little harder in terms of building a rapport with the audience. Got to keep it in mind for next year's competition.
I wondered when somebody would notice those! ?? I'm wearing a foot tambourine on my left foot - it just straps on with an elastic strap. It's pretty loud.
The right foot has a set of shakers attached to a footplate that I fabricated at work. I was just going to duct-tape a piece of wood to my foot, but I found these shakers and liked the sound. They were held together with rivets, so I unfastened the rivers and bent up small metal struts to attach the shakers to. I riveted those onto the plastic footplate and glued shoe soling material on the bottom. Added a couple of straps to hold it on well, and I can either tap or stomp my foot to get a softer or stronger drum sound. Basically, it gives the thud of my foot and the shakers give an almost kind of snare drum like sound.
It definitely looks a little weird though. So you are right, it probably significantly diminishes my chances with the ladies. Being married though, that's probably better. My wife didn't force me to wear it, but she probably doesn't mind either. ??
Our local chapter of the IBC just finished the first Huntington Blues Challenge. Anyone wanting to WIN needs to concentrate n how things are scored. There are 5 categories. You are scored 1 to 10. Different categories have different multipliers. All points are added for final score.
1) BLUES content, (multiplier 4) make sure it's blues. 2) playing skill (multiplier 3) 3) vocal (multiplier 3) 4) originality (multiplier 2) 5) stage presence (multiplier 2)
Jim, I definitely wish I had put more thought into all that. Using that scoring rubric, I would grade my performance as follows (I have not seen what the judges scored us, this is just my self-evaluation after the fact):
BLUES CONTENT: we probably did well on this one. All of the songs are actual blues songs and we had some different grooves. And we didn't play the overworked "Sweet Home Chicago", "Hoochie Koochie Man", or "Got My Mojo Working" like some of the bands did. So I think we should have earned 8 out of 10 or above on this criterion.
PLAYING SKILL: Now here's where we lost some points. We botched a couple of the endings (not horribly, but a musician would know) and in one case the guitarist inexplicably changed keys for a few seconds in one of the songs. My harp playing I'd give myself an 8, but overall we probably got 6 out 10 here when you factor in that we lacked tightness.
VOCAL: I'd give myself about a 5 out of 10 here... I sing okay, but I have more of a bar band voice than one you'd want to record. Mostly I growl and shout, I can't sing anything smoothly. This one seems the most subjective to me. Maybe you like my voice, maybe you don't. It's a toss-up.
ORIGINALITY: nothing we did was particularly original at all, so we could have gotten a 2 here for all I know. The judges were pro rock and pop musicians, so I don't know that I'd get any credit for changing the arrangements on any of the songs. I was the only musician using foot percussion, but maybe that might get me a half a point? One other duo wrote a song just for the competition and made sure everyone knew it. So we probably took a beating here.
STAGE PRESENCE: I'm pretty sure I got hammered on the stage presence part of the equation too. I made the mistake of asking how much time we had left, and then acknowledging that I had seen the timekeeper's card once she showed it. My guitarist told me to smile more, but it is hard to do when singing and playing harmonica! At least I found it hard to find the time to smile, my mouth was always busy. We could have gotten anywhere from a 2 to a 6 for this criterion.
Just a follow-up for those of who gave opinions, etc. in this thread. So they sent us our scores and comment sheets. I didn't know we were entitled to receive them, so I figure that gives me a good chance to learn something.
The four judges were semi-anonymous, listed by colors.
Mr. Pink rated us 9 on Blues Content, 9 on instrumental talent, 7 on vocal talent, 7 on originality, and 6 on stage presence.
Mr. Black rated us 9 on Blues Content, 7 on instrumental talent, 7 on vocal talent, 7 on originality, and 6 on stage presence.
Mr. Purple rated us 7 on Blues Content, 7 on instrumental talent, 6 on vocal talent, 6 on originality, and 6 on stage presence.
finally, Mr. Red dug us... He rated us 10 on Blues Content, 10 on instrumental talent, 9 on vocal talent, 9 on originality, and 10 on stage presence.
some of the comments:
Pink - "Great Harmonica. Solid guitarist. Enjoyable; Real old sound blues in a good way!"
Black - "Singing so far off the mic made the vocal thin sounding. The shoe percussion timing was way off, made the duo sound un-tight. Good vocal, good harmonica."
Purple - no comments
Red - "Bill you play one SWEET harp. Great Energy, Great connection, Great presence. All-around awesome!"
We did better than I thought on some of the categories (vocal, stage presence, originality) and I was surprised at some other scores (like the one judge that gave us a 7 on Blues content). I imagine the judges at the actual IBC would be much harsher, though.
