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Tonight was the CD release party for Random Thoughts (from The Canvas. Held in conjunction with DC X Arts, we played in a small venue just behind the Uptown Theatre in northwest DC.
Opening for us was Nefrit El-Or. Nefrit is a young singer/song writer originally from Israel, now living in DC. She's got a strong, clear voice and a pretty good stage presence. She did about an hour set, setting up the crowd for our part in the show.
We got up and began our show at about 10pm. The first set started a little slower than we might have normally liked, but people were dancing by the third or fourth tune. And they pretty much stayed that way for the rest of the night. They were good spirited and enjoyed themselved quite a bit -- it had to be at least 120 degrees up near the stage (the venue could have used a little ventilation).
The three of us played pretty well. Some boo-boos here and there, but nothing that was too egregious. We were well received by four hundred (!) or so people who came through the door, and we ended up selling about 40-45 CDs. All in all, quite the good night.
Much thanks to Rob for helping us out by running the boards!
Photos of the evening can be found here.
Tonight, we played for a group of lawyers in downtown DC. It was a good time; we had a few of them grooving to the music in between their networking and schmoozing -- even sold a few CDs!
Corporate shows are strange things. You get paid a ridiculous amount of money, and you pretty much get ignored for the entire time. Personally, that's not my thing, but I'm much more into the music (I'd spend all my time watching the band rather than pressing the flesh). Still, I'm quite glad to be background music.
Tonight, the three of us played at Café Europa. It was the first time we have played out since starting the album, and only the third time we have played together period since the same time. Needless to say, we were way too loose and ragged. To be honest, I think it was one of our poorer performances in sometime. We rushed, we played the chords from a C section over the B section, we tried a solo in a different mode -- I'm just glad it's over.
On the upside, we had a good crowd and everyone seemed to have a good time. While we know that we didn't play that well, I think that only about three times would the crowd have known.
Tonight, we had one of our better live shows at Café Europa. As we were setting up, we had more than a few people starting to wander in. There were some of the familiar faces, but we also had quite a number of brand spankin' new folk in the crowd for the night (which is always a good thing). However, as we were laying out the equipment, I noticed that in my newfound joy to be packing light (tonight was going to be sans wireless and footboard), I neglected to grab the mic and stand. Of course, with moving, I would be rather hard pressed to find much of anything anyway.
As the first set started up, we were playing decently well, only some small boo-boos that most other people probably didn't notice. The set started to drag, though, so I started calling a few changes to try and keep the interest up. We broke a bit early, hung around mingling and then got started anew.
The second set was much more interesting. By this time, the entire place was packed, to the point that I think they were turning people away. We had about a third of the floor full of people (mostly women) dancing to our music. Shahin and I kept changing the set list (sorry 'bout that, Brett) to try and keep the energy up, to keep the dancing moving.
After the night was over, the three of us walked through the crowd, meeting and greeting. There was this one table, and sitting there was a gentleman who spent quite a lot of time watching me play and looking at my rig. I figured he was a bass player and also figured that I was going to get a ration of grief about all the mistakes that I made. When I went up to him, he asked me when our next show was going to be. I told him that I wasn't sure (mainly becuase I'm focusing almost completely on the album). He then looked at me and said, "I have a ten year old son who is just starting to play bass. I'd love for him to come out and watch you play sometime." To be honest, that's one of the nicest compliments I have ever gotten.
All in all, this was one of our better shows. If you missed it, I'm sorry for you. We had a great night, we played well and we had a really good crowd.
We'll be back at Café Europa on July 23.
Tonight, the three of us made what may be one of our last trips to Cafe Europa. We've had fun playing there, but maybe it's time to move on. On the upside, though, Jack (the owner) had rearranged the layout, moving the piano over near the door, so we finally had a better real estate layout. The fire was going (man, was it ever -- I think I must have dropped a few pounds just from sweating to the heat), which actually caused Shahin a bit of problems trying to stay in tune.
Coming off the heels of an absolute kick butt rehearsal the night before, I had some pretty high hopes for this show. We got started a little clumsily, botching a few easier spots within the tunes, but then we fell into the groove. Some boo-boos here and there, but a pretty good show over all.
We also debuted the three new tunes tonight. Autobahn, The Chronicles of Robert Frost and Snipe Hunting were, for the most part, well received. Auto got the reaction we were hoping for, some head nodding, even a wee bit of dancing. I'm not really sure as to how Robert Frost went over -- it's a harder part of me, and I spent most of my time focusing on the fretboard so as to not chord the wrong notes. Snipe Hunting killed, though. Lots of good feedback on that tune.
And, speaking of feedback, during the set break, I wandered through the crowd, talking to some of the folks who were there. A number of them asked me if we had any CDs for sale. While I know that some of those requests were people simply being polite, I think some of the inquiries were genuine. As luck would have it, we're going into the studio in the next two months, so a CD will soon be available.
Tonight was the public debut of The Canvas.
We were playing at Café Europa, my first time at this particular place. Europa is a pretty nice venue -- stone tile floors, lots of wood and well appointed decor. I'd recommend it for an offbeat, Continental kind of experience.
