charity gig with horses !!!!!!!!

[homejame]

Did a very nice charity gig today. but - alongside of us there were a couple of pets for therapy animals. Two horses. One pony size- one miniture Sheltie or something. Very odd playing the music while these two horses get led around to meet people. When I wake up Ill post the picture - just to let you know I didn't dream it. Don't know who was more worried - us or the horses. This was in a very small dining room by the way..

A case of please don't eat the banjo....it was a wild west theme so I guess the horses had a right to be there.....anybody else had stuff like that going off while playing???

[Rroyd]

Well, there was the time we played with the lawn mower drag races taking place about 100 feet away. . .

[homejame]

[JEStanek]

Wow. A Confederate Naval Jack on the back wall, and what looks like a British Union Jack cowboy hat on one of the ladies and a pony about to munch on a banjo. That was some gig!

Jamie

[allenhopkins]

Suggested repertoire:
Molly & Tenbrooks
Six White Horses
Wild Horses
Stewball
Camptown Races
Garryowen (7th Cav signature tune)
I Ride An Old Paint
All the Pretty Little Horses

I played for a guinea pig race once, in a shopping mall in front of a French restaurant. High on my "weird gigs" list.

[greg_tsam]

Wow. A Confederate Naval Jack on the back wall, and what looks like a British Union Jack cowboy hat on one of the ladies and a pony about to munch on a banjo. That was some gig!

Jamie

You forgot to mention the horse had pink "shoes" on.

[JEStanek]

Greg, All of our horses have pink hooves. Yours don't

Jamie

[homejame]

right - pardon my ignorance but what is the difference between a navy 'jack' and an ordinary federacy flag?? I've not come across the term .'Jack' I know - . both horses had 'pink' shoes - never did find out why lolol.

[8ch(pl)]

I had an experience a few years ago. Our band was playing at a Seniors Home, one of the songs we do is a well known Newfoundland piece called "Squid Jigging Ground". As the accordion started, a Newfoundland Dog entered the room and passed in front of the band from right to left. I guess he liked the song.

He was almost as big as a Shetland pony, beautiful animal.

[Bertram Henze]

a pony about to munch on a banjo.

...plus, it appears to have nibbled on the banjo player's hat previously as well.
I wonder what happened to the - er - droppings of those horses?

[JEStanek]

The Confederate Battle flags were square the Naval Jack was the rectangular one seen ubiquitously. My oldest brother, for a time, was a reenactor from the NC 26th Infantry and his unit was asked to march in the surrender reenactment at Appomattox Court House in 1994. I have a complex relationship with the Confederacy and the break up of our country, and the leaders and generals on both sides. Nevertheless, a conversation not for this forum.

Jamie

[journeybear]

Wild West theme? looks like some people didn't get that memo. The lady with the plastic Union Jack hat, for one, though it seems attendees in general passed on dressing up for this, but the fellow leading the horse, with a mullet pulled back and sunglasses on top of his head wearing a crew neck shirt - that's 1980s, dude, not 1880s. But I want to know - who's bright idea was it to have horses clomping about on a finished floor inside an establishment?

My old jug band played a few weird gigs (no big surprise, I guess), such as playing in a pumpkin patch for a harvest festival at a blueberry farm while people came and went on hay rides. Actually, that was kind of cool. But one time we played at a town fair 9 AM on a Sunday morning - yes, church time - in a stadium empty except for two band members' significant others, next to where they were holding pig races - that's where what few people who were there were. Worse yet is the back story - we had been offered a gig playing at Mariposa Folk Festival that weekend up in Toronto, but fearless leader had turned it down, owing to this gig being previously booked. Our reputation in this small town was this saved, but at what a cost! The only bright side was my girl friend taking advantage of there being no witnesses and flashing me repeatedly, trying to throw me off. Ah, good times.

[homejame]

horse handler was female btw- don't forget - this is England- specifically the n east. there is something of a time warp up here at the best of times. Love the stories this is generating . Am probably going to do a repost on the martin site lolol

[journeybear]

That's a woman? I'm sorry. Not for her so much as for the single males there. OK, being in England would help explain the Union Jack hat. Possibly also the Confederate flag - American South, American West, pretty much the same. Though Texas was a Confederate state, FWIW, but a Lone Star flag would have been more appropriate. I don't get the impression the organizers of this event paid, nor cared to pay, a lot of attention to historical period accuracy.

[Bertram Henze]

who's bright idea was it to have horses clomping about on a finished floor inside an establishment?

Bright ideas seem to be the common denominator of all weird gigs. See my signature line...

my girl friend taking advantage of there being no witnesses and flashing me repeatedly, trying to throw me off.

Reminds me of the time 20+ years ago when I stayed in a hostel at the Irish West coast. I used to use the empty common washroom's acoustics in the mornings for practising the banjo; then, while I played "The Ladies' Pantalettes", a girl came in in her underwear and started to wash her face. I accepted the focusing challenge and played the reel three times through, flawlessly.

[journeybear]

You are indeed a professional, sir! Providing flawless entertainment for an audience at the drop of a - well, I mean, at a moment's notice. Perfectly chosen material, too - in advance, no less! 'Twas meant to be.