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| fun stuff - show diary |
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| Mix 107.7 Time Warp Prom |
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| "Let's do the Time Warp again..."Yes, our fourth Mix 107.7 Time Warp Prom. I gotta say, this was the best one yet! We've had fun in years previous but something about this one was extra special. Maybe it was the Pink Floyd light show...or it could've been the choreographed, computerized intro on the 10x10 screen behind us...or maybe it was the 40 foot stage...Yes, all these things are true but it was once again the crowd that made it all worth while. Of course, with Matty in Vegas on a full-time basis the Winter months have really been down-time for us as a band. This was our first gig in a couple of months.It was great to see everyone again and we had a great time with many laughs. We had our own dressing room and joked all night about being "rock stars". All the while, never taking anything too seriously-especially ourselves.The big news, WE LEARNED A NEW SONG! To top it off, it was a JOURNEY song! If I had a buck for everytime someone told us to cover a Journey song I could afford to work in radio(hmmm...). Anyway, "Open Arms" was the Prom song so we had to learn that one. I think we pulled it off pretty well overall. Maybe we'll even keep that one in there for the future sometime. In summary, it was another night of Stranger fun with my buddies. I know for a fact that the reason this band is still together AND still has fun is because of the way we get along. It doesn't matter if we don't see each other for 3 months, we show up and it's like we're all family again. Before I tear up, I hope you can join us at some of the gigs over the Summer. We have some great ones at Sharkey's, opening for .38 Special and our big night the Fraze on Tuesday July 13th. Come see us again soon! We truly appreciate you and thank you for being Stranger friends!Jeff, Stranger Idol |
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| January 17, 2004 Stranger at Jefferson Hall in Cincinnati |
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 | yo. check out this conversation jeff and i had on stage this past weekend at jhall... matt: hello cleveland!!!! it's good to be back!!!!
jeff: eh... hey dude... you're in cincinnati!!!
matt: hello cincinnati!!! its good to be back!!! pardon me... im havin a rock star moment!!! | | cornfused yet? check out how cool the jhall gig was for me... so rock star experience!!! ive wanted to do this kind of thing my whole childhood-teenage-young adult-professional life... so cool. heres the details... I had to leave my hotel (corporate housing) in las vegas on Friday night at 10p to catch an 11:35 red-eye flight... fly into pittsburgh at 6am in the morning... switch planes and fly into dayton at 9:30am Saturday morning (keep in mind the 3 hour time change)... THEN!!!! i had to pack up my gear and drive to cincinnati and check into the crown plaza (of course under an alias name to distract autograph seekers... i wish)... hit dinner at rock bottom on fountain square at 6pm... leave for sound check and set up at 8pm. how rockstar is that!!! flying across the country and back for a rock show... the only thing missing is that i didnt wear my sunglasses or gold-glitter glove in the airport... next time though... before i go into this let me say one thing... "What happens in vegas stays in vegas" is so true... check out what i do in las vegas... "get up round 7am or so... go down stairs in the hotel for free breakfast... go to work until 6:30p... jump on the treadmill for 30 minutes/sit in the sauna... get home at 8:30 or so... eat... check sales contracts... study the political television advertising rules for work... watch the news... go to bed"... and it sooooo stays in vegas... i didnt do any of that when i came home! crazy huh?... and on the weekends i look at houses and go to costco... yeow!... ok here goes... the absolute best part of last wkd was seeing a million friends and my stranger buddies (we havent played since halloween!)... AND you gotta give it up to extra large to jhall for just lighting it up like firecracker... im telling you!!! and you know this if you were there that the place was absolute rock concert packed from 1st note to last. I dont know what it is about a "stranger" crowd but they truly are the coolest collection of people... every body comes with a smile on their face and conditioned to have a great time all night (not just for one set) and to be a part of the show. whether its jumping on stage with jeff, grabbing the tamborine, chanting for bert, or just standing in the back and singing every word of everysong... im rambling i know but ive been thinking about this for years and it just keeps growing and growing... nobody ever comes with an