likitlikeyoulikeit
Shredder
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- 1,520
When I was younger, I had the opportunity to play music all over the Mediterranean, which included the North Coast of Africa, which includes Egypt. Also had a chance to gain access to the countries that surround the Black Sea, including but not limited to, Ukraine, Bulgaria, and Romania.
This afforded me, at a real young age, the perspective of just how impactful western rock music had affected the wider world. This also allowed me some very unique insight into the worlds and culture that surrounded me, making me a better person.
I was in the U.S. Navy at the time, stationed aboard the USS Kauffman FFG- 59, based out of the home port of Norfolk, VA.
I was in my last year of active duty enlistment, and on my second sea deployment. I had grown bored of partying in port and wasting my cash in bars. I decided to start a band on the ship, and the ship purchased us a PA....and we were obligated to play 2 official party's, in uniform, for the support.
I left my ATM card at home, and saved a chunk of cash. Got to get out of duties I hated, and had the support of the ships senior officers....I was geeked.
Well we played in almost every port we moored in, usually for free drinks and a packed house. Some went great, others not so much...due to a host of issues. But we were a tight self contained unit. Had our own hand made transformers that we plugged into, gotta love those ET, and IC rates!!! Also had our pa, and all the mics ... everything was thought of.
My most unique event happened purely by accident, and built by word of mouth, in the manner of minutes ...and kind of created an issue for the port of Odessa, Ukraine while we were there.
We had a massive party on a dutch vessel, and we needed to practice, but the helicopter hanger was full. So we decided to practice on the flight deck of our ship, which could be openly viewed from above, via the observation level .. so people would gather to look around and just walk.
We had finished the first song, sweet emotion, and looked up to see several hundred people clapping and cheering.
We looked at each other and kind of had an oh shit moment....well, we gotta practice anyway, fuck it , right?
We then go into dead or alive, and shit hit the fan. By the end of that song there was close to 1000 people, and they were losing in...and they started slowly making their way down towards the ship....crap.
By the time we finished Baba O'Reilly....I lost the ability to think straight and had to focus on my guitar, because I was totally jazzed. There was a line of people 3 wide...all the way up the steps, up to the observation deck...and more were coming, and they wanted to meet us. Shit.
I am not claiming we killed it, because we were just amateurs and we didn't have massive sound reinforcement...but this was insane. People loved the music, Western rock, so much they just were overwhelmed. It blew my mind.
After the practice, with much anxiety, we had to open the ship to them, just so we could get them out of there. It went well, all behaved themselves and the daily ship tours became quite popular there.
This was 99-00, We were there for a month off and on, during one of the top Euro football tournaments....I want to say the euro cup
I remember being in the dutch ship when something big happened for them. And that's when I learned how hard they party!!!
Anyway, do you have a memorable/unique gig/location/venue you would like to share?
Let's hear it!!!!
This afforded me, at a real young age, the perspective of just how impactful western rock music had affected the wider world. This also allowed me some very unique insight into the worlds and culture that surrounded me, making me a better person.
I was in the U.S. Navy at the time, stationed aboard the USS Kauffman FFG- 59, based out of the home port of Norfolk, VA.
I was in my last year of active duty enlistment, and on my second sea deployment. I had grown bored of partying in port and wasting my cash in bars. I decided to start a band on the ship, and the ship purchased us a PA....and we were obligated to play 2 official party's, in uniform, for the support.
I left my ATM card at home, and saved a chunk of cash. Got to get out of duties I hated, and had the support of the ships senior officers....I was geeked.
Well we played in almost every port we moored in, usually for free drinks and a packed house. Some went great, others not so much...due to a host of issues. But we were a tight self contained unit. Had our own hand made transformers that we plugged into, gotta love those ET, and IC rates!!! Also had our pa, and all the mics ... everything was thought of.
My most unique event happened purely by accident, and built by word of mouth, in the manner of minutes ...and kind of created an issue for the port of Odessa, Ukraine while we were there.
We had a massive party on a dutch vessel, and we needed to practice, but the helicopter hanger was full. So we decided to practice on the flight deck of our ship, which could be openly viewed from above, via the observation level .. so people would gather to look around and just walk.
We had finished the first song, sweet emotion, and looked up to see several hundred people clapping and cheering.
We looked at each other and kind of had an oh shit moment....well, we gotta practice anyway, fuck it , right?
We then go into dead or alive, and shit hit the fan. By the end of that song there was close to 1000 people, and they were losing in...and they started slowly making their way down towards the ship....crap.
By the time we finished Baba O'Reilly....I lost the ability to think straight and had to focus on my guitar, because I was totally jazzed. There was a line of people 3 wide...all the way up the steps, up to the observation deck...and more were coming, and they wanted to meet us. Shit.
I am not claiming we killed it, because we were just amateurs and we didn't have massive sound reinforcement...but this was insane. People loved the music, Western rock, so much they just were overwhelmed. It blew my mind.
After the practice, with much anxiety, we had to open the ship to them, just so we could get them out of there. It went well, all behaved themselves and the daily ship tours became quite popular there.
This was 99-00, We were there for a month off and on, during one of the top Euro football tournaments....I want to say the euro cup
I remember being in the dutch ship when something big happened for them. And that's when I learned how hard they party!!!
Anyway, do you have a memorable/unique gig/location/venue you would like to share?
Let's hear it!!!!
