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Mr. A joins the NFL this Sunday!

Started by Mister Acrolite, November 09, 2010, 09:24 PM

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Mister Acrolite

Well, only for a couple of minutes. I just confirmed that I'll be playing with Clarence Clemons during the halftime show at the Miami Dolphins game this Sunday!   ;D

It's probably going to be a blink-and-you'll-miss-it thing, but I'm pretty stoked. Anybody got Tivo? I don't, so I'd love it if somebody manages to record this.

Now all I gotta do is lose 50 pounds and grow my hair back by Sunday. Hey, how hard could that be?


Bart Elliott

Good to hear that Clarence (and you) are out playing some more.

I'll be looking for you!

David Stanoch

Sounds like big fun! Have a ball (no pun intended)!

Hey man, if you work this piece out:

Quote from: Mister Acrolite on November 09, 2010, 09:24 PMNow all I gotta do is lose 50 pounds and grow my hair back by Sunday. Hey, how hard could that be?

The drumming & writing will just be sidelines you can come down from your mountain of cash for just for kicks!  8)

Tim van de Ven

Quote from: Mister Acrolite on November 09, 2010, 09:24 PM
Well, only for a couple of minutes. I just confirmed that I'll be playing with Clarence Clemons during the halftime show at the Miami Dolphins game this Sunday!   ;D

It's probably going to be a blink-and-you'll-miss-it thing, but I'm pretty stoked. Anybody got Tivo? I don't, so I'd love it if somebody manages to record this.

Now all I gotta do is lose 50 pounds and grow my hair back by Sunday. Hey, how hard could that be?

Awesome news, Keith!

As for the 50 lbs. and the hair....stay as you are; that way, folks in the stands and watching on TV will think "@$%#, that lineman can sure rip it up on the tubs! I hope that he plays for the dolphins!"

You'll be great, I know it!

Chris Whitten


NY Frank

Outstanding.  Congrats.  I hope I get that game here.

Mister Acrolite

Okay, I gotta admit, that was a pretty freaking awesome experience! 

Here are a few photos...












We haven't managed to track down any of the TV camera footage (which they were showing live on the big screens in the stadium while we played) but I do have a couple of "unofficial" videos shot on people's cameras and cellphones.

Here's a shot from the private sky box they provided for the band and our families:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQmYL2vRIOM#ws]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQmYL2vRIOM#ws

And here's one that gives you a view of what it looked like from down there on the field - there were more than 65,000 people at that game!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-T0Xf53A2Q#ws]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-T0Xf53A2Q#ws

What a fun day!   8)

NY Frank

Wow.   Outstanding.

Very much a bucket list item for me.   I know I'm not worthy of a regular dose of that, but if I could catch that view and sound once in my life behind the kit, that would be an excellent item to check on the bucket list.

lopan

Very cool. Next stop, the Superbowl?

KevinD

Wow Keith that is awesome, what a cool thing! Congratulations!

When I saw the first picture at the top, my first thought was that you looked great in your dress blues, but that the photo was out of focus a bit, then I saw you in the back :-) It also looks like Clarence is sitting at that USMC bass drum.
Great shots, thanks for sharing with us!

Kevin

David Stanoch

Sweet.
All I can say is THAT looks like it was a LOT of fun, Mister Acrolite.

Hope you enjoyed every note, I know I would've.

You look & sound right at home.

Live large, rock hard!  8)

Tim van de Ven

Keith, it looks like you had a terrible time; feel free to contact me to sub-in for you the next time this occurs; I'd hate to see a friend go through anything that horrible again.
;) ;D




Stewart Manley

Is the altitude of your pies increasing again after your previous shoulder (?) issues, Mr A?

Mister Acrolite

Quote from: Tim van de Ven on November 22, 2010, 03:39 PM
Keith, it looks like you had a terrible time; feel free to contact me to sub-in for you the next time this occurs; I'd hate to see a friend go through anything that horrible again.
;) ;D

Aw, man - it's SO nice to know somebody's got my back. Thanks for your generous offer - you are a true friend!   ;)

Mister Acrolite

Quote from: Stewart Manley on November 22, 2010, 06:12 PM
Is the altitude of your pies increasing again after your previous shoulder (?) issues, Mr A?

