The Lion King

Rex Thomas · From: Thompson's Station, TN

Although this won't appear steel related which is why I decided to post this blurb in 'music', it will at the end. After 6 more shows of the above mentioned subject matter I will have played 40.

So, Roger Rettig (sp?)or any other SGF members, have you played this book before? Not necessarily a walk in the park, no? Definitely not for the faint of bladder or the overconfident either. Just curious if there happen to be any other Lion King vets out there that happen to play steel.

The guitar book has one playing ele. gtr., classical gtr., ukelele, & kalimbas. For me the biggest hurdle was the kalimbas as they were tearing up my thumbs & I had to tape them a little while, but I grew thumbnails then no prob. But I look forward to cutting them off when this run is over & it moves on to Detroit.

Ok, here's the "steel" part: I'm in Indianapolis, my native homeland doing this show (I'm on my 6th & final week though I had to sub out one of the weeks) & traveled back home to Franklin, TN (as you see to the left) on the dark days. I wasn't going to bring my steel but my friends I'm staying with wanted me to. They made a place for it & my amp. Well folks, that was a WISE decision. The fact that I could sit down & ENJOY my steel while I'm not working was a true blessing. I guess it's not a big deal to some, maybe most. And don't get me wrong, the Lion King book is great music & well written, but not my idea of 'comfort' music, where as the sounds I'm enjoying from my steel IS. It was just the fact that I could just sit down & not necessarily practice (though I did some) & just hit some tried & true licks & chords made this whole ordeal tolerable & that I could look forward to some enjoyable recreation as far as I'm concerned.

My point: ENJOY YOUR STEEL. Ignore these posts that become useless spitting contests & GO PLAY. This stretch of work has made me feel privleged (sp? See, I AM a good steeler! I can't spell for beens.) & THANKFUL that I can sit & enjoy this wonderful instrument that takes me to my comfort music. Sure helped with the homesickness especially.
ENJOY YOUR STEEL. Yes, that's an order. Don't make me come over there & flip you like a cheese omelete.
Best wishes to all.

Roger Rettig · From: Naples, FL

Well done, Rex! I haven't played it, but I have seen the book - I imagine you have to stay on your toes!

I might be the first to introduce pedal steel to the 'Mame' score - only two songs, but better than nothing; I also worked it into 'The Pirates of Penzance' recently - that was stretching it a bit!

If I go away from home to do a 'run', there are two essentials in my trunk - my steel (or, if the show calls for steel guitar, then I take a spare so I can play in my room) and my golf clubs. BOTH recreations are, in my view, vital to my well-being. If I'm playing steel on the show it's usually fairly restricting, so being able to noodle for my own pleasure is a big 'plus' - it's more like being at home, too!

Three months in Medora, North Dakota, in Summer, '02 could have been a trial - having a golfing pal in the show and my Emmons set up in my room made it almost like a vacation.......

Roger Rettig (Well spelt, Rex!)

[This message was edited by Roger Rettig on 25 March 2004 at 10:59 AM.]

Bill Hatcher · From: Atlanta Ga. USA

Rex.

I played the show 3 months here in Atlanta. No problem with the show at all. Everything is written so well that you can't go wrong.

In as much as the kalimbas--I pulled all the tines out and rearranged them (also I TUNED them) to the pieces in order to play all the parts correctly. Used the nails on my right hand only. No thumbs only junk. At the first rehearsal the conductor and drummer stopped after the first kalimba tune and just flipped out over how it sounded. Made me feel like my effort was appreciated. Man I stuck those Kalimbas right into the 414 mic and the sound man pumped them up in the house every show. Even the percussion players came down and raved about how it sounded. Fun show.

Rex Thomas · From: Thompson's Station, TN

Thanx, Roger! Good to hear from you.

Bill:
I guess my problem was I had ZERO time to mess with the advance book or the kalimbas because of a deadline I had to meet with my arranging gig. But all is well.
Did you also use the pre-programmed pedalboard they require you to use? Let's hear your thoughts on that.
I'd probably enjoy this more if the gig was at home, but having the steel here made it go by quicker.
Thanx for the replies, guys.

Rex Thomas · From: Thompson's Station, TN

Well, Bill. Or should I say "wild" Bill?

After talking to Greg (sound) he spoke highly of you & said that you played the "heck" out of the show. I'm glad you had time to mess with the kalimbas with the tuning as I didn't, so the thumbs only "junk" as you so eliquintely (sp?) put it

worked for me, 5 more shows as of this post & the "kitty" moves on to Detroit.
Greg also told me about what happened there in Atlanta concering getting your gtr. stolen along with some of their equipment as well, & that when the going got tough you took an "unfamiliar" (trying to be gentle here) gtr. & got going. You were handed lemons & you made lemonade. I salute you for making the best out of an understandably tough situation.
Again, to those following along, ENJOY YOUR STEEL.
P.S. to my friend Roger:
My wife put me on a budget as to one recreational dealy, so I chose steel since dialing down was no problem after playing pro all those years, & I can't quite swing the club fees.