We had to start off playing fairly quietly -- there were still some patrons in the restaurant side of the venue, and the owner wanted us to keep things down while they were there. We compromised, saying that we would tone it down at the start, and then go up as more people came to the show (and their bodies worked to absorb the volume level).
Speaking of the audience; I was rather stunned by the number of people who came out to the show. We had probably around thirty or fourty people, which was about twenty more than I had expected for a Sunday night, with game 2 of the World Series on TV. Thanks again to everyone who came out to see the show.
We finally got started at 8pm (the owner asked us to wait so as to keep his dinner crowd happy). We opened with our traditional tune Waiting For Rain, then went through the rest of the set. Shahin took his unaccompanied solo first, working back and forth between synth sounds and his guitar. After a few more tunes, I took my solo.
I had originally planned to use my looper to build up some music and then solo over top of it, but that wasn't meant to be. Instead, I just winged my way through things. I did a little of the Canon, some quick funk riffs and then ended on The William Tell Overture with lots of harmonics to cap the set.
We took a short set break, but then quickly went and finished things up. Brett took his solo during the second set, and he did a very nice, tasteful job of it. After a few more tunes, we called it a night.
All in all, a pretty good performance. The owner liked what we did, and he wants us to come back for a Saturday night show some time in November.
We've been on the books for a few weeks now to play a private party. As it turns out, it was the 30th birthday party for a lawyer. We arrived at a apartment complex across the street from the National Cathedral (in NW DC) at the same time as the caterers. Setup went fairly smoothly, as we took up an alcove in the party room where the festivities were to occur.
We started to play with a set list very similar to the last time. The first couple of songs didn't go as well as I would have liked; I think that we were not as warmed up as we would have liked to have been. After Shahin's unaccompanied solo, we started to play much better. I'm not sure as to why, but I'm glad that it happened.
One of the things that I least like about playing corporate gigs is how the "audience" completely ignores you (the money that these shows pays can help make up for that, though). This time around, we had a few people grooving along, dancing just a bit to themselves.
Today was also the first time that we tried out Red Leaves in front of other people. It was at the end of the set, and the people still around were very into their own conversations. In any case, the three of us probably played it the best we ever have.
Last night was my swan song performance with JoS; after a year and then some, it's time to move on. Rob (who came out to the show and was also nice enough to take some photos) will taking over bass duties for JoS in the future.
We've played at Classic Café several times before, so both the venue and the crowd are known quantities. It's a good crowd, mostly into the music, but a bit on the small side.
We got started in our normal manner (a little on the chaotic side), and people sang along and did their dancing. Including some people doing a little faux-lesbian thing for a while, which I think almost started a fight between the Malboro Man and Marine One (the nicknames we gave the guy in the cowboy hat and the military-looking one). But some good friends came out and that always makes things okay.
There was nothing that was going to make this night bad for me, though. As I've said before, quite a few of the tunes on the set list I was rather bored with playing, and I was viewing this night as the last time I will probably have to play any of them. Even Sweet Home Alabama -- a song I completely detest -- was fun to play tonight.
Towards the end of the second set, I played the same unaccompanied solo that I did at the FoI show. Very few people paid any attention to me, which I had expected at this kind of a show. But it was my last show; might as well go out with a bang.
I would like to thank Rich, Ryan, Matt, Rob, Keith, Basem (B-Nice boyee!), SLim (always with the L) and Mark (gotta love that day job) for all the good times and good music and I wish each and every one of them luck and good crowds.
Tonight was the third or fourth time that I have played at Main Street in Stafford. The venue is pretty good; there's a decent amount of real estate on stage, the acoustics are okay and there are a decent sized built-in audience (always a plus).
I got there a little on the late side (I forgot which exit it was off of 95), but load-in and setup went very quickly. However, as we were setting up, a table full of nice ladies asked me if I would be willing to strip. I declined, telling them that they really didn't want to see me even semi-naked (for their sakes; I'm so white that the reflected light would probably damage their retinas).
We played the first set, and the same table of ladies were hottin' and hollerin', but they had a good time, and that's always a good thing (They actually were nice). The crowd started to empty out during the second set, but then we got some return visitors and new people for the final set of the night.
I managed to play through yet another set of strings. The usual song (Thank You (Falletinme Be Mice Elf Agin)) was the culprit this time -- I need to work on my plucking so it's not quite so destructive.
After we finished up, the crowd started to cheer for us and asking for an encore. We gave them one, and then did our load out. While we were loading out, one of the crowd came up and asked us to sign one of our CDs. Second time in a row that's happened....
Tonight, the three of us played for an associates reception at a DC law firm. The law firm itself was amazingly well appointed (I understand that it has won a few awards for interior decorating in the past). We loaded in through the freight/service entrance, set up in one of the conference rooms and did a quick sound check. With no one in the room, we had to turn down under '1' to keep within the noise restrictions of the firm.
About 5:30, people started to file in, hanging around the food and the bar while talking to each other (you know how these parties tend to go). We started off with an improvisational piece, holding down two or three chords while we took turns soloing. Then we started up the written set list.
