The copy below was originally published in Richmond Magazine's August 2014 "Best & Worst" issue.
BEST LOCAL BAND
Three Sheets to the Wind
Richmond's favorite yacht rockers have won this category for three years running [Captain's Note: If you count the year Three Sheets won "Best Band That Always Gets the Party Going," this makes four-in-a-row!]. They've even played for Michael Stipe, lead singer of R.E.M., although they didn't know it at the time. Drummer Danny Marnier notes that they performed an R.E.M. song--"It's the End of the World as We Know It," by request--and later saw Stipe, who silently nodded in their direction.
2. No BS! Brass Band
3. Black Girls
We are extremely grateful for everyone who took the time to vote for our little yacht rock cover band! We will gladly renew our pledge to reach new heights in tongue-in-cheek musical showmanship!
So as long as the subject has been raised, it might be fun to relate the Michael Stipe story in more detail here on the Ship's Log:
We were in NYC in March of 2013, playing a birthday party at The Wooly, a soda-counter-converted bar in the former Woolworth's Department building downtown. Somehow we fit the band on the postage-stamp-sized stage, and played to a great crowd of yacht rock folks who "got" what we were doing. I recall that we also played Pulp's "Help the Aged" as a special request for the birthday boy. Anyway, the scene was cool--good low-level lighting, excellent cocktails, half party room, half lounge. We're playing our usual repertoire when someone asks us whether we play any R.E.M. tunes. Well, it so happens that we are R.E.M. fans--Danny and Topper especially so--and have, from time to time, played "It's the End of the World as We Know It" at private events because even though it's not yacht rock, it's a fun song from the '80s. We play the tune; Topper probably got most of the lyrics correct, and we think nothing of it until after we're done.
It was only then that we learned the truth--Michael Stipe was, in fact, in the room.
We were so pumped at first! I mean, THE Michael Stipe is at the party! After about a minute, however, we realized what we had done.
We had played (Shiny Happy People excepted) probably the least cool R.E.M. song to play in front of Michael Stipe. #facepalm. We worried whether the people who knew he was there thought we were playing it in order to get his attention. Then we wondered whether the song requester was trying to set us up all along. We suddenly all felt very uncool. I mean, why couldn't we have played Gardening at Night or something really obscure?
The angst quickly dissipated into laughter, however, as we remembered we were being paid to play yacht rock in New York, after all. As we joked around and rolled the road cases back to the Steely Van, Stipe and friend walked right by the bus. No one said a word. Perhaps, in view of what had happened, it was all for the best.
BEST LOCAL BAND
Three Sheets to the Wind
Richmond's favorite yacht rockers have won this category for three years running [Captain's Note: If you count the year Three Sheets won "Best Band That Always Gets the Party Going," this makes four-in-a-row!]. They've even played for Michael Stipe, lead singer of R.E.M., although they didn't know it at the time. Drummer Danny Marnier notes that they performed an R.E.M. song--"It's the End of the World as We Know It," by request--and later saw Stipe, who silently nodded in their direction.
2. No BS! Brass Band
3. Black Girls
We are extremely grateful for everyone who took the time to vote for our little yacht rock cover band! We will gladly renew our pledge to reach new heights in tongue-in-cheek musical showmanship!
So as long as the subject has been raised, it might be fun to relate the Michael Stipe story in more detail here on the Ship's Log:
We were in NYC in March of 2013, playing a birthday party at The Wooly, a soda-counter-converted bar in the former Woolworth's Department building downtown. Somehow we fit the band on the postage-stamp-sized stage, and played to a great crowd of yacht rock folks who "got" what we were doing. I recall that we also played Pulp's "Help the Aged" as a special request for the birthday boy. Anyway, the scene was cool--good low-level lighting, excellent cocktails, half party room, half lounge. We're playing our usual repertoire when someone asks us whether we play any R.E.M. tunes. Well, it so happens that we are R.E.M. fans--Danny and Topper especially so--and have, from time to time, played "It's the End of the World as We Know It" at private events because even though it's not yacht rock, it's a fun song from the '80s. We play the tune; Topper probably got most of the lyrics correct, and we think nothing of it until after we're done.
It was only then that we learned the truth--Michael Stipe was, in fact, in the room.
We were so pumped at first! I mean, THE Michael Stipe is at the party! After about a minute, however, we realized what we had done.
We had played (Shiny Happy People excepted) probably the least cool R.E.M. song to play in front of Michael Stipe. #facepalm. We worried whether the people who knew he was there thought we were playing it in order to get his attention. Then we wondered whether the song requester was trying to set us up all along. We suddenly all felt very uncool. I mean, why couldn't we have played Gardening at Night or something really obscure?
The angst quickly dissipated into laughter, however, as we remembered we were being paid to play yacht rock in New York, after all. As we joked around and rolled the road cases back to the Steely Van, Stipe and friend walked right by the bus. No one said a word. Perhaps, in view of what had happened, it was all for the best.
RSS Feed