Double Down
Subject Guitarist: Rock Bottom
Saturday, July 14th, 2007
Venue: Eddie's, Granite City, Illinois
Now, mother was planning on hitting “The Boat” this evening, as she loves to play blackjack. She’s pretty good, too. She can hold her own. Not a card counter or anything, but she knows how to play.
Well, my cousin backed out at the last minute, and knowing how disappointed mom would be, I told her I’ll take her. What a way to bond with my mother: the casino! We didn’t have much time before my show, but that will probably be a good thing! Harder to lose too much money that way!
Now, I’m not a big blackjack player, as many of you know. I’m a poker guy. They deal me king/ten, and I’m thinking “fold!” Switching gears to blackjack kind of plays with my head. But, it is fun. When you win, anyway.
We hit the Casino Queen, looking for a $5 table. No such luck on a Saturday night. The three or four available were crammed full. No time to wait for two spots to clear. So, we settled in at the $10, and hoped it wouldn’t be TOO short a night!
After 15, 20 minutes or so, I was up about $125 from the $100 I bought in on. This game is easy! The only thing I was having trouble with was getting a drink. “Where’s my waitress?” Mom was hitting cards too, and we were all smiles. I’d start at the $10 minimum, then as I’d win, I’d press. $15. $20. I’d cap about $25. Maybe a $30.
Well, as any of you who play blackjack know, that doesn’t last for long. The “shoe” turned cold, and before long, I was down all their money I’d won, and stuck for all most the $100 I’d bought in for. I fumbled with few remaining chips, and contemplated moving to the craps table to try to win it back along with the $100 I had in my pocket.
Mom was still going pretty good, though. I’d take hits on a 12 or 13 with the dealer showing a 7 or 8, bust out, then mom would take the next card, and it was the perfect card to make her hand. “Woo hoo!” she’d exclaim. There you go, ma! You owe me a beer! She was all smiles, yucking it up with the dealers. You can tell she knows her way around a blackjack table.
My fortunes just wouldn’t seem to change. I’d double down, hit a 20, and the dealer would pull a 21 on five cards with a 3 showing. Sick! I thought my poker luck was bad!
I decided against moving as I lost my last chip, because $100 isn’t enough roll to do much at craps, and I wanted to spend the evening with mom. I reached in my pocket and bought back in for another $100. “Hell,” I told mom. “I’ll make that playing guitar and drinking beer this weekend.” Still, playing guitar for free didn’t sit too well with me. I was tired of taking the hits for the team. I wanted to win some money back!
I bottomed out at about $65, then the deck changed, and I started to win. Hand after hand, I was getting lucky. Some double downs, some black jacks. I was pulling even. And then, just like that, with a good run of hands that I was pressing with, I was ahead again. I love this game!
The clock was winding down to where I had to leave, or else Steve would beat me to the club. It never looks good when Steve beats you to the club! I could see out the window of the Queen across the Mississippi River at the picturesque St. Louis skyline, and the sun setting behind it. I looked at mom as they shuffled again and said “after we finish his shoe?” She nodded.
“Ok, we’ll go”, she said. “Come on dealer!” My mother is not an animated person. That is, until you’ve seen her play blackjack!
It was a profitable shoe. Mom and I kept hitting, and the Casino Queen kept paying. Oh, and I even got a couple beers from the new waitress walking around. Life is good!
As they began to shuffle again after the last hand of the shoe, I stood up, stacking my red $5 chips and green $25 ones. Quite a stack! I pushed them over to the dealer and she counted them up. Mom had a pretty impressive stack as well.
“$500,” the dealer said. I almost fainted! The dealer handed me 5 black chips. Wow! Mom had about $450, but she didn’t buy in for the extra $100, so she actually profited more than I did. Looks like we picked the right time to get off the boat! Before we could give it back.
Back at Eddie’s, we knew we might see some competition for our usual crowd, but also should see a spike in attendance late. The massive Biker Rodeo was taking place out at Doit’s Village Inn, and that always draws a good crowd. Our buddies The Alley were playing at Club 111 in Pontoon Beach for their grand opening, so we might see a drop off there, too. And, eventually, I’m sure people will stop by late for us.
In all, it was a rocking crowd as usual at Eddie’s. I was pretty much lost in Becca’s arms when I wasn’t playing on stage. All our friends made it out, and, as always, we had quite a party. Starting to sound like a broken record at Eddie’s!