attitude or a chip on their shoulder... ever! i cant explain it but over the course of 9 years a stranger crowd is always energetic, involved, happy and the sixth member of the band... it just amazes both of us (jeff and the band).... love ya jeffy... you knew that was coming!!! :) other side note... you know my formula for a great show??? if you read the first diary entry youll find out that its "having a bad soundcheck"... well this time we actually beat that and had no soundcheck at all... our soundman who was the coolest and most lighthearted guy showed up late due to some last minute problems and we didnt have time for one... so no sound check whatsoever... guess what happened... ah ha! we so rocked and the mix was stellar... we actually put the "motley" in "crue" that night... or the "van" in "halen"... or the "duran" in "duran" or the "war" in "rant" (think about that one)... it was just the best and i cant wait til feb 28th to do it all over again... ps - email our webmaster and tell him that my new email is msmith@ktnv.com... he still has the old one.webmaster note: took care of it Matty!!!let me know when you (as in anybody) is in town... im here and you saw my schedule... im probably free... just shoot me an email Matt, from Stranger |
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| March 21, 2003 Stranger at Jefferson Hall in Cincinnati |
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 | Let's face it... we're really just a bunch a guys that like to blow off steam a couple times a month in front of a crowd. I mean, our lives are consumed with serious things: Job, money, family and yardwork. For heavens sake, we all need a break from this insanity. We want to just play hard and have some good laughs. This is why we created "Stranger." Now I know what you're thinking. Any band that maintains a "Show Diary" must take themselves too seriously. Not so. The reason why we're doing this is because... well... quite frankly, I don't know why. Maybe it's "just because." In my case, I'm doing it because Matt and Jeff told me to. Every show has it's share of moments. To write about them all would be quite voluminous (and boring). I'd rather focus on that one "Defining moment" that invariably sticks out from the rest. | | Gigs are our party time. And, at every show the crowd is always encouraged to join our party. We don't care where you've been or where you're going, you're always invited to our party. From the first stick click to the ending crash, we don't have the time or patience to be serious. Never. Well, almost never. On this occasion, we had one of those "serious" moments at the end of the 2nd set. We were finishing up "Let's go crazy," and Matt was showcasing his usual 6-string virtuosity. As Stranger devotees will attest, no one knows what Matt will do next. Sweet Home Alabama? Sweet Child O' Mine? Every Rose Has it's Thorn? Does Matt even know, we wonder? This night, he chose none of the above. At this precise moment, our brave boys were 48 hours deep in the fight of our lives against the evil Saddam. We could all see the war updates on the TV thoughout the bar. While we all enjoy this escape from reality for 4 hours, yet in the back of our minds, we couldn't seem to forget about those that fight to keep us free. Feeling a surge of patriotism, Matt winked at Jeff and gently strummed a soft G. Jeff instinctively began singing the words from of a song we, as Americans, hold sacred, "Oh say, can you see...." With Jeff leading the parade, it wasn't long before entire crowd, hawks and doves alike, standing shoulder to shoulder, singing... actually screaming, along at the top of their lungs, with arms and lighters raised high in the air. The moment was unreal. Whether you're for or against the war, we all agree on one thing, we want the boys to "kick butt, and come home." It was a moment I'll never forget. Once again it was a ton of fun playing down on Main Street. It's the one show where I can see many of my friends and family and have a short drive home to boot! Rob, from Stranger |
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| March 7, 2003 Stranger at WO Wright's in Fairborn |
