Strange Stage Stories

Musicians know that not everything goes according to plan. In this latest edition of Strange Stage Stories: Samantha Fish and the seals, Johnny Vernazza meets Chuck Berry, Tom Griesgraber surprises a fan, and Andy Shorenstein of the Midnight Ramblers loses a drummer on live TV.

Johnny Vernazza: The Elvin Bishop Band had a show with Chuck Berry at Stanford University and the promoter didn’t know Chuck didn’t have a band. He asked us to back him. You can tell in the photos we’re not dressed for the stage as it happened so fast. We had a good time. On the way on stage, he asked the bass player, Michael “Fly” Brooks, “you know how to play that thing?” Fly, sarcastic as always, answers, “You’re about to find out!”

Tom Griesgraber: The director of the documentary Prairie Prophecy comes every year to the San Diego County Fair on Father’s Day. It’s his request to his family for the day. And coming to see me is one of his must-do items. So much so that when the fair was closed during the pandemic, his family hired me and threw a surprise mini-fair party for him in their front yard. I was playing on the lawn, they set up a corn dog stand, popcorn, etc. It totally surprised him.

Samantha Fish. Photo by Gafkjen.

Samantha Fish: We used to go see the seals. I love those guys. The first time we went, there were people swimming in the water with them. So, I went to buy a bathing suit, like at the little gift shop there, and jumped in the water. And we were just swimming around with these seals. We’re not getting too close, obviously. But at a point it dawned on me that this is completely freaking dangerous. You know, there’s like nobody watching us. And these seals are massive. I remember I made eye contact with one underwater and it started swimming toward me. And I had this fear that it was going to take me down to the bottom and sit on me. And I was like, what the fuck am I doing here? I’ve got a gig tonight. It was so cold in the water and we were playing at the Belly Up with Marc Broussard. I remember getting there and my hands were numb for four hours. Wow. Which I’ve never experienced something like that before, so I thought maybe this was a bad idea.

But if I have somebody new in the crew or something, I’m like, do you want to see something cool? We’ll go take a look at the seals because it is really interesting and beautiful. It’s not something we get in most other places in the world.

Andy Shorenstein/The Midnight Ramblers: About 15 years ago I was the keyboard player in an eight-piece Rolling Stones tribute band called the Midnight Ramblers. We were lucky enough to snag a television gig on KNSD’s Streetside San Diego. We were told to arrive at 7am and set up in the outdoor plaza downtown next to their office building. Since our regular soundman was out of town, our bandleader went on Craigslist and found a soundman to run our soundboard and send the audio feed to the TV station. Everything went fine for sound check, and at around 8:30 AM we had two television cameras and a producer telling us it was five minutes until airtime for a teaser promo. Just then, our drummer’s cell phone rings. Apparently, his wife and two children, ages eight and ten, were having trouble finding parking, so the wife let the kids out of the car several blocks away and told them to walk in the direction of the plaza that we were playing at. We watched with curiosity as our drummer became increasingly upset and loud and then began looking around in a panic. Then, without explanation, he bolted from his drum stool and took off across the plaza, still yelling in his phone. It was three minutes to airtime. We all looked at each other in disbelief. Eventually, our bandleader said into his microphone “Does anybody out there know how to play drums?” The soundman that we had just met raised his hand and said “I’m a drummer.” Our bandleader asked, “Do you know how to play ‘Brown Sugar?’” “Sure,” he says, and proceeds to go over to the drum set with seconds to spare. We counted in and the drummer nailed the part perfectly. The TV show goes to commercial, and the drummer’s cell phone rings. He answers it and says to a friend who was probably watching the show “Yeah that was me! I was playing the drums!” The drummer found his kids safe and sound a few blocks away and he returned for the rest of the show.”

I don’t have the video of the teaser promo with the soundman on drums, but here is the video of our appearance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrbXbvR5Jao

Since I set up my keys to the left, I am rarely in the camera shot.

Bart Mendoza is a music journalist whose work has appeared in numerous publications, from the San Diego Union Tribune and the San Diego Troubadour to Great Britain’s Shindig magazine. As a musician he has toured the world during the 1980s with Manual Scan, the ’90s with the Shambles, and currently performs with True Stories.