I rubbed everyone’s noses in the fact I won $500 at the boat, and bought some drinks. What a weekend! It should always be this good! I even mentioned over the mike that I made more in 2 hours at the boat than I made all weekend playing here. Felt good to brag!
Our play got a little sloppy towards the end of the night. A good late crowd showed up as I’d predicted many of them in biker colors. Biker’s love our kind of 80’s hair metal. There were definitely more people here tonight than last night, but they were more reserved. We hadn’t quite reached them like we usually do.
“Hey!” Boozie shouted to me over the drumkit at the start of the third set. “Gotta buddy. Wants to sit in. Do Kryptonite!”
“Ok,” I said. I work that in somehow, I guess.
We fired off the usual start, and suddenly, we’d connected. We’d finally gotten them out of their seats and out on the dance floor. THAT’S what I’m talking about!
But, some of the song selections started to work against us in that arena. We found ourselves getting friends up to jam, and the mood reverted back to “sit back and watch” mode. The whole vibe was shot down. Damn! Let’s get this party started again!
At some point, trying to steer the ship back on the party course, I started to lead us into Def Leppard’s Pour Some Sugar On Me. A classic dance number, and first rate money song. Guaranteed to pack the dance floor. Also one Chuck despises. I have no idea why.
“NO!” C.J. declared from his side of the stage. Oh, Christ! Not now, I thought. We’ve got to get these people up!
“Come ON, man,” I pleaded. “We gotta…” I started the opening notes to the song.
“Suck my dick!” he said slowly, as he flipped up his bass and pointed to his crotch.
Well, that gets his point across. C.J. doesn’t want to do it. It was obvious he was pretty buzzed. I didn’t have the heart to fight with him. So, I played something else. For the next few songs, I struggled to get a direction where we could get this monster crowd into what we were playing. The songs we were playing just weren’t passing muster.
Naturally, since we started about 25 minutes late, we were about 25 minutes over. It was approaching 2:25 AM. Closing time. Last call. Get the hell out time. Especially after the savage beating last night. I didn’t want to run late. Got to give Patty Gale and them time to get people out of here.
But, that wasn’t at all on the minds of the other guys in the band. I figured we had one more song left in us. Sweet Child of Mine would be a logical choice here, but knowing C.J.’s condition, I wanted to give him a pass, and do something that still got the crowd going. You Shook Me seemed like the best choice.
Steve disagreed.
“We got time for one more!” Steve blared out.
“You Shook Me!” I told him. He glared at me.
“Naw!” he protested. “Sweet Child!” I shook my head. I knew that would be a disaster, and we were coming off the rails as it was.
“Can’t,” I said, and started playing AC/DC.
“Come on, man!” Steve said. I refused, and kept playing the familiar opening riff. As I suspected, the dance floor filled. It was a good choice.
Steve, however, gave me a look, flipped off his mic, and walked away. Walked right off stage. I continued to play, hoping he’d come through and finish the night this way. Just finish the song. He didn’t.
So, I sucked it up and tried to scream it myself. It was pretty horrible. Sounded more like a cartoon character than Brian Johnson. And, it hurt. I’m not used to singing like that. Hell, I can’t sing like that.
Still, the drunks out on the dance floor didn’t seem to care. They moved with reckless abandon. Not a one of them walked off the dance floor.
Mercifully, the song, and the night, came to an end. I was pretty hot. I wasn’t happy at all. Not at the way the night ended, at having to salvage that song, or at how the whole flow of the show ended up. I barked couple things to Boozie about our two “divas”, and let off some steam.
Some strange dude, eyes half mast, obviously wasted approached me.
“Hey dude,” he said pointedly, “how come you didn’t get me up to sing?”
Who in the fuck are you? Oh, this must be the guy Boozie was talking about. Felt bad, but, I had some bigger fish to fry. We needed to bring the set together. And we didn’t. In fact, we ended kind of awful.
And anyway, who the fuck are you? What are you in my face for?
“Look man,” I told him. “I’m not in the fucking mood. I’m pretty pissed off right now.” I walked away before I said something very rude. Because I was in a pretty rude mood.
Rebecca waiting by my side of the stage cleared my mood quickly, and the anger melted away. All in all, it was a really fun weekend, and a very, very profitable one! What the hell am I bitching about? Sorry! Come to think of it, as I look my sexy woman up and down, I feel great! I’ve fucking got it made!