Bill Hatcher · From: Atlanta Ga. USA

Rex. Tell Greg and the rest, Val and Richard and the guys especially hello for me. We had several drummers here in Atlanta so I don't know who is playing for you, but they were all great! Top notch pro folks.

Yes I did have a guitar stolen. A little Lo Prinzi classical that was later found in a pawn shop! I was compensated by the Civic Center here in Atlanta for more than I paid for it so I just went down to the police station, identified the guitar and let them keep it for evidence. I replaced it with nice Japanese classical. The night of the performance when I could not get a guitar in time, one of the workers at the Civic Center had some old flattop guitar that was tuned to a chord and used for slide/blues stuff. I didn't care, I just retuned it and did the best I could!!

I had a great time playing this show. I don't see how those traveling guys play this thing for years on end. A couple of months is enough. Hope to do it again in the future.
Enjoy the rest of the run.

Bill Hatcher · From: Atlanta Ga. USA

Sorry about missing the pedal board thing. No I did not use that. That must be a later addition. I used a a "parts"Ocaster into a H@K Tubeman+ into a 64 Vibrolux Reverb. They were happy with the sound. Used an old Smith Martin made tipple from the 20s as my uke. Had a great sound and Greg liked the brightness of it.

Rex Thomas · From: Thompson's Station, TN

Thanx for the replies, Bill.
Greg & Val are still on board & I'll MOST CERTAINLY tell them you said hello.
Again, Greg was impressed by the way you trooped in to a bad situation & made it work. Not easy to do on the fly. Way to rip.
They now have a WONDERFUL drummer traveling with them named Daryll Whitlow. (spelled it right this time!) He LAYS IT DOWN.
Yeah, the way it is now is you have to use their pedalboard which is some kind of DigiTech. It gets the job done, but that's all I care to say about that.
I'm using a straight up Martin soprano uke, but that tipple sounds like a great idea, & yeah it would certainly cut. My thinking is at least you'd have a teeny longer runway to do the gliss in that finale pt. 1 "Charleston" section.
Sure sounds like from what I'm hearing that if/when it came to Atl. that you'd be there. Greg said you did a great job, FWIW.
I agree with you; the steadiness of the gig would be great of course but it would get old. That thing is going to be in Boston EIGHT MONTHS!! (if I read the itinerary correctly) Yikes!
Happy trails to you & yours, Bill.

[This message was edited by Rex Thomas on 29 March 2004 at 04:35 PM.]

Roger Rettig · From: Naples, FL

Hi, Bill,

I'm happy to hear that having the guitar stolen eventually worked out to your advantage - that wasn't the case when I was doing 'Patsy Cline - A Musical Tribute' for a week in Aberdeen, Scotland back in '94.

I had a 'dream Tele' - one of the very first "Squier" Telecasters (a 'Fender' logo with a smaller 'Squier' logo inset, complete with B-bender and the best tone EVER from a Tele!) It wasn't worth very much, but the Production Company had rented genuine 'period' instruments, and these overnight thieves netted a '63 Gibson J200 and a '62 Fender Custom Tele with a rare white finish with black binding. They also got George Hamilton IV's Washburn acoustic.

Fortunately, they ignored my D10 'Pro III'!

I'm not ashamed to say that both George and I shed some tears when we learned of the theft, and while I'm very fond of my G&L, I feel I've never really replaced that Telecaster.

We left Scotland a day or so later, so I wasn't able to canvass the pawn-shops - it irks me to think that my precious guitar probably fetched a few Pounds in some shady back-street deal, and there's someone in a Scottish bar-band trying to figure out what that funny device is for!

Maybe the vintage stuff was disposed of more carefully, but those two weren't 'personally owned', so it was only money at stake.

A sad day for me....

RR

[This message was edited by Roger Rettig on 26 March 2004 at 11:52 AM.]

Rex Thomas · From: Thompson's Station, TN

It's over. Been home a few days.
I failed to mention that I also caught a bad sinus/broncial infection during the run, had a hard time getting rid of it because docs in Indy didn't want to mess with me & I didn't have time to swing in to see my doc as he did want to see me. Was embarrasing, probably a big minus toward being hired in the future, but that's academic now because of all conditions considered, much of it just couldn't be fixed then. But I've got the right stuff now & if this situation arose again, I'm prepared.
Great show. Would've been better if I could've played it here. Again, that's academic.
Janice, you can close this. Thankew!

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