Fit In and Make Yourself Feel Better

Yeah, not exactly what James Brown meant. Not what he said, either...but.
Can you name any of the musicians in the James Brown Revue?
Not a one. They were made to sound like a singular unit to showcase the dancing of the Whirling GodFather of Soul.

It's the annual July Fourth at George Harrison's. Three bands worth of music. A pig and a goat for food. There is more going on than a three ringed circus. People to-ing and fro-ing. On the concrete patio which is covered by a huge tent there are kids (20 somethings) on bikes, toddlers running and playing. There is a pool off to the side by the parking.
A road house atmosphere, through and through.

We begin to play. The standards come out first. Someone plays Lynyrd Skynyrd...and we're off.
One of the bands, in fact - the headliners, are a no show.
After the tongues stop wagging, Neil Young comes out...When You Dance and Down By The River.
And on it goes.

Throughout this Mark, a saxophone player of the Kenny G variety and Shotgun, the sixty something who still thinks he is at recess are playing incredibly loudly. Both arrived late and had to set up further from the action. So to make up for this they cranked their volume. Shotgun, I suspect is deaf. Literally.
He is honking that guitar SO loudly that people start to look to see what the ruckus is about.

Is that a car alarm going off? Nope...Shotgun found the sound effects on his pedal board.
(Insert facepalm here)

I turn my volume down. The drummer matches me, which is the greatest hurdle in most bands and suddenly Mark and Shotgun are too loud for what we're doing.

After the second set I was able to remove my ear plugs and just play.

Here is the lesson for today. If everyone works to make the band sound good we all come off as musical geniuses. But one deaf guy playing too loudly is enough to sour the entire performance for everyone.
This is not a new rant, but merely my annual revisit.

We endure because we enjoy the company. Even if they are nuts, ill mannered and deaf.

And...I have to say, I sounded great.