Judgment Day (from the CD 'Ribbed For Your Pleasure') is one of my favorites, but doesn't make the set lists often these days, since it's straight music. The song is about those snap first impressions and judgments that we make every day just walking past someone on the street. The idea being that Judgment Day is actually every day.
Often, those first impressions are completely wrong. That guy you thought looked kind of stuck up could turn into a really good friend when you get to know him. On the flip side, the people closest to us sometimes don't really understand who we are either. And that can be even more difficult to deal with.
Musically, this song, like many others on 'Ribbed' is strongly influenced by Prince. Particularly a song called "I Hate U" from his 'Gold Experience' CD. I was enamored with the really energetic drum section at the beginning which drops into a deep R&B groove. Musically it came out very different, and lyrically it's light years away. But many of my best songs have come from experimenting with someone else's idea, and turning it into something of my own.
Of course, on this acoustic version, there's no drums. So make sure to listen to the original studio version to get the full idea. And if you don't have a copy of "Ribbed For Your Pleasure", now's a good time to get one. :)
To hear the rest of this story and hear the song (free), login to the "Current Fans" area at www.RoadsideAttraction.com and click on Audio Downloads.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Monday, October 8, 2007
Back from the Wild North...
Just got back from a great run with Tony Dijamco to Idaho and Montana. Comedians know this set of rooms as one of the Tribble Runs and they're notorious, but fun.
Tons of driving. I put 3600 miles on my car during the week. And a total of 56 hours of driving time. Brutal. But the country up there is really pretty to look at and Tony's an ideal travel companion, so with a batch of CDs and some road snacks we headed off for our string of sold out shows. :)
Tuesday in Missoula, MT - This was the toughest show of the run. I think the crowd thought they were going to a stone-faced-yell-at-the-comic-fest. I managed to get a few laughs out of the ones paying attention. The rest spent the time talking and texting. Mind you, they paid to get in. Tony had an equally tough time, but with more hecklers. A drunken birthday party up front ended up leaving... Only to be replaced by some old dude with a big mouth. Then another girl kept interrupting Tony's last bit to disagree with him. But we did get quite a few good comments from people after the show and met some nice folks.
Wednesday in Lewiston, ID - Lewiston is a great little town set in a deeeeep valley. Love the views coming in. This show was kick ass... Great crowd. We were told that nobody usually can hold the crowd all the way to the back of the room for the whole show. And we did. Felt good and we both performed well. Nice to hear people tell us we were the best comics to come through town in a long time. We stayed pretty late chatting with people then dropped to sleep in out hotel rooms. Long drive the next day to...
Thursday in Idaho Falls, ID - This is the one we'd heard about from all the other comics. And they didn't disappoint. It's a rough room. Very talkative audience, and your have to really pull the laughs out of them. Part of the problem is the sound setup in the room. After driving 9 hours to get there, we were beat, but still went out and put on the best show we could. And we heard the same good comments as the night before so we did well. Very odd though when you have to practically abuse an audience to get laughs out of them. We both had to let fly with some choice vocabulary just to keep their attention.
Friday in Billings, MT - Best show of the run... Nice full house full of people ready to laugh. My good friend Chad Korb opened the show for us and did a great job warming the crowd. Chad will be here in the Bay in a couple weeks, so watch for him. Then I went up and, despite some mic problems, had a great set. Nothing like a good singalong of Asshole to bring a room together. :) Tony also killed. This time we had a good birthday party down front for Danette. Billings also called us the best acts to come through in months. And the door guy said he hadn't seen applause like that ever. After the show, Chad took us to the Rail Yard to see The Clumsy Lovers from Vancouver. Great band. Super high energy country rock with fantastic musicality. Check 'em out.
Then we collapsed into bed about 3am. Got up at 9:30 and headed back home. Through rain, sleet, and snow (literally), we brought the comedy. It was nice to see the sun shine through the clouds as we got towards Nevada. They don't call it the Golden West for nothing!
Phil Johnson
www.RoadsideAttraction.com
Tons of driving. I put 3600 miles on my car during the week. And a total of 56 hours of driving time. Brutal. But the country up there is really pretty to look at and Tony's an ideal travel companion, so with a batch of CDs and some road snacks we headed off for our string of sold out shows. :)
Tuesday in Missoula, MT - This was the toughest show of the run. I think the crowd thought they were going to a stone-faced-yell-at-the-comic-fest. I managed to get a few laughs out of the ones paying attention. The rest spent the time talking and texting. Mind you, they paid to get in. Tony had an equally tough time, but with more hecklers. A drunken birthday party up front ended up leaving... Only to be replaced by some old dude with a big mouth. Then another girl kept interrupting Tony's last bit to disagree with him. But we did get quite a few good comments from people after the show and met some nice folks.
Wednesday in Lewiston, ID - Lewiston is a great little town set in a deeeeep valley. Love the views coming in. This show was kick ass... Great crowd. We were told that nobody usually can hold the crowd all the way to the back of the room for the whole show. And we did. Felt good and we both performed well. Nice to hear people tell us we were the best comics to come through town in a long time. We stayed pretty late chatting with people then dropped to sleep in out hotel rooms. Long drive the next day to...
Thursday in Idaho Falls, ID - This is the one we'd heard about from all the other comics. And they didn't disappoint. It's a rough room. Very talkative audience, and your have to really pull the laughs out of them. Part of the problem is the sound setup in the room. After driving 9 hours to get there, we were beat, but still went out and put on the best show we could. And we heard the same good comments as the night before so we did well. Very odd though when you have to practically abuse an audience to get laughs out of them. We both had to let fly with some choice vocabulary just to keep their attention.
Friday in Billings, MT - Best show of the run... Nice full house full of people ready to laugh. My good friend Chad Korb opened the show for us and did a great job warming the crowd. Chad will be here in the Bay in a couple weeks, so watch for him. Then I went up and, despite some mic problems, had a great set. Nothing like a good singalong of Asshole to bring a room together. :) Tony also killed. This time we had a good birthday party down front for Danette. Billings also called us the best acts to come through in months. And the door guy said he hadn't seen applause like that ever. After the show, Chad took us to the Rail Yard to see The Clumsy Lovers from Vancouver. Great band. Super high energy country rock with fantastic musicality. Check 'em out.
Then we collapsed into bed about 3am. Got up at 9:30 and headed back home. Through rain, sleet, and snow (literally), we brought the comedy. It was nice to see the sun shine through the clouds as we got towards Nevada. They don't call it the Golden West for nothing!
Phil Johnson
www.RoadsideAttraction.com
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