Throughout the entire evening, we all took tourns to solo at least one each per song. There were reasons for doing this, but I'm hardly complaining. It reminded me of some jazz gigs I've had where it was de jure for each member of the band to take a few bars of solos in every song. Just speaking personally, I don't have as much soloing experience as I would like to have, but I can get by with enough panache to sell it.
The first went well; we stretched out six songs over sixty minutes. After a short break, we came back and started up again. I had originally been scheduled to start out the set with my all-alone solo. That was abandoned for more upbeat, ensemble pieces in the hopes that we could retain the crowd. The crowd that was pretty much ignoring us to focus on each other (which is to be expected, since we were background music to their function), but we'd rather they be around than not.
The rest of the set went well, and then it became my turn. I started to play and went about five notes before I noticed that I was in the wrong key. I managed to transition to the right key and kept going. The first real problem that I encountered was me getting a bit cocky. The first part of the solo was going really well. Then I started on the Canon and went through the opening two iterations almost flawlessly.
Earlier in the day, I spent sometime studying with Anthony. While I was there, I played my solo for him, hoping that he could give me some pointers. He did, primarily suggesting that I add an additional chord to part of the tapping piece, as well as filling out the Canon piece by simultaneously hitting the bass notes top of the melody.
Having gone through it twice without even a slight hitch, I thought I'll go for the bass notes. Bad idea. The first stanza succeeded, the second started to falter and the third was a complete failure. I got out of it by tapping my way through an series of arpeggios down the start of the thump section.
At that point, Brett jumped in on drums and we started to improv together for a bit. Then I told him to drop off and I rounded it back to the opening tap theme, throwing in the additional chord for good measure (that one I could do).
Then Brett had his solo and we were pretty much through with our set. Having a half hour or so left to play, we played several more improv pieces and then reran a song or two. I think that most of the people had a good time.
I know that I would do another one of those shows again in a heartbeat. The crowd wasn't all that into it, but we got paid a ridiculous amount, had fun and picked up some good experience in the process. It's easy to get people into your shows when there are a few hundred people hanging around, but it's really hard to get three people all by themselves to get into your playing. Learning how to do that, though, makes getting the hundreds all the more easy.
Tonight, I dropped in on JoS at their latest show. I had never been to the Laughing Lizard before (which is ironic, considering that I lived up the street for about two years). It's not the worst place I've ever played, but I wasn't particularly blown away by it. The acoustic of the room were actually pretty good, but the lighting left a little to be desired (a single pole with two cans using a blue gel on it).
Rob pulled the first set, and I sat in for some of the remainder of the show. When I got to the show, there were a few people hanging around the bar, listening to the set.
After the set break, Rob and I chatted for a bit, then I got up to play. The set list had me singing some pretty hard parts right out of the box, but I think that I managed to pull the vocal okay. I had been rehearsing with FoI earlier in the day, so I was plenty warmed up on bass (fortunately).
The crowd sort of came and went throughout the evening. We never had all that many people, but we were never alone, either. One guy in particular (thanks again, Jon) was completely into everything that we did. He even asked us to autograph the demo CD when we finished up for the night.
Tonight, the three of us headed out to Culpeper VA for a last minute show from James Turner (our booking agent). Culpeper is out there. Like an hour and forty minute drive one way kind of out there.
This was the first time I had ever set foot in Culpeper. It reminds me quite a bit of my hometown, and I don't mean that as a compliment. If you ever want to watch the mating habits of the moden day redneck, this would be a good place to start.
The venue itself was in the basement of a restaurant/hotel/bed & breakfast. Seven foot ceilings, with a rather out of place nautical theme as the decor. While we set up, there was probably a half a dozen people hanging out. Unforunately, that was going to be our crowd for the first set.
The management also asked us to turn down. When I say turn down, you really need to understand what I mean here. We were down so low that I could clearly hear the conversation of the group of people at the other end of the bar over our playing.
As the night wore on, more people came in and the energy (and volume) picked up. For some reason, the bar didn't seem to like this, though. As people would get up and dance for a bit, one of the bouncers would come over and talk to them and they would go sit back down. I have no idea what he said to them, but it happened pretty consistently. Maybe this is another place that doesn't allow dancing. I had always thought that Footloose was just a fictional movie from the 80's. Silly me.
Towards the end of the night, we reran a few songs at the request of the audience. Normally, I hate to do that, but tonight we made the exception because we needed to fill some music as well as get any kind of reaction from the crowd. One of the tunes that we repeated was Sweet Home Alabama (which has to be one of my more hated songs -- only three more times do I have to play it!). As we were playing it, a group came into the bar. They apparently share my distate; they wrote us a note saying
We have been all over this town trying to get away from this song, and we came into here and you're playing it. So we have to head on out now.
Believe me, I share the sentiment.
Tonight, the four of us went to T.T. Reynolds for their "New Music Fest" (AKA a battle of the bands). Tonight, there were only two contenders: JoS and Locust. Locust went up first. They played originals, in a melodic rock kind of vein.
