The road can be a funny place where you have to think on your feet (can I get an Amen?) I want to start a conversation here about odd/hilarious solutions for live gig problems. Here are a small sampling of my experiences:

1. The picture above is a creative fix for the lack of a boom stand. Just recently I was playing in a dance rehearsal room for a charity event benefiting the beautiful Dance Theater of Tennessee. It was a simple low-tech engagement and they had good sound equipment but they didn't have a boom stand (and why should a dance theater know a singer/piano player needs a boom stand instead of a straight stand?). A moment of panic and then an ingenious sound man (I wish I could remember his name) got duct tape and a sponge. Look closely at the picture and you'll see he simply tipped the straight stand over and used the duct tape to secure it with a sponge between it and the metal casing of the keyboard. It wasn't pretty but no one cared... and it worked!

2.  True story from my MTM Records days... The morning van that was supposed to carry my band to the airport after our gig in Phoenix never arrived. Panic set in... then my enterprising band leader conscripted a laundry truck that was picking up at the hotel that moment. For an autographed picture, he drove us to the airport. We had to sit in the back of the van with the bags of dirty laundry - and he had a couple more stops to make before the airport.. but we got there in time for the flight!

3. I used to have a recurring problem of dropping my guitar pick in the body of my guitar during performance. Duct tape to the rescue again... someone just secured several picks to my mic stand:) I just emptied my guitar after each performance so I didn't run out of picks!

4. Another story from my bus days... our band bus headlights went out late one night and as we were booked in another town, we didn't have time to go somewhere and get them fixed. My band leader used a guitar and... yes again... duct tape to make them work - don't ask me how:) Every band needs a MacGyver like this!

5. My band and I played an outdoor concert in Kansas during locust season. The bugs got between our fingers and strings when they were still so what we did was...we moved like rock stars having a very energetic performance- which went over like magic! I also made sure my mouth was open as minimally as possible:)

OK... now I'd love to from you... I KNOW there are some great stories out there, and we can collect them all for future use!

Labels: Judy Rodman