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| So, we were coming off of a really huge night and our Cincy debut a few weeks back. Although many of our Stranger friends went to Cincy and we made some great new friends at Jefferson Hall, we were looking forward to seeing many more familiar faces in Fairborn. What we weren't expecting was an odd vibe at the beginning of the night. It was a very humbling experience to say the least. We have become somewhat used to a nice round of applause after one of our songs is finished. We realized on Friday what the opposite of that is. For the first half of the first set, we were struggling to let anyone know that there was a band there, not just a jukebox. It wasn't at all like anyone was being rude, it was just a slow start. Everything changed about the time we pulled out "I've Done Everything For You"(thanks, Rick!). From then on, it was a mad-house! It was quite possibly one of most fun crowds we've ever played for! |  | | To those of you who come to all of our shows, you were treated to a few Stranger firsts; "Pour Some Sugar On Me", "Photograph", "Hard to Handle" in the middle of "I Want You To Want Me" and a guy from the Dayton Opera singing "Living On A Prayer" and "Wanted Dead or Alive". That, of course, prompted Matt to ask me to sing the next song in our set, "Tainted Love", in opera-fashion. Let's hope the bootleggers didn't catch that one! We were having so much fun in the second set, we just kept playing all the way until the end of the night! Our second set lasted from 11:30pm-2am. The only way we could've pulled that off was to be blessed by the presence of our dear friends from Velvet Crush-a local 70's/80's band and some former members of Stranger! Dave, Dave, Chris and Chris (from Matt's other band Krunk), stepped up and played "867-5309" while everybody, except for me, hit the men's room! They went on to play "White Wedding" and then hung til the very end singing along with every song from the crowd. A real night to remember! Danny from WO Wright's was a happy camper to see that many people there on a Friday night. We return there on May 16th! Hope to see many of you in Cincy at Jefferson Hall on March 21st! As always, thanks for the support. Oh yeah, Time Warp Prom tickets go on sale THIS Saturday(March 15 at 10am). Hope you can all make to that one too-it's a hoot! Jeff, from Stranger |
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| February 23, 2003 (day after Jefferson Hall) |
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 | … hey kids… matt here! Unbelievable show last night!!!! JEFFERSON HALL FINALLY!!!!! Cant believe we finally played there… You gotta understand that I lived in Cincy for 3 years and used to hang out there quite a bit. Every time I went there someone would go “why don’t you play here??”… quite simple. Didn’t have the connection and Cincy club owners had no interest in taking chance on a “DAYTON BAND”… so personally this was a big deal. | | Not to be a punk but I was soooo proud of the guys last night… we put it up hard I thought… It almost felt like a first show… we showed up way way way too early… had the longest sound check on earth… actually got a little nervous… but it payed off… even broke my g-string!!! That would be on my guitar in case you thought other wise… rob wears the butt-floss in the band… the guys really played awesome and jeff as always kept the crowd interested and involved…let this fact be known… jeff is one of the only frontmen singer types that can charm a crowd of 3 or 3,000. in the words of the urban rappers of the world (WE REPRESENTED!!! HOLLLLLAAA!!!!). Back to the show… crowd was insane… from beginning to end.. totally packed!! It was so cool… not only did I get to see a lot of my cincy friends (kami, mark, dave mesker and co) but our Stranger fam from Dayton actually booked a hotel and made a road trip out of it… Sean, Tic, Bert, Steinke and crew once again made us feel like champs. I had a feeling it was gonna be a good night cuz the “formula for success” happened… heres the deal STRANGER’S FORMULA FOR A GOOD SHOW:
1. HAVE A BAD SOUND CHECK: any time you have a bad sound check you always have a good show… the fact that we started the night without enuff mic-stands… a major hum from the PA… and monitors that sounded like a fart all pointed the obvious… THIS SHOW WAS GONNA BE BIG!!!!
2. HAVE THE CLUB OWNER SPELL YOUR NAME WRONG: it was inevitable… but it happened TWICE!!!! The first one was when they actually thought our name was STRANGER 80’s (because of the website)… but it was too funny walking outside and seeing the sign with the band fave "STANGER"… its cool though.. the owners of J-hall are great people… thx for having us.. One final point… my 2 fave bands on earth right now are splender… and athenaeum… athenaeum actually played at Jefferson hall a few years ago… I went of course and it was kinda cool playin on the same stage… For shizzle my dizzle frizzo… not sure what that means but that’s what I’d say if I had corn rows and a Bentley… | Peace AUDI FIVE-G… Keep rock alive… and as always… Stay motley… |  |
MattP.S. – We want to start a tradition… Rob’s drumset has been remade into an 80’s walk of fame… stickers from every big 80’s movie, every band, every Atari game… the whole deal. What we want people to do is to help us add to it… Bring any 80’s sticker you can think of and help us add to Rob’s set! Winner gets a Date with Jeff… Loser get 2 dates!!! Ouch! Click Here to see Rob's drum set. |
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