We got up and went through our usual set list, but there wasn't much energy on stage. We were playing for free. If we won the Battle, we'd get the chance to come back and play again. For free. And if we won that night, we'd get some money and then get a weekend gig at T.T.'s. All in all, not quite enough to get my heart all a flutter. It didn't seem to be all that motivating for some of the other members of the band.
The crowd seemed to enjoy our set, but at the end of the night, Locust won the battle. Good show guys, and congrats again.
Continuing the trend of shows not happening, Nick from NGB rang me up earlier today to let me know that they've decided to go with another bass player for tomorrow night's show. While I'm sorry to hear that, I wish them well.
The JoS show scheduled for tonight has been cancelled. No word as to whether or not it will be rescheduled as of yet, but I'll let everyone know if that happens.
Tonight, NGB pulled closing duties for Down To This' CD release party. There were three opening bands (Souls Release, EC-65 and Chrysalis).
This was the first time I have ever set foot in the Grog. In general, I've just refused to go; most of the bands that play there do not appeal to me. It's a pretty decent venue, though. It's not very deep and pretty wide, but the acoustics are respectable and the management has a relaxed and open attitude towards the acts (a nice change of pace).
Things were going pretty well; Souls Release had a great set of melodic power pop, EC31 put out high energy, pop friendly punk and Chrysalis played, well, rather downbeat, depressing, goth hard rock. Then Down To This (DTT) took the stage. They worked through most of the tunes on their new CD, pushing out hard, semi-trash rock. They had about sixty or seventy people hanging out, grooving to their music.
Once they were done, we got on stage. I didn't have to bring my own rig, as Jason from DTT let me play through his cabinets. We started off with about thirty people or so, and they started to get into our set. Unfotunately, things changed in the second song.
It seems that a fire broke out in one of the restaurants up the street. About halfway through the second tune, the ladder truck right out side the door turned on all their lights. Blinding white light poured into the club, attracting everyone's attention (It definitely attracted mine). Trust me, it's awfully hard to compete with the fire department trying their best to fight a fire.
In short order, the club emptied out as people went onto the street to watch the firefighters. We stayed and played out the rest of our set, both for ourselves and for those few people who did stay. I think they had a good time, grooving on the rest of our set.
Getting out of the club was it's own adventure. The police had the area closed off, so we could leave but not get back. I ended up making a run with my guitars and such to my car, then sneaking around to the back of the Grog, hopping a fence and then making another trip. Not the easiest of things.
Overall, it was a good show. The club liked what we did and they've already invited us back. We made some good friends with the other bands and even picked up a new fan or two.
Tonight, JoS returned to Main Street Bar and Grille in Stafford VA. Both Rich and I had played there before, althoug it was acoustically that time.
The show started out pretty well. A few of the people in the crowd came up to me as I was writing out the set list. They were friendly and seemed to be interesting in what we were going to be doing for the night. From what I could tell, there was a strong miltary presence (which would make sense, as Quantico was just up the road).
While we were playing, we would occasionally get some people up front dancing. One of the member of the audience told me that there wasn't likely to be much in the way of dancing at this venue, as the club didn't have the legal permits necessary to sanction dancing (accordingly, they didn't move any tables out of the way or do much of anything to assist). Still, they got up and started to move for a few songs here and there.
Otherwise, the crowd mostly hung around the bar, taking with each other and enjoying themselves. I could hear them singing along with us from time to time (particularly doing the fill-ins for Margaritaville). All in all, one of the better shows with JoS.
At 6:00pm, both myself and Chris from NGB pulled up to the crack den neighborhood that held the Thunderdome venue. To say that it was in a sketchy neighborhood does a disservice to all the crime ridden holes of the world. Thunderdome itself was actually much nicer on the inside than it was on the outside. Of course, given the broken and boarded up windows of the outside, this really isn't saying all that much. Needless to say, I was already starting to have a bad feeling about this show.
While we were loading into the club, I met the workers in the club as well as some of the members of the other bands. And that's when I noticed something about these kinds of clubs that bother me.
Thunderdome -- like a number of other clubs that cater to both local bands as well as "B"/"C" level national acts (Jaxx comes to mind) -- treat local bands with the very clear attitude of "we don't need you." On the one hand, this is absolutely true: there are almost always bands that want to play at the venue -- any venue -- so they can find a replacement act for almost any band. But that doesn't mean that you have to be jerk about it.
During load-in, one of the bands placed some of the equipment in front of a door that was very clearly marked "Do Not Place Equipment In Front Of This Door." When the sound guy noticed this, he walked over and said "Who's the asshole who stacked their shit in front of the door that's clearly marked don't put your shut here?!?" As opposed to "who put this equipment in front of the door?" The band was in the wrong, but there's no reason to go all ogre over it.
Anyway, the opening two bands were pretty much hard, hard rock/death metal. Apparently, Thunderdome tends towards that genre. In fact, it seems to be the place in Baltimore to go if you want to see old hair metal bands before they die and/or death metal (witness the Maryland Death Metal Fest that will be playing there at the end of May). The best thing I can say about either opening band is that they were loud. And rather young. In fact, the entire crowd skewed very, very young. Like high school or so. And this ended up causing a problem.
