ben wakeman : : Journal

A Rock Star for 24 Hours

August 24, 2004

This past weekend was funny --- kind of like fantasy football camp. I got to be a rock star for a couple of days. Tom and I performed on the Good Day Atlanta show on Friday morning to promote the concert Saturday night at the Roxy. We got the gig because the real rock stars (Ed Roland, Butch Walker...) were unwilling to get up at the crack-ass to promote a benfit show. But not me and Tom -- we have to get up at the crack-ass every day to go to work anyway! We were very polite and nicely dressed. We played Greener.

The show Saturday night was again, like fantasy rock star camp. We played at the Roxy with the big light show, the huge sound system, the catered spread in the dressing rooms, the all-access lanyards and the celbrity meet and greet party before the show. I must confess I felt like a total rube. We introduced ourselves to Ed Roland of Collective Soul and he was actually a very nice guy - unassuming and pretty down to earth for the most part. We finished our free drinks and went back back over to the Roxy. We nibbled on some of the food in the dressing rooms and then climbed the stairs up to the stage. What a great room! I can't tell you what an amazing feeling it is to play on a stage like that. Even if there were only a fraction of the number of people that it takes to fill that place, it was still an amazing rush.

We played a tight 45 minute set and I feel like I only choked badly once --- the guitar solo in Tom's song, "No Time Like Now." I was unprepared to be hit by the white hot spot light and I lost my place entirely for a couple of bars. It was actually kind of funny. Just your usual rube in the big city kindof moment.

We took a chance and played a totally acoustic version of "Johnny & Martha (My Feminine Side)" complete with the 3-part redneck harmonies. I think people laughed -- I really couldn't tell because my guitar was just so damn loud! What a total power trip to strum a G chord and move people's shirts in the back of the room ;-)