The Working Week

You might have noticed a bit of a gap between postings. You know it’s bad when your girlfriend leaves a comment on your website asking where you’ve been. The good news is I am just working away and haven’t dropped off the face of the earth. The bad news is the work sucks.

The open mic night was fantastic. Not only was the bar I was playing at really relaxed, but the other performers were really excellent to listen to. I got to the bar about 9:40, half expecting the show’s slots to be booked up, but to my surprise the 9:30 show hadn’t started. I guess this is what people mean by musicians never being on time. Not only wasn’t I late, but I was the first person on the list.

First Person… gulp

The other performers must have been eying the list for some time, because as soon as my name went up so did another 7. If it’s one thing I learned doing improv _is always go first._ By going first you never have to go on after a great act and if you suck nobody will remember you by the end of the night. Luckily an open mic regular put her name above mine because she had to leave and I got a bit of a break. It was actually good she cut me in line, because as it turned out the host really knows how to capture an audience and I felt really amateurish in comparison. When she got up to play I was expecting everyone was a professional musician and that I…

TWANG! TADDLE, WONG!

She was nervous and was playing kind of like how I do sometimes. The pressure was suddenly taken off. I was going to fit in just fine. The interesting part of playing live is hearing your voice in a speaker. You know when you hear your voice in a recording and you say “I don’t really sound like that do I?” Well imagine that feeling in front of an audience! Luckily I just took a deep breath and struggled through my first song, rounded with a fast song and end with *Forgive Me Love.*

Set List

1. Not The Game
2. Row Upon Row
3. Forgive Me Love

I had planned on recording the set, but in the rush to get myself together, I sadly forgot to instruct Diane to record the show. Sorry all, I will endeavor to record the new songs and post them on Monday to give you a sample of my new material. The next show will be recorded and I will post the track on this website, so even if you can’t be there you can enjoy my musical stylings. Next show is Next Tuesday June 15 at 9:30. I again ask if you want to see me, please e-mail for directions. Next show will have at least 2 new songs.

The open mic was a real turning point for me. It solidified that I am a musician at heart. It also proved to myself that I can sing and people enjoy my singing. It seems like a silly thing to say, but I feel as if creating music is open to me and far less daunting than it seemed. I feel like I can takes risks now, because the performance jitters are gone. Music doesn’t need to be crafted out of ivory and hued with bight jewels, it can just be a simple ditty. It doesn’t need to be perfect, it just needs to be made.

Life is too short to be precise about everything.

Sadly no panties were thrown on stage, nor did my pyrotechnics team get the visuals I had been planning for, but all in all, great show.