According to the contract of the show we were playing (it was a Battle of the Bands kind of deal), there was a set formula for determine performance order:
ADVANCE TICKET SALES WILL ALSO DETERMINE IN WHAT ORDER THE BANDS WILL PLAY. EXAMPLE : IF A BAND SELLS NO OR THE LEAST TICKETS IN ADVANCE THEY WILL RECEIVE THE OPENING OR LEAST DESIRABLE SLOT. BAND WHO SELLS ALL OR THE MOST TICKETS WILL RECEIVE THE HEADLINING OR MOST DESIRABLE SLOT OF THEIR CHOICE. ( IN EVENT OF A TIE, A RANDOM DRAWING WILL DECIDE THE ORDER.)
Based on the pre-sales that NGB had amassed at the reckoning time, we were 3rd out of 5. Accordingly, we were scheduled to go on stage at 9:35pm. While I was sitting over by the gear (because I'm just a little bit paranoid about the safety and security of my gear around bands that I don't know), I noticed the sound guy (Darryl) walk over and change the schedule. NGB had moved from the 3rd to the 5th slot, taking the stage at 11:45pm.
This change of events didn't sit all that well, and we tried to negotiate with the club manager to remedy the situation. We all went round and round the situation, with the manager contradicting himself a few times and generally having a rather dismissive attitude towards the band.
A small digression. I can understand this from the manager's perspective. He has to get the underage kids out of the club by a certain time to comply with the liquor laws of Maryland. A band that he has never heard of is trying to negotiate with him to change his business practice. In his shoes, I would have tried to work something out, but I don't know how receptive I would have been. </digression>
Finally, we came to a proposed compromise. The manager made a verbal promise to reserve an opening slot for an upcoming show of a national act on a to-be-named Friday evening. The four of us stepped away to talk about the situation. We basically concluded that his verbal promise was worth the paper it was written on, and, after some intense discussion, we voted. The band decided to declare the club in breach of contract. Accordingly, we packed up and left.
There will be consequences to this decision; of that I have no doubt. I do not expect to be playing at the Thunderdome anytime in the near future (not that I'm crying about that), and this might end up hurting NGB's reputation, but I suppose we will see what happens in the future.
Today, the four of us went out to play a fund raiser for Cystic Fibrous research. It was hosted by the Yellow Jackets Motorcycle Club in preparation for their main benefit held in conjunction with DC101 in the summer. Or, at least, that's what we were told.
As I got there, the first band had mostly already set up. I talked with their bass player about me dropping my rig in behind his (I didn't want to move his gear with talking to him first. I know that I'm rather picky about people and my gear -- particularly when I have a show to do). He was cool with it, though, and I finished setting up my gear.
It was a beautiful spring day, though. Not a cloud in the sky. A good thing, too. We were playing on an outdoor stage. But playing in the rain while strapping electronic gear on my body is not my idea of a pleasant day.
I had never heard of the opening band before (and, for the life of me, I can't recall their name). Having listened to them, I don't particularly expect to hear them again. They played (at best) average hard rock. The major critique I would have for them is to work on their vocals. The band was more or less together, but I have absolutely no idea in what key the singer was -- and I tried. Needless to say, the key of the vocalist bore no resemblance to the key of the music.
We got up and started through our set. The crowd seemed to be enjoying what we were doing, but they were far more focused on their own activities. And what might those activities be? Why, biker games, of course. The slow race, in which the winner is the one who can drive their motorcycle through the course the slowest (which is harder than it might seem) and the weiner bite -- in which two people on a bike drive under a hot dog suspended from a string with the person riding in the rear trying to take a bite from the dog while moving. Trust me, it was pretty interesting to watch.
Still we had a pretty good set. Ryan and I were locked into each other, and Mark and Rich both played well. As it turns out, the show was actually not for fund raising, but rather just an execuse to party. They had a good party, but I'd rather they just told us that up front.
The sound guys (who were excellent, by the way. I wish I had their information so I could pimp for them) recorded the show, so I'll upload excerpts of the performance later. For now, here and here. are some photos from the show. Set list can be found in the usual place. And thanks to everyone who came out!
Tonight was one of the better performances I have had with JoS since, well, joining up with Rich.
Load in was uneventful, and the venue was pretty nice (a clubhouse at an apartment complex). The first set was a complete loss; we were basically at a paid rehearsal. Some party goers milled around, talking amongst themselves and pretty much ignoring what we were doing wholesale.
The second set, however, that was a completely different issue. We led off with the Commodores' work horse Brick House. People got on the dance floor and started to groove. Well, to be more accurate, the ladies got on the dance floor, dragging a few men with them. Once they were up, and staying up, we started to cannibalize the remainder of both sets, looking for upbeat, danceable tunes that would keep them dancing. And we pretty much succeeded.