Just going to have to do something about our “divas”…
Saturday, July 14th, 2007
Venue: Eddie's, Granite City, Illinois
Now, mother was planning on hitting “The Boat” this evening, as she loves to play blackjack. She’s pretty good, too. She can hold her own. Not a card counter or anything, but she knows how to play.
Well, my cousin backed out at the last minute, and knowing how disappointed mom would be, I told her I’ll take her. What a way to bond with my mother: the casino! We didn’t have much time before my show, but that will probably be a good thing! Harder to lose too much money that way!
Now, I’m not a big blackjack player, as many of you know. I’m a poker guy. They deal me king/ten, and I’m thinking “fold!” Switching gears to blackjack kind of plays with my head. But, it is fun. When you win, anyway.
We hit the Casino Queen, looking for a $5 table. No such luck on a Saturday night. The three or four available were crammed full. No time to wait for two spots to clear. So, we settled in at the $10, and hoped it wouldn’t be TOO short a night!
After 15, 20 minutes or so, I was up about $125 from the $100 I bought in on. This game is easy! The only thing I was having trouble with was getting a drink. “Where’s my waitress?” Mom was hitting cards too, and we were all smiles. I’d start at the $10 minimum, then as I’d win, I’d press. $15. $20. I’d cap about $25. Maybe a $30.
Well, as any of you who play blackjack know, that doesn’t last for long. The “shoe” turned cold, and before long, I was down all their money I’d won, and stuck for all most the $100 I’d bought in for. I fumbled with few remaining chips, and contemplated moving to the craps table to try to win it back along with the $100 I had in my pocket.
Mom was still going pretty good, though. I’d take hits on a 12 or 13 with the dealer showing a 7 or 8, bust out, then mom would take the next card, and it was the perfect card to make her hand. “Woo hoo!” she’d exclaim. There you go, ma! You owe me a beer! She was all smiles, yucking it up with the dealers. You can tell she knows her way around a blackjack table.
My fortunes just wouldn’t seem to change. I’d double down, hit a 20, and the dealer would pull a 21 on five cards with a 3 showing. Sick! I thought my poker luck was bad!
I decided against moving as I lost my last chip, because $100 isn’t enough roll to do much at craps, and I wanted to spend the evening with mom. I reached in my pocket and bought back in for another $100. “Hell,” I told mom. “I’ll make that playing guitar and drinking beer this weekend.” Still, playing guitar for free didn’t sit too well with me. I was tired of taking the hits for the team. I wanted to win some money back!
I bottomed out at about $65, then the deck changed, and I started to win. Hand after hand, I was getting lucky. Some double downs, some black jacks. I was pulling even. And then, just like that, with a good run of hands that I was pressing with, I was ahead again. I love this game!
The clock was winding down to where I had to leave, or else Steve would beat me to the club. It never looks good when Steve beats you to the club! I could see out the window of the Queen across the Mississippi River at the picturesque St. Louis skyline, and the sun setting behind it. I looked at mom as they shuffled again and said “after we finish his shoe?” She nodded.
“Ok, we’ll go”, she said. “Come on dealer!” My mother is not an animated person. That is, until you’ve seen her play blackjack!
It was a profitable shoe. Mom and I kept hitting, and the Casino Queen kept paying. Oh, and I even got a couple beers from the new waitress walking around. Life is good!
As they began to shuffle again after the last hand of the shoe, I stood up, stacking my red $5 chips and green $25 ones. Quite a stack! I pushed them over to the dealer and she counted them up. Mom had a pretty impressive stack as well.
“$500,” the dealer said. I almost fainted! The dealer handed me 5 black chips. Wow! Mom had about $450, but she didn’t buy in for the extra $100, so she actually profited more than I did. Looks like we picked the right time to get off the boat! Before we could give it back.
Back at Eddie’s, we knew we might see some competition for our usual crowd, but also should see a spike in attendance late. The massive Biker Rodeo was taking place out at Doit’s Village Inn, and that always draws a good crowd. Our buddies The Alley were playing at Club 111 in Pontoon Beach for their grand opening, so we might see a drop off there, too. And, eventually, I’m sure people will stop by late for us.
In all, it was a rocking crowd as usual at Eddie’s. I was pretty much lost in Becca’s arms when I wasn’t playing on stage. All our friends made it out, and, as always, we had quite a party. Starting to sound like a broken record at Eddie’s!
