There was a time when a disappointing gig ruined a whole weekend for me. Thankfully, this has changed a bit. I had so many disappointing gigs that it HAD to change.

If I didn't live up to my expectations, I draw a lot of motivation from that for the next gig: "I know I can do better, I'm going to blow them away this time ..."

If there were technical issues I had no control over, I might think a moment about the question whether I could get some control over them during the next gig - as the answer is most of the time "no", I quickly forget about it (last gig we played we had no sound from the stage monitors during our first set ... was funny watching the soundman crawling around, trying to figure out what was wrong ... and it was difficult because we could not hear the singer and each other ... but we managed).

If my bandmates were the problem, I used to be quite upset ... now I also forget it quickly. I decided to play with them, I could quit any time ... but even with their screw-ups, it's too much fun to play ... so why worry?

OK, here's one for ya'

Back in 86/87 I had just bought a new Kramer (still have it) hehe....Well, I decided to play the upcoming weekend gig with my brand spankin' new Kramer!

Well, I thought it would be cool to toss my guitar around my neck (I had a wireless system) I figured "What the hell! This will ROCK"! After all, I've done it many times before (on stage), and never a problem!!!

Well, 4 songs into the gig, I was rockin', having a great night, I was "IN THE ZONE!"....just rocked the solo for "You got another thing Coming" by Judas Priest...and I decided to "GO FOR IT"...Well, I gave ol' "Betsy" a push with my right hand, and one brand new Kramer ($900), went for a neck spin! All was great! But, I failed to realize just how low the stage lights were....(Never played at this club before)

Well, one brand new Kramer axe went a'spinnin'!

Headstock landed right into the overhead lights, and knocked 2 of them down, put a huge chip in the back of the guitar, and one of the lights hit me in the back of my neck leaving a huge bruise, and a bloody back!

I felt so humiliated! BUT, upon seeing blood on my clothes, the crowd went nuts! Everyone wants to see blood in a heavy metal crowd!

Moral of the story:

Do NOT attempt a "Guitar Spin" without examining the stage first!

Back in the 'old' days it was pretty easy to put a bad gig behind me ... I just let it slip into the ether and forgot about it.

These days it pops up on YouTube the next day and everybody sees it ... over and over again. I love YouTube, but I hate it.