In the 80's, I was in "Dennie and the Nashville Sounds," a hillbilly country 'n 50's band in Sussex County, NJ. We were very popular and would work every weekend as the house band in various bars throughout the county. We would work a bar for about a year and generate a huge crowd and then get fired for some stupid reason and pop up the next weekend at some other bar in a different town and build the crowd and then get fired again and the next weekend be at another gin mill and do it all over again. It was a lot of fun, and I did it for seven years.
One of the most memorable gigs was a wedding at a fire house in Newton, the county seat.
I showed up about 45 minutes before the gig, unloaded my guitar and amp from the car and headed up the sidewalk to the firehouse.
On my right, the grass was cut short as a good lawn should be, but on my left, it was uncut and the grass was about two feet high. The sidewalk was only about 100 feet long and somewhere in the middle, I came apon a young male in his late teens or early twentys, wearing wedding clothes, on his back in the high grass, with XX's for eyes, obviously punched out. I just shook my head and kept walking into the hall.
I mentioned what I had just seen to Dennie, the leader of the band, and was informed that the two families in the wedding didn't like each other at all.
We set up and played one set and took a break. Some time during the break, someone came running in yelling "They're fighting again!"
I didn't pay any attention to the fight and just sat talking to the guys in the band. Suddenly, Dennie walked in and said "We're done . . . Here's your money"
"We're done? But we only played one set." I said.
"Yep, Dennie said. We're done"
I shook my head, packed up my stuff and headed back to my car. This time the tall grass was on my right and this time there were two young men in wedding clothes on their backs in the high grass with XX's for eyes.
There were two pretty girls beside them, crying and clutching the boys.
A lot of people were out on the lawn, yelling and pushing each other. I walked right through it all and put my guitar and amp back in my car.
As I was backing out, the State Police arrived and I drove away as more cop cars were arriving.
I remember thinking . . . "what a great wedding."