Its heads up at the poker table...

The blinds are huge, and just happen to force you all in, so now it doesn't matter what cards you get, you have to play them.

The dealer deals...

7 of diamonds, and a 2 of clubs.

You sigh in grief as you realize this is the worst possible hand in poker.

Thats just about the same feeling I had 1 song into our set at Crash Mansion...

Look, it's an awesome place. Really beautiful for a club on Bowery in NYC. It's a new place and the drinks are tasty and everyone was really friendly. I think I could compare the place to the Mercury Lounge, the setup is similar, and the sound system and backline gear is very very good.

But just as we were finishing our first song, Gamblor, the god of poker, apparently convinced Bassocles, the god of the 4-stringed instrument, to strike me down. Maybe Bassocles owed Gamblor a favor or something. I don't know, I dont pay attention to god politics.

What I do know was that in the last 10 seconds of "Get Up Today", my bass died. Total equipment failure.

Excellent, I thought, thats great. At least I have my backup. So while Bill chats up the crowd, I go down and grab the backup, my old 1977 P-Bass, and plug it in. Great it's not in tune. So I tune it up, then discover that it also has problems. It had no bottom end, and put up a really hi-range, clanky sound. Wonderful....

Turns out the pickups were wired in backwards last time I had it repaired.

I won't mention who did the repair, but I sure as hell ain't goin there ever again.

Regardless, the crowd was awesome, and we finished the set as best we could. The awesome soundguy apparently fixed my bass sound for the house so everyone else heard great bass even though on stage it sounded like ass to me.

But yeah, we finished up, and everyone cheered us on.

What bugged me most is that the whole show I had to focus on this problem, rather than simply put out my best.

So as it turns out, the last two cards dealt were a 7 and a 2, giving me two pair, and I won the hand.

Really bad analogy. Sorry. The basses are both being repaired right now, and hopefully won't have to be repaired again for a long time....

Just got word that Crash Mansion wants us back. Awesomeness. You may want to be there to see me get revenge on Bassocles...