"It's like we're sharing the same brain!!!!!"
I've attended Open Mike two weeks in a row! Go me! I spent all day recording and then right before shuffling off to Serious Coffee I wrote a new song called "What's Wrong With Me". It's very upbeat musically (folky and rocky at the same time, with just a touch of melancholy) and "accessible" according to Alanna. Also very Ryan Adams inspired...I've been listening to him lately to balance out the severe 80s kick I've been on. Speaking of which "Big Bam Boom" by Hall & Oates is a very underrated album...but I digress. Point of story, I've been very productive.
Open Mike went well. Other than James and I there wasn't a single performer in sight for the first 15 minutes, so we started late and someone eventually showed up. I sang harmonies with James again while eating soup and grilled rustica sandwich on the songs that I didn't sing on. Yummy. More people showed up and we gathered a fair crowd. Everyone except for Nathan debuted a new song...always cool. We've also started dishing out songwriting challenges for the performers; mine this week is to have a song about "Painting as a metaphor" written and ready to perform for next Open Mike. Exciting! I think I can do it.
My set went pretty well, starting with "What's Wrong With Me", followed by a song I played once at the Grindstone Cafe in early 2003, "Disappear". It was very long before and didn't get a very good reception, so I edited it down and refined the vocal. Much better. I sing this one in my low voice. Third song: "Weak Kind Of Strong". Another folky type with some good melodies, I think. Written earlier in the year (July?), but only played once or twice, so I still consider it new. As with "What's Wrong" I blew on the harmonica; man that's a lot of fun! As a harp player I think I'm moderate...I do Neil Young guitar solos on the harp :) I ended the set with a request from Alanna: "I Can't Dance" by Genesis. I though it was a weird request from her; I asked her what made her think of that song and she said "It's been in my head ever since you made me watch the ENTIRE Genesis video collection DVD". Oh yeah...it's a wonder that she puts up with me :) Anyways, I was happy to oblige. I should learn some of the weirder Genesis stuff to play live...maybe "Mama", or even "Carpet Crawlers"!
After the show it was off to get some groceries and then Alanna and I rented "Madagascar" on DVD. It was quite funny, especially the psychotic penguins, not to mention movie references galore!
Oh, James and I are trying to decide a name for our duo. We've been playing a few gigs here and there, but we don't have an official name yet. So far, the only name that has made it anywhere was one of James' suggestions tonight: "Lemonshifter". It's better than some of the other stuff we've come up with, such as "The Ripping Boys". Hehehehehe...that one makes me laugh. So if anyone has any suggestions, lemme know!
P.S., I'll get those chords to you soon Trevor. I'm not sure what half of them are called so I'll have to tab most of it!
Open Mike went well. Other than James and I there wasn't a single performer in sight for the first 15 minutes, so we started late and someone eventually showed up. I sang harmonies with James again while eating soup and grilled rustica sandwich on the songs that I didn't sing on. Yummy. More people showed up and we gathered a fair crowd. Everyone except for Nathan debuted a new song...always cool. We've also started dishing out songwriting challenges for the performers; mine this week is to have a song about "Painting as a metaphor" written and ready to perform for next Open Mike. Exciting! I think I can do it.
My set went pretty well, starting with "What's Wrong With Me", followed by a song I played once at the Grindstone Cafe in early 2003, "Disappear". It was very long before and didn't get a very good reception, so I edited it down and refined the vocal. Much better. I sing this one in my low voice. Third song: "Weak Kind Of Strong". Another folky type with some good melodies, I think. Written earlier in the year (July?), but only played once or twice, so I still consider it new. As with "What's Wrong" I blew on the harmonica; man that's a lot of fun! As a harp player I think I'm moderate...I do Neil Young guitar solos on the harp :) I ended the set with a request from Alanna: "I Can't Dance" by Genesis. I though it was a weird request from her; I asked her what made her think of that song and she said "It's been in my head ever since you made me watch the ENTIRE Genesis video collection DVD". Oh yeah...it's a wonder that she puts up with me :) Anyways, I was happy to oblige. I should learn some of the weirder Genesis stuff to play live...maybe "Mama", or even "Carpet Crawlers"!
After the show it was off to get some groceries and then Alanna and I rented "Madagascar" on DVD. It was quite funny, especially the psychotic penguins, not to mention movie references galore!
Oh, James and I are trying to decide a name for our duo. We've been playing a few gigs here and there, but we don't have an official name yet. So far, the only name that has made it anywhere was one of James' suggestions tonight: "Lemonshifter". It's better than some of the other stuff we've come up with, such as "The Ripping Boys". Hehehehehe...that one makes me laugh. So if anyone has any suggestions, lemme know!
P.S., I'll get those chords to you soon Trevor. I'm not sure what half of them are called so I'll have to tab most of it!