LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!! THE GREATEST BAND IN THE WORLD!
*chuckle, lights cigarette* Well, maybe not the greatest band in the world, but it's my band, by God. We did another open jam last night and… holy shit. *snicker, bright smile* First, some people I invited fucking finally came to a performance of El Supremo at the Gin Mill lounge's rock open jam (it's a lot more open than Mid City's blues jam as far as material you can use) and we (the band) were the first ones up. The only things I could complain about were the fact that I was using another guy's rig (the speaker cabinet of which I'm sure I was bottoming out) that was turned up somewhere between earache and skull fracture volume levels and I failed to remember my Skull Screws earplugs. But, that's where the possibility of cochlear implants come in (preferably never, but at least it's an option). We got pretty damn good reviews from the crowd ("it sounded good" is the best you can get in Fart Wasted) and my uncle, my dad, and Jim - the latter two who fucking finally made it out - were thoroughly impressed; my uncle pretty well knows his shit as far as what to expect out of a band as a spectator, but I don't even have to try to impress my dad or Jim. A bunch of people (my dad included) were totally soused - I refer you again to the name of the venue; it is a bar - but my band and I refrained from it before we played (I think). Another cool thing about it was that our opposing guitarist, Chilly Addams of ROCK104, couldn't keep his eyes away from his fretboard but I was looking everywhere else - to my bandmates for direction, at the crowd for energy and inspiration, and just around the place. My hands pretty well know what to do by this point, so I don't worry about them. Jim also got pictures of our performance, so I'll have to look at those and send them to Phil. I also noticed that I don't smile a lot during a performance - there are points where even I need to focus on my playing - but every time the crowd applauded, I was grinning like an idiot; that's really my favorite part of performing. I was in my element (possibly even employing bardic magick, now that I think about it) there. Feeding off the crowd and giving them some of me in return. I'm just biding my time until the paying gigs start coming (which should've been last year, personally) and learning the real trade of a performing musician. One of these days, my sweetheart will be part of the audience, too, and that will be another plateau until other, better things come along. I just pray that our frontman will start moving things along just a pinch faster; I can't take much more of the moths flying out of my wallet. At least I know what I'm best at.