Did you see us? We killed!! All that hoopla for 2 minutes and 36 seconds of fun. It isn't often that you play for an audience of over 1 billion people and although we didn't win Oscar week was a unique experience. From the get go all of my friends and family were way more excited about the whole thing than I was. It wasn't until I stepped on stage for the first rehearsal, balked at all the celebrity names, thought of the enormity of the whole event and how lucky I was to have the opportunity to be there that I began to become excited. Dan Vickrey was caught up in the moment as well and when I peered right I noticed him furiously taking pictures with his camera phone. Unfortunately, I wasn't the only one who noticed as Dan was instantly surrounded by several large men in suits. Let's just say security was pretty tight at this particular event and they were not allowing any photos until the show.
Other than rehearsals, most of the week was spent worrying about what clothes to wear. All of a sudden the band turned into a bunch of whinny little girls. Dan Vickrey led the charge of indecisiveness simply because he could not decide. Adding more clothes just complicated the matter at hand. After much deliberation the choice was finally made only to be discarded in a whim moments before the show for the infamous I love Scarlett t-shirt.... go figure. Dan was followed by David Immergluck who came in a very close second. One outfit for the red carpet, one for the show, and yet another for the parties later that night, oh my!! This is coming from a person who wears the same color shirt on stage every night... go figure. After reviewing the pictures I must say we all looked fabulous. For the record after the show yours truly was given extremely expensive cuff links as a gift from the stylist for being the easiest to deal with.
On the last day of rehearsals we decided to sit in the audience to hear Chris Rock's opening monologue. The lights went down, the music started and Chris strutted out to the middle of the stage. He took one look at all of us and said... "Man, a lot of you are going to be here for the show so I ain't tellin' you any of my jokes." We lightly booed, to which he replied.. "But I will tell you some of the jokes that I can't say" (Loud applause, mostly from us) Now I can't tell you all the things he said for obvious reasons but I will tell you the one and probably the only G rated thing he had to say. "The Oscars are weird because here you have Martin Scorsese who has made films such as "Raging Bull" and "Goodfellas" and he has never, ever won an Oscar. And over here you have Kevin Costner who has made "Water World" and "The Postman" and he has won two!!"
Speaking of winning Oscars, we were all a little bit disappointed not to be bringing one home. As I walked to our dressing room after the show I decided to check my voice mail. I began to listen to message after message from close friends and family having parties and cheering loudly into the phone as they watched us on TV. This was all I needed to hear. Playing the Oscars was not only about having the opportunity to do what we love and showcase the band to a national audience but to represent and celebrate with all the people that matter most in our lives and helped us to get where we are today.
Cheers, Jim
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