I thought it would be interesting to see your favorite New Year's Eve gig memory! The good, bad and the ugly!!

Here's my experience...

In 1999, I had a gig at the Red Lion Country Club in PA. I was playing keyboard in a duo but the venue wanted a 3 piece. So, I hired my girlfriend to sing some back ground vocals. Paid her $300 to fill in while my duo partner and I split the $1200 remaining. Now remember, this was 1999 into 2000... the Y2K scare!! What could possibly go wrong??

1 - I had a terrible cold... the kind where you can't sing much
2 - My 95 Dodge Grand Caravan's power steering stopped working
3 - Had to transfer all my gear to another van and leave my van sitting
4 - The rented lights didn't want to work the right way
5 - One of my new Mackie SRM-450's over heated a few times during the night
6 - My Mom had to drive an hour and a half in my Dad's truck (3 speed on the column) to be there at the end of the night to get the important gear back home. The good thing was, she got a chance to see me play/sing, had a free dinner, and a nice night out!!

7 - My duo partner complained about the mix and my girlfriend's mic was "hotter" in the mix. Yes, my duo partner was a women... no cat fights!!
8 - We had 2 different countdowns to midnight... awkward...
9 - Had to get a hotel room for the night
9 - The next day, I had to wait for AAA to pick up my Van on New Year's Day

The best thing that happened musically that night was the Y2K parody song my girlfriend and I did to YMCA!! It went over well and we got some real laughs on a crazy night. No power outages... my Korg O1/Wfd played through the night without reseting its internal clock... and we got paid. Oh, the Van repair cost more than I got paid for the night!!!

By the way, the girlfriend is now Mrs. Shuey and she is my duo partner in music and in life!

Happy New Year ans have a wonderful 2012!!!