Nights like this one show me one of the reasons why I play music. The three of us were locking together pretty tightly, and we started to produce some good energy. The dance floor filled up, and they picked up on our energy, which made brought them higher. That in turn fed back to us -- a feedback loop of sorts.
All in all, one of the better nights I have had playing out recently.
Tonight, Jar of Souls returned to Classic Café for the first time in some months.
Set up was an interesting event. We had probably three or four times the gear that we need to do this show (not an entirely unheard of thing with JoS), so I didn't load in as much as I might normally use (leaving the fretless and the six string in the car). Mark took up a good bit of real estate to my left, Ryan on my right with Rich far over to my right.
But the entertainment had already started. There was an abyssmally drunk girl on the verge of her own wardrobe malfuntion who was very eager to get the attention of each and every member of the band. To the point of offering total strangers fifty bucks if she could just sing one song. I found it rather amusing, for about fifteen minutes. Then it was just annoying.
The show was pretty good. We had a little difficulty getting the levels set appropriately for the room. The first set of the night went rather well; we had a number of people up and dancing through some of the songs. We ended the set on the Rush tune Freewill, one of my favorites that I used to play in college.
About two thirds of the way through the first set, we had lost a number of people (for whatever reason -- it's late, music too loud/didn't like it, had to be somewhere else, etc.). However, we pretty much finished off the rest of the crowd with the opening number to the show. 2112: Overture/Temples of Syrinx is one of those tunes pretty much for the diehard Rush fan and/or serious musician. And it would appear that we didn't have all that many of either in the audience tonight. We worked our way through the rest of the set and then called it a night.
I think that Mark will be rejoining us for a few shows in the future. I hope so, it was fun playing with him. Rob also sat in on a few tunes. I'll upload the photos from the show (and the set lists) sometime later. After pretending to get at least some sleep.
We just got booked! JoS will be returning to Main Street Bar & Grill in Stafford VA for a show on the 30th.
Tonight, the four of us went to Agua Ardiente to play a charity show for both Children of Persia and the International Club of DC.
I had been to Agua once before, to catch some friends of mine playing there. It's an interesting club, with a heavy Mediterranean/Spanish feel to the establishment. Lots of people wearing black there, for some reason. The layout of the club is very similar to a large "U", with the band being set up in the lower left-hand corner of the shape.
We were only on the hook for a single short set. Unfortunately, we had no real sound check -- actually, that's pretty much par for the course anymore. The configuration of the club does not particularly lend itself well to live music; the walls have lots of flat surfaces, and you're basically playing to two thin halls. But we tweaked the sound as best we can, mostly trying to not have a repeat of the feedback issues we had at the last show.
We breezed through our sets pretty well. We had some time issues, along with the usual blocking concerns. As with our last show, we each had difficultly in hearing what the other was playing. When that is the case, having a consistent blocking of song segments is critical.
The other issue with the set was the time in between songs. We would get up some good energy, but then lose it with several minutes of dead air between each tune (either that, or having a guitarist noodle around for a few minutes). IN any case, it hurt the overall performance.
Still, for as short a period of time that we have been playing together, we did a pretty good job. The crowd (and it was a pretty good size crowd) seemed to enjoy what we were doing. After loadout, I worked the crowd for a bit, chatting with various people. They were pretty supportive and appreciative of the music we had played. A few even inquired as to our availability for future shows.
Today, A&S played their first show in quite a while. As a side note, also the first time since the studio session. We played for as part of the entertainment as a fund raiser for Children Of Persia.
First, a little about the fundraiser itself. Almost the entirety of the event was held in Farsi. I don't speak Farsi. At all. A few hours of poetry reading and speeches spoken in an extremely alien language makes for a rather surreal situation. The dancing numbers were interesting to watch, though.
We got up to play cold; no sound check, not really any warmup to speak of. We led off with Waiting For Rain and that went fairly well. The next three tunes were all on the slower side, and I think that choice hurt us -- the drop in pace and energy lost what part of the crowd we had. We also couldn't hear each other (the usual monitor problems). One of us did his usual invent-on-the-spot thing (a trait I thought we had addressed already), so things did not go so well.
Hopefully, the next show will go better than this one.
Tonight was the first time I have ever set foot in Jaxx. I think I know why that is the case; I was easily one of the older people in the room by probably ten years. The bouncers gave us a little static before the show -- I usually bring a bottle of water and a bottle of soda to every show I play. Apparently Jaxx does not allow anyone (even the performing artists) to bring in outside food or beverage. Needless to say, that kind of petty hassling doesn't put me in the best of moods.
We got up on stage late; Quazi played way over their time line. So, management asked all the following bands to cut their set by one song. We got up on stage, did the song check and started to play.
Things went pretty well as we started; there was good energy on stage. Something like the second or third song into the set, all three guitars started to no longer be in tune. I tried to compensate on the fly, shifting my fingering around and retuning by ear, but I could never quite find where either Chris or Nick were. A completely muddy monitor mix didn't help much in that department either.
Still, there was some good energy from the crowd and it seemed like they were having a good time. I enjoyed playing with NGB; hopefully there will be another time.
