moving right along

welp, things have moved along musically since my last post. i did do an open mic. funny experience because it turned out not to be an open "mic". there was no mic. the sound person was gone, so it really was an open stage. it was an odd comfort to have to call upon my theatre chops. not a lot of people were there, it was one of the slow nights and i managed to wrangle one buddy to support me. there was also nothing to plug into, so i ended up borrowing someone else's acoustic guitar (since i'd brought an electric) and i even borrowed a kapo.

i did my 3 best songs and after each, the folks asked to keep 'em comin'. i was so nervous and so excited! double applause. lovely compliments. i wasn't sure folks would be able to get what i was trying to do, but they did.

i left the experience wanting for more...looking for bigger venues...wondering if i could land a gig somewhere. understanding that there are listeners out there with heart, that are open to things that they don't usually listen to, that can appreciate and recognize what is essential in a performer. i learned a lot from this coffee shop venue.

and then opening night for this theatre company loomed closer. i had met with a few musicians who might be a part of the band.

i met with a drummer first: what an incredibly kind and fun person to be around. he had some impressive training, it seemed. but then when we got to playing, he had a rough time keeping consistent. he was also very attached to his kit, which wasn't going to work for this venue. but he really loved my music and was willing to work hard if i gave him the opportunity. hearing his feedback was very encouraging. and i didn't go with him, although i found myself to be torn by his kindness and warmth. he too, admitted that he was not able to execute the rhythms the way i needed them and wished me well in finding someone more capable. this was also good feedback in that i realized that i was much further along as a writer than i realized.

i was worried, though.

this drummer helped me to learn, however, that i needed masterful and perhaps even virtuosic musicians working with me. folks that are very skilled at improvisation. i had been very spoiled in boston because i was, in fact, working with masterful and virtuosic musicians. oh, i had it so good there...too bad i wasn't quite ready yet. getting there, but not quite ready.

a bass player was supposed to join us for this rehearsal/audition, but we had a miscommunication in messages. so, i headed over to a gig he had to check him out. when i got to this venue, the room was full with blue hairs! not that there's anything wrong with them and not that the performances weren't sweet and even good, but i felt quite out of place. i did catch a glimpse of this bass player and his eyes were glued to the page of some very simple songs - songs that everyone knows - 1940s/50s stuff.

welp, the bass player contacted me later apologizing for missing the get together and i told him i saw his performance but didn't feel comfortable making a visit directly since there were so many people there. in any case, i decided to give him a chance. i sent him some rough tracks for a couple of my pieces and said that if he felt he could improvise over them easily then i'd be happy to get together with him. he did not respond. ah well, it was probably for the best. i had a feeling that working with younger people or folks with a more open and experimental process would probably be best.

growing weary, i got in contact with another drummer. i drove out almost an hour to jam with him, but phew, it was worth it. he had a djembe with chimes sitting by his front door and was the nicest fella. we jammed in one of his practice rooms and it was a gel. he agreed to do all the gigs. thank God. my style probably wasn't his forte, but he appreciated my background (he plays for a few church gigs) and liked that he was working on something different.

i posted another ad in craigslist, this time announcing that i was hoping to form a fusion band from the gigs. i got a few responses from this as well, which was very nice. one was a flautist who plays with a middle eastern inspired folk rock band and another was a singer. i met with the singer first.

lovely exchange with this lady and i. it turns out we are of the same social tribe. she's a yogini and danced with the hippy folk in LA for years - the same folks i danced with. she's also been wanting to create spirit music to gig in churches and yoga studios and had grown up/had a living in nyc as a jazz singer. our voices are very different from one another, but we harmonized well together. she made herself available for a few of the performances and it was very clear that i had made a friend.

i also met with the flautist. lovely player. very good musician. but a bit of an old man. he was about my father's age, had been playing with the same band for about 12 years and was set in his ways and preferences. things were good as long as we were playing, but then he started to give all this unsolicited advice. and repeating it. and repeating questions already answered. something a little loose up there, i think. definitely not a fit, but he liked my voice for bossa nova. he said he would contact me if he ever started a bossa nova band. i told him to contact me if he decided he wanted to see the show. no follow up. kind of a relief, though. i went to a very grumpy place after meeting with him. must've affected the first show: boy was i nervous - scared, actually.

the first performance was with my percussionist and this singer gal and the room was packed. strange thing, though, the performance was a bit weird. i decided i wanted to sit on the floor without my shoes on, wasn't all that sure of my set and all of my equipment needed some servicing. in any case, we became background. no one noticed we were done with any of our numbers and our applause was sparse. i decided to talk to the audience some and that got their attention, especially when i mentioned my dad was in the audience, but i did not feel i was connecting with these people. there were some friendly faces out there that helped me through, but it all felt very odd.

i did get good feedback, though, and folks did compliment my performance. the difference the performance made, however, was with my dad. he said i sounded good, but that the sound was garbled with my old borrowed amp and old microphone. then my pops showed some real enthusiasm: he gave me his boom microphone stand, his chordless microphones and took me to guitar center the following morning and bought me an amp and bench. it was amazing to feel his support.

the following night, my drummer and i were a duo since my singer was unavailable and that went much better. a very small audience, but the set was rounded and our interaction with the audience was good. there were a couple of rappers in the audience and they even jammed with us on a number. it was great. unfortunately, only 2 people of the folks that joined us for the pre-show gig were actually there for the show, so the show was cancelled. ah, the challenges of a small company and a night of football.

the following week i got together with the singer and we jammed out with hippy music. we harmonized well and shared some of the same sensitivities around yoga/new age music. the singer was quite motivated and said that we could make money doing our music for new thought churches and we made a plan for how we might develop.

i also made contact with a guitarist. i was not expecting a lead guitarist to contact me, since i'd really been hoping for a bass player, but i did remember the unsolicited advice of the flautist and the stories of the singer, who said that it was very helpful to work with a guitarist in developing songs. well, well, well, what a test of grace because i hit the jackpot! i got together with this guitarist and we ended up practicing for hours! we went through about 12 of my songs and he loves everything. and what a swell person. and what a talented guitarist.

the day of our first person as a newly formed trio (guitarist, percussionist and me), i went over to my guitarists home and we played around with my tunes. we recorded some tracks and talked about our ideas for what to do next. we both wanted to start a band, but we also wanted to develop the songs more. we agreed that we would spend time developing the songs and then we'd take them to this producer/musician guy that i've been wanting to work with and then after we figured out what our sound really was and recorded a demo with session musicians, then we'd start the band. this still feels like a good plan.

so here we are now, i've done two performances with my guitarist, four with my percussionist and i've shared my stuff with a few musicians and some small audiences. i'm developing my songs with my guitarist, who is really positive, and i have gotten consistent positive feedback about my voice and songs. what i know now is that that my talent is worthy of being shared, that i take this stuff seriously and that that is good, that i will have to work my ass off (probably even literally) to find success and balance, that making plans are good, and that there is work in planning, being flexible to those plans changing, sticking to the important stuff, knowing/recognizing what's important, waiting until something is ready, protecting your stuff until it is ready and knowing when it's time to let go and just jump.