Boy Wonder: Professional Musician 75

Day 74 - May 24th 2009

Big, big, big, day.

I’ve performed all over the country and even on national television at this point and I still wasn’t anywhere near as nervous then than I am about tonight. Tonight would be the first night I would perform full on as Boy Wonder since I joined Bang Camaro on tour in early March. If that weren’t nerve racking enough I had to manage the entire show, meaning myself and nine other acts. The concept is we have 5 bands and in between them we have 5 acoustic artists (generally rocking a piano or guitar solo or with minimal accompaniment) to fill the dead air as opposed to house music or nothing.

I have to make sure they get on and off on time and make sure they all get paid at nights end. The odds are against me tonight in terms of draw, it’s a Sunday on Memorial Day Weekend and a great deal of the people in Philadelphia head down to the jersey Shore that weekend. But first things first.

Today was also the Pastor’s Anniversary at church. 43 years in the pulpit, I haven’t even been alive that long. After seeing what my Dad goes through being an associate minister there on an almost daily basis I can’t imagine what it would be like to have to be in charge of an entire congregation, and to put up with those fools for that long, there’s gotta be a God.

There was only one service scheduled for the day (instead of the two that we usually have) the place was packed. Even Mayor Michael Nutter, one of our churches more prominent members (We have a state and U.S. Representative among others) showed up to honor Pastor Campbell (who lent the Mayor his support when he was running a year or two ago) he doesn’t drop in too often these days so it’s always good to see him. Once the service was over we moved to the Fellowship Hall where they hosted a big meal. Food was alright. The church has about 2000 members so there are still people who are seeing me for the first time since I left. I answered the same questions I’ve been answering for the past few weeks and when I looked up it was 1:30 I had to get back home to start packing up for tonight’s show.

Soundcheck was scheduled for 3 at World Café Live. When I got there nothing was set up. Apparently there were some lighting issues that had yet to be repaired. Caitlin got her sound check and I got horns and vocals checked. As Brianne O’neill (who was kicking things off) was getting ready to check one of the lights started to smoke…this is bad. As one of the stage hands leapt to prevent the curtain from catching fire he tripped up her keyboard player’s keyboard and it went crashing to the stage…that’s even worse. His keyboard is out of commission not to mention her guitarist was in the hospital. Doors opened at 6.

At 6:30 I come out and introduce her. She opens solo (smart move considering) and brings her backing band Flux Capacitor out. She played very well. Katherine Mundy (who had to step in for the Infadolls) was brilliant as always, she seemed disappointed in the way it went. I thought she was amazing. She’s going to be a force to be reckoned with in a year’s time. Bojibian would hit the stage next. I’ve been watching them quite frequently since they formed and they’ve improved leaps and bounds since I left.

The Soul Stretch of the show would start with Leah Smith, who is so incredible 20 minutes never seems like enough. She would be followed by Soulfatronic, a truly nasty band they brought the energy up to a crescendo. I would play with my sister Nichole Lynn before I ran to get ready to play. When she was done it was time. I brought out my crew and I greeted the crowd. I didn’t notice how packed the room was until that very moment. There are a few hundred people in the room and they are all staring at me. I take a leap in the air and land on a power chord….it’s on.

My band (3 horns, bass, drums 2 backup singers and me on vox and guitar) is air tight and I begin to loosen up playing with the crowd as I take off my jacket. By the time we got to the really funky part of the set I was burning up. I took off my dress shirt to reveal the Bang Camaro shirt I had on underneath. Someone heckled me, then I take off the Bang Camaro shirt to reveal the Boy Wonder Shirt (the one I wore on Kimmel) underneath to a raucous applause. It was a sign of solidarity between my audience and myself. To see them all again was this incredibly overwhelming feeling. I didn’t have to be the guy who went on tour and was on TV. Being me was enough. Maybe being me is enough.

The Absolute Zeros and Benjamin Visch from Soulfatronic joined me for Hangover…money in the bank.

As I exited the stage I was followed by Genevieve (an amazing artist from LA), Caitlin Potter (who killed it incorporating the lights with her great sound and hot legs) , Lloyd Alexander, and my friends The Absolute Zeros who I sang with for their last song. To be honest it was a blur after I was done. Shaking hands, kissing babies, thanking people and counting money. After seeing the numbers, the folks at World Café Live were impressed especially since it was the Sunday before Memorial Day.

The gig was over so I went home and went to bed with a triumphant feeling. Memorial Day is tomorrow so I’ll get a chance to kick it with my buds.