[tcsned]

I'm taking a break from the band and GD music to do another musical. I'm doing Shrek the Musical at the Haymarket Theater on the Virginia Tech campus Aug 8-11, 15-18. Tonight was opening night and it was a blast! The cast is awesome especially Donkey and Farquaard. The most fun has been playing in a 22-24 piece orchestra with strings, horns, woodwinds, percussion, keys, bass, and 2 guitars (I'm one of them). With no amps those motherfuckers are loud! I'm playing electric, acoustic, and ukulele. I'd never played a uke before, those things are fun!

I highly recommend the experience to anyone out there that hasn't tried it. First, it's good to do something structured after playing pretty loose Grateful Dead music. Second, it's good to force yourself to read music - especially we guitar players that tend to avoid it (including me). Finally, it's way fun to play in a big orchestra.

Here's the horns, strings, and winds:

[tcsned]

I'm using my PRS --> T-Rex Spindoctor overdrive --> SMS Classic Twin Pre --> MosValve MV962 --> Hogan speaker cab w/Beyma Liberty speakers.



I might start using my custom guitar w/OBEL & buffer and the Mac amp. Having a master volume on the guitar would be helpful.

[mgbills]

My buddy the drummer plays in orchestras, jazz bands, big bands, jam bands...and just about anything else that comes up. He is an advocate for playing any community project you can get. He loves it. He's 67 or 68. I suppose technically he's a jazz drummer, although he couldn't read music until the '80's. He was smuggled out of a strip club in a bass case during the Watts riots. Oh, and he's also my ex-father-in-law.

But I digress...

Congratulation. It looks like a hoot!
Peace
M

[tcsned]

Indeed, working in community theater is very rewarding. It's a good thing 'cause it don't pay for s**t

This might be the greatest song title ever, if you don't get it say it 5 times really fast

[tcsned]

Week 2 is off to a roaring start with more than 300 folks for a Thursday night. We are mostly sold out for the nest three shows (capacity 450 or so). 3 more shows left and then I can start purging these tunes from my head, as they are pretty much running non-stop in my little brain

I tried to post this pic before but this is one of the coolest song titles ever

[tcsned]

We played our last show yesterday to a 450+ person sold out show. It was a blast and I can't wait to do it again. I can't stress enough how rewarding it is and how good it is to stretch out of your comfort zone and do something completely different. I played ukulele in front of people for the first time, that was pretty cool. My reading skills are pretty sharp right now but, as is my pattern, will atrophy until I am forced to do it again

Here's a better picture of us in action - you can see the uke on top of my rig, it was also cool to get reacquainted with my PRS which hasn't gotten much use lately. The trombone player is badass for an 18 year-old kid (on his way to Shenandoah Music Conservatory), as was the first chair violinist (he's in the center all the way to the right), and the cellist. There were no weak links in the whole orchestra . . . other than the hippie playing guitar

[SlowTexasZim]

Cool.