Its an identifier linking me or mine to the other parts of the world. At least mine is. Your's, I don't know. But it can be as complicated and as simple as that. It's a name.
I suppose you've noticed that groups have names too. Some are initials; PG & E, IBM, ARSE, and others, some are full-blown-off-the-charts long names; Mothers Against Drunk Drivers, and they are also MADD, and Women Escaping a Violent Environment, (WEAVE), and after you tack on a dot com at the end, wow, that's a lotta name.
Bands have names too, and that's what this little blog is all about. Band names. Think about this; Scorpions...that's fucked-up! Beatles, the "A" means what...seven legs? And, Beach Boys, was it just for the aliteration? But, go ahead, you come up with a band name! See, it's not easy, and what is a "spring chicken," anyway? Oops, kinda got lost, that's for another blog.
Now there's a name. Blog. See all it takes is a word or two artfully placed on paper, or these little TV screens everybody has to show names, and a band name is reality. The Blog. Now it even has some punch. Just adding a little thought at the beginning or the end can change the whole feel of the name. Blog. The Blog. See?
There's another part of the name thing. After-naming is what we will call it. At first the new name sounds strange coming off you lips; "Thank-you, we are the Trelisses." But, after a period of, say, about 66 years, it becomes easier to say aloud, without stumble or bitter shame. Don't get me wrong though, some names just work. "Men at Work." Now there's name with a very low after-naming-ridicule quotient, short, to the point, and definitely bold.
There is a specific reason for this blog. Naming the Amee Chapman Band. There are those that are aware of a mad-dash frenzy of e-mails and in person dialog in recent years to name another band I was in. The Holly Holt Band. Paul Fitzjarrald and I traded names for days!. The only one we agreed on was Holly's Tits. It never, though, became too big with the band-leader.
But, to truly do this right, the band, it's leader, all the personnel, and even type of music needs to be taken in to account for naming purposes. So we are fucked! We thought of the Historics, but we aren't all and Ancients won't work for the same reason. The Halos, now that fits... somewhere. Frequents. That might work. I mean we are overall. Frequent. But, how do you draw that on a poster?
Amee likes Big Finish, I changed that to Big Danish, which got turned into Big Donut, which ended that brain-storming session. It always ends with food. So, why not, Amee Chapman and Oatmeal?
Or, we could take a slightly locale point of view. We're from Sacramento, more or less, so...Oh I know...Amee Chapman and the Ahnulds. It's consise, but groping, pronouncable to Eastern Europeans, and when you say it you can make it sound like a sneeze, so the embarrassment factor is lessened.
Putting all the pieces of a band together is a challenge. You have to first, get a mandolin player. And it pretty much goes downhill from there. And then you have to name it. Turd is not appropriate.
I even had a contest for name for a one-time gig I did with some bluegrass picking buddies. Richard March, taking advantage of a full bullshit brain quadrant,won hands down with Bastards of Bluegrass. B.O.B. No bobdown jokes now. Actually that name lives on. Ken And B.O.B on myspace. I have a picture of Roberta and me there. So, if you were wondering, Berta, why people keep shouting Bob at you...there you have it.
But, it goes on. We can land a man on a moon, we can moon a man on land, a we can commonly catch a cold, but naming the band is just hard! Hope we can be finally finished someday.
