[Show] Nerdz Weds

Wednesday, September 28, was awesome. Why? Because Debs and I got to do a gig. A geek gig.

Do you know how long it has been since we’ve done a geek gig? It’s been ages! We’ve been doing gig after gig for normal, politely smiling people… if we were lucky.

The day before we had a gig that required us to sing normal songs. I don’t even know why we dress up for gigs like that. I mean, we don’t cosplay or anything, (although Debs does have a princess Leia outfit) but we go in our uniform. However, there’s almost no point in marketing because the poor unsuspecting person, who heard us sing songs like “Hallelujah” and “Your Song” will check out our website and discover “Virtual World” and “Timmy the Combat Wombat”. That’s not really fair now, is it?

Having said that, people always melt when Debs sings.  So maybe Debs can go on about marsupials and no one cares as long as they get to hear her sing.

Anyway, I was blogging about our gig, and sadly, we do not have pictures. Did I have my camera? Yes. Did I take pictures? No. I fail as an asian.

If you’ve been following the comic, you know that I like to show up to gigs an hour or two early. Why? One reason, I want to find parking and I don’t want to pay. Reason number 2, I get lost. Like I did when we were driving to Debs’s mom’s gig the day before. I always get confused when I’m in the west end of Toronto. Or the east end. Or in my car, for that matter. I hate driving.

Look at that entrance! It has THREE doors! It’s the “Let’s Make A Deal” of restaurants! Debs and I chose poorly. We went into the middle one and were told that we had to go upstairs. I should have guessed it would have been upstairs. When you are only carrying a guitar, then the gig is on the main floor. When you are carrying your keyboard, stands, a guitar, and two ukeleles, then it’s upstairs.

I think we got there at 7:30. The only person there was Brad, the sound engineer. This is good. We had one gig where the sound guy showed up late and I was confused at the board. You may remember this if you aren’t ignoring our comics. Brad was great and got us set up in practically no time! Once we were settled, I got to meet Dan, the guy who does all the booking stuff. Then I went to the bathroom a couple of times. I seem to do this a lot.

Anyway, Nerds With Guitars showed up and Debs finally got a chance to meet them.

Debs did meet Sean at The Last Nerd Mafia meetup, but not Alex. She and Sean were chatting a great deal because they found out how alike they were in their respective roles in a dynamic duo. In other words, Sean is my Debs, and I am Debs’ Alex. I think. Wow, that got confusing.  (Debs: They argue all the time too just like we do!)

If NWG wishes to have a webcomic, they could simply steal ours and just change the faces.

We also got a chance to speak with Wordburglar for a bit. I didn’t realize he lived in Toronto too! I was getting all giddy with excitement because it was a geek audience. A GEEK AUDIENCE!

And when we were finally on, people understood the references! That is so awesome! During “Geek Love Song”, I heard them laugh about fanboys getting upset. See, people who know, know this happens! It was great!

Of course, Debs and I were kinda rusty. We even practiced for the set, and we were rusty. However, it’s easy to fall into the ‘act’ that Debs and I have, considering it’s not really an act, we just argue as we normally do, and the set ends before I even work up a sweat.

Before we went on, we were arguing how long the set should be. We were told 30 – 40 minutes. She and I couldn’t agree how many songs 40 minutes would be.

For the record, she was right.

In retrospect, I realized we sang a buttload of songs. Sorry guys, I hope we didn’t break ‘opening band’ etiquette! We really should tell people it’s OK to give us the “GET OFF THE STAGE” signal. Not that we would know what that looked like.    (Debs:  Errol had something like 13 songs on the list and I was trying to tell him that we banter for a lot longer than he seems to think we do.  I think we did about 9 in 40 minutes.)

Debs was tickled pink because a guy in the audience recognized all the refere ces in her BSG song. Heck, he knew my Reddit references. His name was Kelson, and he was geeky. 😀 I showed him my Mighty Wallet because it’s cool.

Anyway, after us came Jess McAvoy! Debs really liked her because she sang songs that Debs would normally sing. In fact, she let that fact be known to her, like she was EMBARRASSED TO BE STUCK IN A BAND WITH ME.

“Oh, I sing normal songs too, by the way.”- Debs

*sigh*

Jess McAvoy was wonderfully talented. She had a great stage presence and a beautiful voice. She sang about emotions. That’s why Debs liked her so much.

In between Jess and NWG, a comedian did a five minute set. Sadly, I forgot her name. Darn it. She told some poo jokes. That made me laugh. No one laughs in my family when I tell poo jokes. I was glad to be in a place where I could be appreciated.  (Debs: Her name was Tanya.  I was fascinated because she would periodically take bites out of a raw, unpeeled butternut squash.  I asked her how it tasted and she said ‘awful’ and mentioned feeling a little bit sick.)

Then came Nerds With Guitars! It was the first time I heard them play and it was great! I understood what they were saying. Debs and I laughed when Sean played a small Zelda guitar solo. Alex pointed out we were the only ones. That’s ok, guys, when I mentioned Totoro, only NWG seemed to know what I was talking about.

Come to think of it, when we do our gigs, it seems the people who invite us understand our humour. The people in the audience, not so much. This, gig, however, was great all around. They laughed when appropriate! Huzzah! Can you tell I’m really excited about this?

NWG sang songs about heroes, villains, and I was pleased they also mentioned Guybrush. In fact, they mentioned all sorts of geekery which had me smiling with glee.

They only did nine songs because the opening band took up all the time. Those jerks. I bet it was the asian’s fault.

Anyway, at 12:00, Wordburglar came on! And I couldn’t stay! AUGH! I felt like a tool. I wanted to stay the whole set, but I needed to get home. I did get a chance to listen to a few songs. He has no photos for me to steal post of him, none that I can find. So you can check him out on his website.

He does rap. He does rap well. I can’t believe I sang the “Double Rainbow” song in front of him. Ah well. 😀

Anyway, I was exhausted. Debs and I were up late most nights practicing for one gig or another (the ‘normal’ gigs took a lot of practice, all these songs I had to learn) but it was a fun night and I sure hope NWG asks us to play with them again.

Actually, I do know that we are playing for the Gate fundraiser. It’s acoustic only, that means I don’t have a piano, but I hope we can figure something out.  (Debs: We can use the piano if we get it on and off quickly.  Nerds with Guitars are playing too!)