Caffeine and Altoids
Just as Superman has his Kryptonite, us musicians have substances that render us incompetent. First off, Andy spent a good deal of his high school years scarfing down altoids...about a tin per day. And it was his weakness for the mints that turned the shy boy into an active blur. Now, it's unfair to exploit Andy's weakness, and leave out my arch nemesis. I have been known to, under the influence of caffeine, giggle profusely, invent silly little ditties (sung loudly of course), and once I even offered to "poke the floor" with someone (whatever that means). Andy seems to be over his addiction (he keeps altoids in his car for breath neutralizing emergencies, but they don't seem to affect him anymore, disproving my theory that altoids are actually cocaine), but I continue to avoid Pepsi like the plague. However, I have been brave enough to play that espresso bar time and again, so perhaps i'm on the road to recovery.
Weak Guitar Strings
After our first two shows, it seemed like we were cursed to have weak guitar strings forever. During our first show, a string broke during "When I'm Not Me (I'm You)" and I wasn't sure what that "plunk" sound was (it was the sound of his string hitting the mic) but continued to sing through the whole song. He compensated well enough (this is where Andy's classic guitar training comes in handy) that I didn't know there was a problem until after the song, when he borrowed a guitar from the band we opened for. It wasn't a vital string (the E string I think), but the next time it happened we weren't so lucky. At least at the second show, I recognized that same sound and nodded to Andy to stop, but he misinterpruted it as a encouraging nod to continue, and we played through the Cranberrie's cover "Linger" without a B string...which didn't really sound that great, but since the rest of our set was pretty tight, it didn't make much of a difference. By the third show, you can imagine I was pretty nervous, warning Andy to strum lightly, but apparently the curse had been broken! I hope I'm not knocking on wood.
Stories to expect:
-First A Thousand Young T-shirt
-Bejay's contribution
-Novella's plea for No Road
-Amp vs. Esther's finger
-Various Tidbits