John Hancotte's Bass Desires: Platinum performed at the scenic Barnsley Gardens Ruins May 7th

Monday, May 9, 2011

Platinum performed at the scenic Barnsley Gardens Ruins May 7th

I had never been here before. I realized that after I had exited off of 75 north of Cartersville. My route was a strange one, quick lefts & rights, almost u-turnish in direction sometimes, getting over to an access road to make an otherwise not-possible left, etc. My trusty "unupdated" Tom-Tom kept me on track and never lost the road, although the way back in the dark was a different story. I passed some cow pastures and regretted not stopping to shoot some pics, but I needed to get there. I did wisely stop for gas, since I knew I was headed towards a more remote territory. Once I arrived, I had to check in at the registration office and secure a cart escort, who helped me find my way. I was asked to move but never did bother, and that decision bit me a little later in the night.

We were in a tent, a nice one, with a big dance floor and DJ's deluxe sound system and lighting rig. Poor DJ - he's been sick for almost 2 weeks and this load in was not a pretty one - one word: gravel! Not a friend to heavy road cases. I trudged up the stairs and made the best of it. I brought along my Tobias fretless as well as my P-bass, which sported a nifty new buzzy sound. WTF? I can't win with my equipment lately. We played some jazzy tunes for walk in - cocktails were had prior to the guests' entrances. It was a by the numbers kind of gig that Platinum excells at. Not to point anybody out, but the last tune of the night was to be Shania Twain's "From This Moment On", which the band had played long before I joined up. I guess it was long before everybody else had as well. We were not all on the same page and V was not liking what she was hearing. We ended up playing through "September" just to get our gig legs back.

We were shuttled back to our Green Room chalet, where our bandwiches awaited us. Ugh. I wasn't in the mood, but ate 2 just to keep regular. The salad was lettuce. Enough said. All the cokes were taken by then as well. I need to lay off of the sodas anyways. We killed some time and then we played. It was muggy in those ties and jackets. My big faux pas of the night was losing track of time and walking back from the break to see and hear the band playing without me. I felt as if I had died and was watching them play in my wake. It was surreal. Virginia gave me a look that almost rivaled Binnie's, but she doesn't come close. Binnie has that look patented. Still, V was throwing daggers with her eyes and I scampered up to my bass and waited for the right place to creep in on "Come Away With Me". The rest of the set was "Don't F Up" and I did well in that regard. I did the modulate after the solo on the Supremes medley and realized that I had been correct back at the Alice Richards tent affair. Whew! One other blip was during"What I Like About You" where I played E E D A insead of the so often repeated E A D A. Lexxi looked at me like "I heard that". I know we all did... Such is the life of a bassist.