Mike Keneally's Guest Host Hall Of Fame

John Waddington

The Station
West Warwick, RI
October 22, 1998

Hi, all!

My Guest Host experience started as a dream to have Mike and BFD play for my friends. As most of you know, after you hear MK/BFD stuff your first instinct is a desire to insure that everyone else on the planet should share in your newfound happiness.

Since no gigs were being scheduled for this area I had to do something and do it fast.

The wife would not let me have the show at the house; bummer. I contacted halls, clubs, and anyone else who would listen.

Finally settling in with the club approach I booked the gig, made and distributed posters. Contacted newspapers. Sent out faxes. Sent tons of e-mail. Drove to music stores and put up posters. Made tickets to sell. Hey, this is work, but fun stuff.

The band arrived the day of the show and we had a nice afternoon of food, chat, and relaxation. Cami swam in the pool and Bryan rollerbladed down a very big hill that had just been repaved, I hate to think of what would have happened if he fell. My kids really enjoyed the tour bus and Bryan. Thomas explained the finer points of life. I didn't see him eat anything while he was here. And Mike played with the baby a bit, and read the paper.

Off to the club, a quick 15 minute drive. Unload, setup, sound check. Bob Tedde's and Peggy's backing vocals on Potato sounded incredible.

A band I sit in with now have mostly been absorbed into "RockToad," which opened the show. We had a fair size crowd and the set went smoothly.

At one point I looked over at Mike and he was watching us and bopping his head to the music we were playing. He seemed to really be enjoying our stuff. This band is in no way a pro unit; we play once a week for fun. And this was my second time in public with these guys. I was a bit nervous but when I saw Mike smiling I felt much better. Thanks, Mike.

Then the main event. I was grinning from ear to ear. Peggy was here, Bob Tedde was here. Six-piece BFD-- WOW! I thanked everyone for coming and introduced the band. Everything went great. The sound system I hired was superb, the crew (Hyde Music) was great and Mike looked like he was having a good time. Since we only had one opening band we got a nice long show. Mike strolled the room with his guitar, stopping along the way to wow people. He stopped in front of a few of my musician friends and they still talk about this every time I see them. The club owner let the band play right 'till closing and the band seemed satisfied after the show.

I suppose for me the best thing for me besides hearing MK/BFD once again was what Mike wrote about us in the missives. "Waddington's band opens and it's like watching Crazy Horse in a tiny club, but with more chops- passionate and rocking like nobody's business."

Very generous, Mister Keneally. Thanks so much! I now repeat this every time someone asks me about the band. Heh heh.

Thanks to the Mike and the band for the inspiration. Thanks to Scott Chatfield whose encouragement spurred me on. Thanks to my wife for getting the caterer and letting me pursue my dreams without too much flack.

Guest Hosting: highly recommended!

--John

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