FUN with MACEO
you couldn't tell he was drunk etc. at all!
From a letter written by me (Absent) to a bandmate of "Maceo," a drummer who was "Frank Zappa" for Halloween at the bar where I work as the sound engineer.
Just an amusing Maceo anecdote for when you get to write his biography and cash in during the 2010s: While trying to mike "Frank Zappa's" drums, I noticed he was having extreme difficulty getting them assembled due to a state I would describe as "blotto."
I would wait till he looked away and then sneak a cymbal onto the kit, wait till he looked away/fumbled again and sneak the second one on.... He leaned down to fix something, and then got the wig caught in the drums and couldn't get his head up. I finished the drums and helped him get untangled and started miking things.
When I got to the snare he started hitting it to be "cute." After the Peach Melba show and losing my hearing for a few days (right ear, from a timbale strike followed by a dizzy fall from the stage), this has been something I have been very careful of. I tried to get him to stop for a sec, big mistake.
"Aw C'MON BJ HAve a PUSSY for once (!?)!!!whack WHACK WHAP!!!!"
I said (without yelling, I believe), "Ok , Maceo, mike them yourself."
I wasn't too worried, my plan for tonight was Voices + Guitar + Harp to try something new and get a better sound, they are always loud and I always have to turn Maceo off (see below).
Cullen (the other sound guy, there to check the main power amp we had just replaced) offered to go back and mike it before I went back. I took a gracious breather.
After the show, I explained to Maceo about the trip to the ear doctor and what snares do to your ear at close range and he was very sorry, I knew he didn't mean anything malicious, he isn't a malicious guy. He was just being silly. I gave him a hug to be sure he knew I wasn't mad (Maceo likes to hug everyone when "blotto").
I was annoyed...VERY annoyed, but not angry.
A note about the "blotto": Comet and I were amazed throughout the set that he was so "on"; we started watching about midway through, and you couldn't tell he was drunk etc. at all! He put on an amazing show despite the fact that when he was setting up I thought he was gonna fall over in his drums and black out. Amazing!
Maceo, by the way, is an amazing drummer. I usually have to turn his kick and snare off and the mics still clip (no pad on the board). His band is unbelievably loud and he still carries over them. His drums are apparently made of some bits of a Fiat stapled to Ludwig shells with newspaper taped over them (not really, but you get the idea) and some duct tape.