Aref & Shahin has picked up a new gig, playing for another charity show on the 25th of March. More details to come in the near future.
Last night, JoS played at the Barking Dog Lounge in Bethesda. This was our first outing with Ryan, and I was looking forwards to seeing how he did (it's one thing to play well in practice, it's another thing to play out).
First, a comment on the venue. Load-in was up two flights of stairs. Two long, steep flights of stairs. And bass rigs are both big and heavy. I'm pretty sure that my back will be killing me tomorrow morning. Particularly since we also helped Ray schlep his gear up those same stairs (I'm not complaining; Ray was doing us a favor).
Breakingform opened for us. We've known these guys for a while, and Ray's ran sound for us a few times before. This was the first time I've heard them play. Ray and the guys did a great job; really tight, together, a lot of fun. If you're into harder rock, I would recommend checking them out sometime.
We went on and started out decently enough, but things never really came together for me. A lot of the songs felt rushed, there were lots of wrong notes, it just never felt all the way there. I tried to throw myself into a few times to no avail. Hopefully next time will be better.
Ryan did well, though. Only two rehearsals and he was pretty spot on with most of the tunes.
-- Update --
Actually, something I forgot to put in here before. One of the nice things about playing in Montgomery County is that the bars are smoke free. So I can walk out without reeking of cigarettes.
It looks like I will be playing with NGB at Jaxx next weekend. Given that I have rather full dance card between now and then, there probably won't be as many rehearsals as I would like, but I think that we'll probably be alright.
Tonight, Rich and I did another acoustic show, opening for the Wrecking Crew. I had never been to this club before (Stafford's a long hike from DC). It's a nice club, though; laid out well with two levels (although the cow bell over the bar might tell you this isn't the most urbane of places).
With the Wrecking Crew's gear on stage, there wasn't a lot of room to stand, and that did affect the set. We played pretty well -- the biggest problem was in my new wireless unit. I had tried it out with Rich in a rehearsal, but this was the first time for the unit in a live setting. It did pretty well, up until I tried to use two different transmitters (one at a time to the same base unit). Once I tried the switch, neither unit worked for the rest of the show. Good thing that I always bring a cable for backup.
After the show, a number of people came up to us, telling us how much they liked the set. It's always nice to get good feedback. A few of them told us that they'd rather her us play than the Wrecking Crew (which isn't necessarily fair; JoS and WC play two very different styles of music). But, hopefully we'll go back to Main Street for a full set.
Tonight, Jar Of Souls opened for Harlen Simple and Oddbox at Sharpshooters. This was the first time I had ever set foot in this particular establishment, and it was a pretty decent place. The crowd was good -- young, energetic and open to the music.
The show was a fundraiser for a friend of Harlan Simple's that passed away earlier this month. I think that enough money was raised to cover the bills and expenses. I do hope that is the case.
We played pretty well (excepting two songs for which we pretty much completely checked out). It seemed like we were getting a good reaction from the audience. Afterwards, I heard quite a few compliments as I was working the crowd.
I went through yet another set of strings on Thank You This is the third set in a rather short period of time; this one didn't last nine days. It's always the G string, too. I'm thinking that either I'm plucking way too hard or I have something physically wrong with the bridge on my Fodera. I suspect that it's probably the former in this case.
And, just to finish out the litany of woes, I tore off part of my finger nail. And I did it on our reggae version of Feel Like Makin' Love. Lately, I've been trying to play it more palm-mute style, to get a better reggae feel. That results in my hand being at a strange angle to the strings. Tonight, the end product was tearing off the outside half of my index finger nail. I got lucky, though; it didn't bleed during the show and I could tear off the ripped portion fairly easily.
Tonight, we had a really good night at Firehouse. We got good crowd response, made some new friends, and generally had a good time. To be honest, it was one of the better times that I have had playing with Jar of Souls.
Keith sat in with us on drums, and Rob joined us (again) as well. When Rob got up, I went back to do a little drumming. It had been about fourteen years since I played drums out in public, so I was just a little bit rusty. Actually, I'm being kind. If I drum out again, I really need to practice more. To top it off, Keith's left handed, so I had to try and translate in my head to a left handed kit.
Rob played well, and Keith was rock solid. There were a few small problems -- the monitors (or lack of usefulness from them) chief on the list -- but nothing beyond a typical night. We ended up repeating a few songs from the first set. I really don't like doing that, but it does happen from time to time.
All in all, it was a good show. Thanks to everyone who came out!
Tonight, Rich and I played an opening set for The Wrecking Crew (a harder rock band) at East Coast Billiards. It was not one of our better shows. Things were a bit unorganized, and not having a drummer really hurt our cohesiveness. We found ourselved out of time to each other more times than I would like to see. Of course, once is more times than I would like to see, but this was several times over the same set. But, for our next show, we'll have a drummer sitting in with us. I'm looking forwards to it.
It's lookin' like Saturday's show will just be me and Rich, swinging for the fences acoustically. All of our normal backup drummers fell through (see! This is why it's good to have backups!).