Yeah, they've worked their way back up. Not quite as high as the old days, but still at a healthy elevation.

Jim R.

I remember a lot of posts about when The Who played the Superbowl, about quick stage set up, pre-recorded tracks and such. How was it for this show for you? How quick was the set up, how did the sound system work? Sound check? Was that really you playing live? :)
Looks like it was a great experience, congrats!


Mister Acrolite

Quote from: Jim R. on November 23, 2010, 01:26 PM
I remember a lot of posts about when The Who played the Superbowl, about quick stage set up, pre-recorded tracks and such. How was it for this show for you? How quick was the set up, how did the sound system work? Sound check? Was that really you playing live? :)
Looks like it was a great experience, congrats!

The main word that comes to mind regarding this show was "fast." We were treated very nicely by the Dolphins staff, but there was never any question that this event was a football game, not a concert, so we got rushed and herded around very briskly, and security was VERY tight. Sound check was extremely short, and scary - it took them a while to get the monitors to work, and we had a VERY limited amount of time that we were allowed on the field - not even half an hour. Until the monitors came on, all we could hear was our music coming through the main stadium PA, and it was bouncing back to us about a second later than we played it, which was really a bizarre sensation. The monitors were pretty small, and I was worried we wouldn't be able to hear, but they cranked them up to "stun" and they worked great. Around us, some big guys in grey t-shirts and shorts were exercising on the field, and it took me a second to realize it was the Dolphins and Titans warming up.

Just two days earlier, to fit our act into the time constraints of the overall halftime show, our musical director had come up with a highly  abbreviated arrangement of Clarence's hit "You're a friend of mine," and we were all a little nervous about trying to remember the weird cut in the middle of the song, after having played the song for a dozen years in its original form. And I panicked when I first got on the stage and realized that despite our requests, they had provided Zildjian cymbals. My Sabians were set up on the Land Shark stage outside the stadium, where we were playing a pregame "tailgate party" concert, so they were out of reach. So we had one of the techs tape over the logos with duct tape. After more than 20 years as a Sabian endorser, I wasn't going to risk going on live TV surrounded by Zildjian logos!

One thing that surprised me was how they got the stage to the center of the field. I assumed there would be some sort of motorized vehicle that moved it, like a parade float. But instead, they just gathered up a bunch of people behind the thing and physically pushed it out to the 50 yard line - a low-tech but effective solution!

After rehearsal we went out to the Land Shark stage, and played for a rowdy but good-natured audience who showed up early for the tailgate party. Then the game started. They provided us with an awesome skybox to watch the game, then several minutes before the end of the second quarter, we were ushered into the bowels of the stadium, where we waited to hurry out onto the field. On cue, we scurried out to the stage, and sat while the early portion of the show went on, with USMC marching band and a group of vocalists starting things off. The theme of the show was a salute to our nation's veterans, and it was a thrilling moment when a large number of uniformed veterans marched onto the field as part of the halftime show - something I hadn't seen them do during the brief morning rehearsal. All of a sudden it was our turn, and our MD counted us off and away we went. During the show, they were showing us on the big screens around the stadium, which was wild to see.



We slammed through our quickie arrangement of the song with no trainwrecks, and the crowd dug it. The second we were done, we had to bolt off the stage and hurry off the field.

I was walking with our guitar player Billy, and suddently we heard somebody running up behind us, shouting something that sounded like "get off!" Fearing that we were about to be stampeded by the football team returning from the locker room, we started to run.



But then we saw that it was one of the referees running by, smiling and shouting "great job!"



Jim R.

Thanks for the recap. Very cool. I was cracking up at the monitors at stun level.
How nice that the cheerleaders did a routine along with your song as well!

NY Frank


Mister Acrolite

Quote from: Jim R. on November 24, 2010, 05:27 PM
How nice that the cheerleaders did a routine along with your song as well!

Agreed. From now on, I think there should be cheerleaders at ALL my gigs!   ;D