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MEMORABLE PERFORMANCES: Joshua Van Ness
Joshua Van Ness has been making music for over 15 years as part of the bands Van Ness, and Souls' Release, as well as solo. Joshua and his band MOR will be playing a free show at Brooklyn Academy of Music (30 Lafayette Ave, Brooklyn, NY) on Friday January 4th. These D Bags Shall Remain Nameless In the past 15 years or so, I have been fortunate to share stages with some incredibly talented people. Many of these people either went on to enjoy a significant amount of commercial success or had already done so. Most importantly, many of these people really presented themselves as kind, humble, down to earth people. When I think of some of names who fit into this category, I recall people like Richie Havens, Dug Pinnik and Jerry Gaskill of King’s X, Will Hoge, Dain Baird, Val Emmich, Mike Errico, Ari Hest, Tom Brislin and Marty O'Kane to name a few. All of those folks, as far as I know, are kind, decent human beings. On the other side of the coin are the D Bags: the people who either accomplished very little or were washed up, but acted as if the world owed them something. These D Bags shall remain nameless. Back in 2004, I was playing a festival in Clinton, NJ with Souls’ Release. One of the other bands performing was a cover band that consisted of 5 or so middle aged guys. Their set was a predictable, but well executed batch of 70-s early 80s “classic rock”. When they were finished, I congratulated a couple of the band members on a job well done. Their lead vocalist responded by smugly saying “ Here, Kid, have a set list”, as he handed me a print out of songs that he did not write and had only performed adequately. I was floored! Did this D bag really just hand me a copy of his set list like I was some groupie or his biggest fan or something? Was I supposed to be excited? The worst part of it all was that I was so blown away by his over inflated ego that I couldn't even say anything. I just stood there with my jaw on the ground as he confidently strode away. Note to anyone who may be in a cover band, or even a widely successful pop band: don’t EVER offer a set list to anyone. If they want it, they will ask. I was at the Asbury Park Wave gathering festival in 2009 when my wife and I saw a young band performing to a half full room. These guys were talented, but really didn’t do much for me or for anyone else in the room either. None the less, they played their hearts out and I really respect that. However, at the end of their set, the lead singer jumps off of the stage, and walks straight through the venue and out the front door as the band played their final notes. Very rock & roll…shades of early 80’s Prince. All of a sudden, he walks back into the venue and from the back of the room he shouts “wait, do we have time for one more?” …D BAG!!!!! You can’t storm off stage and out of the club only to come back and give yourself an encore!!!! When Prince did it, his limo was parked out front and his driver peeled out as he sped away! That was cool! This poor, unfortunate sap just created a very awkward moment when a room of people who didn’t really want “one more” now felt obligated to listen. In the winter of 2003, I was on tour with The Crayons when we pulled into a venue outside of Chicago. When we showed up the headlining band, 80’s left overs The Bullet Boys, were sound checking. We were hanging out on the side of the stage when we heard a commotion. We then proceeded to watch their lead singer (who will remain nameless simply because I don’t want to take the time to google him) throw a hissy fit like a 2 yr old child because his voice was not loud enough in his monitors. Honestly, every singer has had this moment, but to carry on like this guy did was so incredibly D Baggish, it was nauseating. I mean, he’s dropping the F bomb at the sound guy, he’s prancing around and throwing his arms in the air. At one point he even said “how am I supposed to feel about that?”. Ok dude, your mix is a little off…get over it. You’re not Pavarotti, or even Ke$ha for that matter…you're just going to scream anyway. Not to mention, we’re going to grossly out draw you tonight. I understand that you had a little bit of radio play with one of the WORST songs I’ve ever heard (“smooth up in ya”), but it’s been over for a long time. Stop acting like Madonna. Finally, I remember being at The Crossroads in Garwood, NJ. There was a solo/acoustic singer songwriter on stage performing. A softball team stopped by The Crossroads for some beers after their game. They were in the back of the bar being loud and rowdy, not really paying attention to the music. The singer, sensing this, looks up between songs and shouts in to the microphone, “Would you shut the F*** up?!?!?”, and the entire room fell silent. How ballsy of this guy to think that, he, some no name playing in an NJ bar was more important than the good time these guys were having! D BAG!!!! Oh, wait. That last D Bag was me. I guess we all have our moments. The moral of the story is: stay humble and don’t take yourself too seriously. Oh, by the way, the lead singer of the Bullet Boys’ name is Marq Torien. I thought he deserved better than to remain nameless simply because I did not think he was worth the time to do a web search. My bad, Marq. |