Rich and I have played acoustically like this before. It's a lot more work for me; I have to carry the tempo as well as supporting the melody lines. Rich has to try and pick out the tempo from my rhythm playing. Still, it can be fun.
Rich rang me up earlier tonight; we may have an opening slot down at East Coast for some band next weekend. More on this as it develops.
-- Update --
Yep, an opening slot. The schedule has been updated accordingly.
Rich rang me up earlier tonight; we may have an opening slot down at East Coast for some band next weekend. More on this as it develops.
-- Update --
Yep, an opening slot. The schedule has been updated accordingly.
Two new dates for JoS on the books.
"It was a dark and snowy evening." Actually, it was. And cold as all get out, too. Add to that the strep that I am currently trying to get over, and things weren't looking all that good going into this evening.
The last time we played at Firehouse, it was not one of our better shows. Well, actually it sucked. And the owner remembered us and our suckiness from the last time. So when I walked through the door, he asked me how many people I thought were going to be coming out that night. I told him few, if any, given the weather report I heard on the way over (WMAL had basically said "for God's sake, if you love your children, please, please, please don't go outside tonight."), So the owner offered to cancel the night for us, or just pay us some flat rate instead of the door.
Rich had been playing a Toys For Tots gig earlier that night (I didn't particularly want to go, for obvious reasons. After all of us grouped up, we decided to play a short set for the night, to honor our obligation. The bar community isn't all that big, and canceling (even when it would legitimately not be our fault) wouldn't bode well for future bookings.
So we did our show. Rob sat in for me, playing about half of both sets, and that really helped me out. We played pretty well, all things being equal. We only had one vocal (didn't help), and I was sick (also a downside), but we had pretty good energy (a plus) and things gelled nicely (also a bonus).
Rob really came through. He had great time and good feel for the tunes. He didn't quite perfectly fit in, but we pretty much threw him in the deep end without any rehearsals. All in all, he did great.
Tonight, we played as an opener (of sorts) for a wedding reception. There was a main band in the room for dancing; we were in the lobby as more or less atmospheric music for cocktails.
The evening started off a little bit off-kilter. Due to various miscommunications, we were a bit on the late side of starting. Once we got going, though, things were pretty good. In my opinion, we carried out the songs a little longer than we should have, and there was one tune that was just a bloody train wreck from start to finish. Still, most of the audience seemed to enjoy themselves and we had a good time.
I had never been to a Persian wedding before. Since I wasn't an invited guest, I suppose that I still have not, but it was an interesting experience from my perspective. Everyone seemed to be having fun, the bride was beautiful and the groom handsome and there was lots of music, food and dancing. Compared to the drudgefests/wakes that were some weddings I have recently attended, this seemed to be quite the improvement.
This was one of the better shows that JoS has had for a while. We had a better crowd than many of the recent ones have been. That always helps. SLim was kind enough to sit in with us for a few songs as well.
I decided that I was going to have a good show despite anything anything else that might happen. And I did. I ended up doing more singing than I usually do. My back was killing me after the show, though. I think it was because we had a really small stage (good thing I'm not claustrophobic), and I had to stand in the same spot for three hours or so. Not the best of circumstances.
Back to PJ Skidoo's. The bar didn't advertise at all (their flyer mentioned a band the night before and the Halloween part the next night, but no mention of anything happening on Thursday), and we only did a mailing list. So, we pulled a crowd of about 3. Adding that to the people who were already there, and we played to a whopping total of ten people.
Still, we did our best. But, as the song says, I guess our best wasn't good enough. Another short night, two sets and out.
A return engagement for me at Firehouse Grill. The place was a dive the last time I played there, and it's still a dive now.
We started with a small crowd, and it steadily dwindled away along the night. Even so, we did get some people up and dancing, so that was nice. The other bars in the area (TT Reynold's, Ned Devine's) were completely dead as well. We made it a short night, only playing two sets.
This was a decent show; we did it acoustically. There was a built-in crowd and some old friends arrived as well. We had good crowd response and met some nice people.
The bar mamager is a big West Virginia fan, and they pounded Va Tech the night before in football. So we decided it would be a good idea to try and learn the John Denver song "Country Road". It didn't go all that well, and let's just leave it at that.
This was my first time at Willie & Reed's. Matt, the owner, is a pretty nice guy and was very accomodating. We probably had about four or five times as much amplification as that place actually needed. Add to that wooden floors, steel ceilings, glass walls, and it was probably not the best of places acoustically.
Our sets were decent enough, though. SLim sat in on vocals for a few songs, and a friend of mine (Chris Patry) hopped up on guitar for a bit. Chris is a really hot lead guitarist; one of the best with whom I have played. It's always a real pleasure to play with him. He brings a great energy to the stage.
This show was not one of our better ones. Java Jack's is a small little coffee shop in Olde Towne Manassas. The owners seem like pretty good people, and there was some sort of street fair going on in Manassas that day. Lots of people milling around, but mostly families with young children -- not exactly the target demographic. The intention was to play mostly for exposure, but I don't know how useful it is to expose the music to people who aren't likely to come out and see the band. We did meet some really nice people, though.