Checkers Acoustic Showcase-Deliverance From Doubt

I know the last blog (Doubt seen over at Record World) was a bit darker and I was beginning to question even why I was still playing music live.  The Parlor City Blues Jam last night, I didn't go there in a good frame of mind and while my performance was passable, I ended up vacating the drummer's chair to George Hanna to finish the night.  Not exactly what I wanted to do, after hanging around for two and half hours just to play a couple songs  and the damn waitress forgot to give me the glass of water I requested after paying my bill and leaving a three dollar tip.  I would like my tip back please.

So I went home, after avoiding Craig Erickson at the Hy Vee and feeling sorry for myself I blogged about hanging it up, which of course bought a few gasps and comments from local musicians, mostly from my bandmates.   I wanted to catch some baseball playoffs and didn't think I would make it to Checker's to support Julie and Ryan, after the 7th inning of a 5-5 tie, I decided to confront my stage fright and get the fuck back up on stage.  To hell with stage fright, I won't banish myself back to the basement as originally threatened.



Checker's Set List 9/6/17

Songs:

Gold Dust Woman**
Cinnamon Girl
The Last Time*
For What It's Worth
Sundown***
Long Cool Woman***
Stuck In The Middle With You**
Plush**

*Debut Song
** Vocals: Julie Gordon
*** Vocals: Ryan Matthew Paul

With:

Julie Jules Gordon: Lead and backing vocals, percussion
Ryan Matthew Paul: Keyboards, guitar plus lead and backing vocals

I played guitar and sang lead on the songs except where noted and played the bongos on Plush

So anyway, I played Facebook tag with Belinda about things and she did show me that the best way to combat the stage fright and the paranoia I was feeling is to continue to play.  Martin and Geoff had the same ideal.  Since Ryan was back in town, I figured I owe them something to support them and show up.   So I spent the afternoon going over a few songs to do and this time out, just focus on the songs that I could sing without cheat sheets.  I didn't do anything off Logic And Lies nor any original songs.   For the first time since April, Julie was around for the songs that I did and she helped a lot.  I knew she knew the words to Cinnamon Girl so if I had a memory loss of lyrics she would help out.  She knew Gold Dust Woman as well; we started that one out, but I have not played that song in a while, last time we did that song together was back in June.   However the past five days we have shared the stage together, Friday on drums with the Mad Dogs and tonight as well.   She did help out on the harmonies of the songs that I played.  Plus I debuted a version of the Rolling Stones' The Last Time for the first time.  Like a true professional, Julie picked up on it and sang on the chorus in her fine vocals.

And then we did Sundown in the key of E, to which Ryan took over vocals, I really didn't want to look up the words, so I played avant garde guitar.  I never play the song the same way twice, I tried to remember it the way Ryan and Julie did it in Solon.  I might have come close but I think I prefer to do the song in E chord.  After that, Ryan did Long Cool Woman and Julie did Stuck In The Middle and neither song I have played on guitar.  And for the Stone Temple Pilots song, I switched over to percussion.  I was nowhere near the melody on guitar, it was better to provide some sort of beat on congas.  The song bores me but it has been a staple for The Mad Dogs and Dreams Of Arcadia, and people seem to like it.  What do I know?  Outside of the fact that it was the first time since June that Julie was part of all the  songs that I did as well the Dreams Of Arcadia finale of songs.  She was missed.

There wasn't much of a crowd nor jammers.  I missed Belinda and Mark and Andrew were going  out the door. 5:30 AM comes way too early for the working type and in my case this was a last minute decision and I was on the fence about playing till I packed my guitar in the car just in case the urge to play was there.  In the end, I got cold watching the ball game and came down to support my musician friends.  And Cedar Rapids Kernels did come back to win the game 6-5.

Plus I found a dollar in the parking lot at Checkers.

Sometimes it pays to show up to jam (even though it's never enough).