Concerts on the Road: LA, Berkeley and Seattle

I've been rattling around the Golden West the last few months seeing a few choice shows here and there. I made a trip down to LA (Burbank to be more specific) in early October especially to see Elbow at the Greek Theatre.  The week before, I had seen another favorite, Bon Iver at the Berkeley Greek, with opening act Other Lives.  Most recently, I took a long weekend in Seattle and stopped in to the Neptune theater to see The Belle Brigade and Dawes.

Two Open Mikes in One Week. 08.2011

Last month I made my annual summer trip to upstate new york to visit family and friends, and squeezed in not one but TWO open mikes in Saratoga Springs.
Open Mic #1 was at Caffe Lena, a career-launching coffeehouse venue for some well-known songwriters, Bob Dylan and Ani DiFranco among its distinguished alums. Growing up in that area, I heard much about its reputation but never worked up the nerve to go play there during my high school days. 

Open Mic Progress - 07.12.11

I did it- I finally dragged myself back to the Freight and Salvage open mic night to try again, and I'm happy to report that it went much better! It's been about 8 months since my last attempt; hopefully it won't be 8 months before I do it again. I'd like to do it at least once a month.

I played a cover this time (Bad Reputation by Freedy Johnston), which feels a little like cheating since so many of the open mic folks play their own songs. I figured that I have been playing Bad Reputation since my high school days (well over ten years, that is) and it's so simple that I should be able to play it in my sleep. So when my fingers turn into spaghetti and my brain goes into cold shutdown, I should be able to get through it without forgetting the words... and it seems to have held true. I was pretty happy with it despite still being very nervous.

I have to say the guys from my study group were awesome- they were my "entourage." They all showed up and kept me company, and kept me from getting too nervous while I waited. I seem to have odd luck (or maybe it only seems this way to me) with performing immediately after the best performers of the night- this time I played right after an amazing south american quartet and a laid-back sweet voiced guy from Humboldt. He sang a song about a beautiful day, and he looked as comfy and happy as if he was sitting on his front porch watching the sunset he was singing about. Maybe I should watch more sunsets...

Freight Fright, Part 2

I've decided it's time to tackle my stage fright again. The Freight has an open mic tomorrow night and I'll be there. The last time I tried it was in March of this year. I actually got myself there, with T in tow and Ruby on my back- but the sign-up sheet was already up to 25 performers and I was looking at a post-10pm performance time, just like before. Already feeling nervous at 7:30, I didn't think I could take 2.5 hours of adrenaline jitters, so I flaked. I had invited some friends from study group(JS, JT and Jj) to come listen, so rather than flake completely I called them up and invited them over to my house instead for a private "concert"- way more fun (for me, anyway).

But it's time to try public performance again. I've signed up the study crew again to come and hold me accountable (I won't flake if I've made four friends pay cash money to see it!) Jj has threatened to bring flowers and diapers (ew!) and decide which to throw after my performance. I may have to be dragged onstage kicking and screaming... wish me luck!

Fleet Foxes at the Fox 05.05.11

Somewhere between February and march, time and money fell into short supply- I began studying for my second attempt on the state architect licensing exam (the less said about that, the better) and we went into our second round of pay cuts at work. Deja vu - that sounds exactly like March 2010! Long story short, I made the unhappy but logical choice to cut the entertainment-slash-"performance research" budget and stay home and study. It turns out that was a pretty good idea, since I passed the test!

Kitchen Table Covers

This past Christmas, I made a CD for my Dad. I often make mix CDs for my Dad, or send him copies of new albums I think he will enjoy, since my love of music is rooted (in part, at least) in my Dad's love of music. His record collection has a sort of origin myth role in my memory- Simon and Garfunkel, Bob Dylan, Fleetwood Mac, the Beatles and the Dead. This year, I made a CD I called "Kitchen Table Covers," which is basically me and Ruby, sitting at my kitchen table, playing into my iphone (recording with the included Voice Memo function). The weekend before Christmas, I recorded five of my favorite covers (at the moment), in one or two takes each, imported them into itunes, burned them to a CD. Bam. Done. Ridiculously easy!