I rubbed everyone’s noses in the fact I won $500 at the boat, and bought some drinks. What a weekend! It should always be this good! I even mentioned over the mike that I made more in 2 hours at the boat than I made all weekend playing here. Felt good to brag!
Our play got a little sloppy towards the end of the night. A good late crowd showed up as I’d predicted many of them in biker colors. Biker’s love our kind of 80’s hair metal. There were definitely more people here tonight than last night, but they were more reserved. We hadn’t quite reached them like we usually do.
“Hey!” Boozie shouted to me over the drumkit at the start of the third set. “Gotta buddy. Wants to sit in. Do Kryptonite!”
“Ok,” I said. I work that in somehow, I guess.
We fired off the usual start, and suddenly, we’d connected. We’d finally gotten them out of their seats and out on the dance floor. THAT’S what I’m talking about!
But, some of the song selections started to work against us in that arena. We found ourselves getting friends up to jam, and the mood reverted back to “sit back and watch” mode. The whole vibe was shot down. Damn! Let’s get this party started again!
At some point, trying to steer the ship back on the party course, I started to lead us into Def Leppard’s Pour Some Sugar On Me. A classic dance number, and first rate money song. Guaranteed to pack the dance floor. Also one Chuck despises. I have no idea why.
“NO!” C.J. declared from his side of the stage. Oh, Christ! Not now, I thought. We’ve got to get these people up!
“Come ON, man,” I pleaded. “We gotta…” I started the opening notes to the song.
“Suck my dick!” he said slowly, as he flipped up his bass and pointed to his crotch.
Well, that gets his point across. C.J. doesn’t want to do it. It was obvious he was pretty buzzed. I didn’t have the heart to fight with him. So, I played something else. For the next few songs, I struggled to get a direction where we could get this monster crowd into what we were playing. The songs we were playing just weren’t passing muster.
Naturally, since we started about 25 minutes late, we were about 25 minutes over. It was approaching 2:25 AM. Closing time. Last call. Get the hell out time. Especially after the savage beating last night. I didn’t want to run late. Got to give Patty Gale and them time to get people out of here.
But, that wasn’t at all on the minds of the other guys in the band. I figured we had one more song left in us. Sweet Child of Mine would be a logical choice here, but knowing C.J.’s condition, I wanted to give him a pass, and do something that still got the crowd going. You Shook Me seemed like the best choice.
Steve disagreed.
“We got time for one more!” Steve blared out.
“You Shook Me!” I told him. He glared at me.
“Naw!” he protested. “Sweet Child!” I shook my head. I knew that would be a disaster, and we were coming off the rails as it was.
“Can’t,” I said, and started playing AC/DC.
“Come on, man!” Steve said. I refused, and kept playing the familiar opening riff. As I suspected, the dance floor filled. It was a good choice.
Steve, however, gave me a look, flipped off his mic, and walked away. Walked right off stage. I continued to play, hoping he’d come through and finish the night this way. Just finish the song. He didn’t.
So, I sucked it up and tried to scream it myself. It was pretty horrible. Sounded more like a cartoon character than Brian Johnson. And, it hurt. I’m not used to singing like that. Hell, I can’t sing like that.
Still, the drunks out on the dance floor didn’t seem to care. They moved with reckless abandon. Not a one of them walked off the dance floor.
Mercifully, the song, and the night, came to an end. I was pretty hot. I wasn’t happy at all. Not at the way the night ended, at having to salvage that song, or at how the whole flow of the show ended up. I barked couple things to Boozie about our two “divas”, and let off some steam.
Some strange dude, eyes half mast, obviously wasted approached me.
“Hey dude,” he said pointedly, “how come you didn’t get me up to sing?”
Who in the fuck are you? Oh, this must be the guy Boozie was talking about. Felt bad, but, I had some bigger fish to fry. We needed to bring the set together. And we didn’t. In fact, we ended kind of awful.
And anyway, who the fuck are you? What are you in my face for?
“Look man,” I told him. “I’m not in the fucking mood. I’m pretty pissed off right now.” I walked away before I said something very rude. Because I was in a pretty rude mood.
Rebecca waiting by my side of the stage cleared my mood quickly, and the anger melted away. All in all, it was a really fun weekend, and a very, very profitable one! What the hell am I bitching about? Sorry! Come to think of it, as I look my sexy woman up and down, I feel great! I’ve fucking got it made!
Just going to have to do something about our “divas”…
posted by Deron at 4:31 PM
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"Plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose"
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