CGT December 1998 Update:
from Paul Richards
CGT December 1998 Update:
from Paul Richards
I arrived at the Salt Palace Convention Center at 5:00pm and was instructed to drive through part of the convention center building to unload my gear. This was the first time I had ever driven inside a building. I thought that I heard someone yelling, perhaps at me to get my car out of the building, but no, everything was fine. I unloaded my gear and set up on a small stage with a huge PA system in a very large foyer area where the reception for the party was to take place.
The Salt Palace Convention Center is brand new and ultra modern in its construction. It replaced the Salt Palace Arena which is where I had seen many of my first rock concerts as a teenager. In fact, the spot where I was performing was very close to the spot where I had stood on a folding chair on the arena floor to hear and see "Rush" performing on their Hemispheres tour in 1977. I was only 13 then and this concert made a very big impression on me...I was devastated for days afterward.
I had been hired to provide one hour of music during the reception before the party began in the ballroom next door. My wife Stacey arrived just before 6:00pm and I began playing about 6:10 and was instructed to play until 7:10. Since I do not regularly play solo guitar concerts, this was quite a challenge. I had to prepare for weeks in advance to come up with enough material to play for one hour. I had prepared some Christmas music and solo arrangements of CGT pieces such as Punta Patri.
The guest began trickling in and very soon I had about 1100 people in front of me all chatting away and ordering drinks from the bar. Most of them were turned away from me as on the other side of the room, atop two tall white pillars were two live angels posing and moving about while I played. The angels where actually quite inspiring, they provided an almost surreal atmosphere. Occasionally, someone would come and stand in front of me and look at me like "what is that guy doing, what a strange guitar he has."
While I was performing my wife was approached by three different men offering her drinks and so forth. I suppose that they were lonely Delta employees hoping to get lucky at the Christmas Party. One of them was wearing a Scottish kilt. Another used the come on line: "So, are you with the band?", to which she replied, "yes, that's my husband playing guitar over there." End of conversation.
The end of the reception, my performance and the beginning of the party was
signaled by a group of dancers all dressed in white with white painted faces, prancing, jumping and dancing through the crowd leading them into the ballroom where a buffet dinner was served. After dinner, some friends of mine in a local band called "Salamander" provided music for dancing. During their set, the angles were strategically positioned on pillars on each side of the stage, but this time they each had giant white beach balls in their hands. What a party!...
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