Artisan Sanctuary Open Mic 11/8/18

Songs:

If You See Her
Never Been To Spain
Knocking On Heaven's Door
Logic And Lies

Thanks to Phil and Darryl, Jim, Patrick, Gregdon and Demetrius  for hanging around.

Notes:

We had a big bunch of jammers but most got bored by a guy reading for about 40 minutes and sucking the life out of this jam.  Patrick tried to karaoke El Paso and Hurricane, Aaron Carl helped on fiddle but Pat gave up half way through El Paso.  It was that type of night.


The jam went over time and Stu Pershing had to leave without playing, 3 AM comes too early for him so he cut out, and most jammers had to cut their songs down to 3.  In my case I picked four short ones.   I really didn't feel like playing but Jim and Gregdon encouraged me to do so.

If You See Her was done for the first time in a tossed off way.  I even through a F bomb in one verse, nobody was there and I could get away with it.  I did give Jim a big contribution to keeping his place open and he was gracious enough for me to add the extra song.  I was the last performer.

Dave Bonham did play Love The One You're With and then home to argue politics with Shawn Ster, who wasn't there tonight.  I thought about reprising Love The One You're With but I was in a indifferent mood. I'm surprised the songs did come out half way listenable, although I did mess up the chords to Never Been To Spain.


And on the way home, it begin to snow.  Looks like a long winter.

FMR.

Needless to say I was a bit bummed that most of the jammers went home when I finally did my songs at around 10 PM, (We had a spoken word guy that did three lenghty stories that took the life out of the open mic Thursday Night.  I could have ordered up a pizza at Urban Pie for supper and come back and not miss a thing.  I had thought about following Stu Pershing's lead and called it an early evening.  I wasn't feeling very well and the cold weather didn't help.

I debuted If You See Her, a song from the 1992 Drive In Blues album, the original version was sped up way too fast when Maier Records issued it on CD but I wanted to  try something new and exciting.  The F bomb is not in the original song, I was just disgusted of seeing a capacity crowd dwindle down to six people and just wanting to stop at the store for a few things and having my usual night cap of Cold meds and Nyquil and go to bed.   Due to length of the storyteller, the remaining artists had a three song limit.  But I did four short songs, as compensation for hanging in there.  The songs  were sloppy but those who stayed had a good time.

3 years into the music scene and it’s becoming crystal clear that I’m not about to play in front of crowds of more than 10 people and singing my songs.  I would have better luck playing drums for the same amount of people and let somebody else  sing the damn songs.   I kinda lost my luster of playing since I had to get back to my real job and pay the bills and I do admit that the past week of playing, I have a tossed off indifference to what I’ve been playing and singing.  The best showcase was Stone City last Sunday, but even then I wondered what the hell I was doing there.    I’m slowly going back into my shell,  I haven’t socialized much and when I do go out, I popped in to see a band for a couple songs and then move on.  I did that last Friday when FLEX was playing, I sneaked into the back of the bar on a open table and listened for a half hour and then went home.    Over the week, Julie was working on a new song and did 9 different versions and I offered my take on them.   The hope is that she’ll get into a studio and do a proper version.  Otherwise, I may cherry pick her best version and add percussion and see where it leads.    I have friends that offered studio time, Rod Albaugh in Clarence, Jim Jacobmeyer and the Sanctuary Recording Studio, even Brook and Stu offered to record (for a fee of course).  I tend to favor my old crude way of recording (four track Cassette, Terry Bainbridge helping whenever he can).  I just haven’t been interested of recording new music.  It serves no purpose but to be a reference to remember the melodies.

Yes, Depression is a bitch, and yes it has been an hindrance the past month.  I’m slowly turning away from everybody, the musicians, friends and moving back into a solitude that I’ll never break away from.   I also know that if I make the stage, it means that the demons haven’t won yet.   Even with a blah attitude, the ones who stayed Thursday Night persuaded me to at least finish the Open Mic night on a strong note.  To which I thank them for being there, even though the opening acts were probably home in bed when I finished my set.

Next up: Whittier Acoustic Showcase, David Lam hosting and I’m sure I’ll be playing to audience of five once again.  So I’ll do that, and if time allows, will try to catch Julie and Ryan play Monticello.  The Whittier jam starts at 7 and ends around 10.  It’s a half hour to Monticello and The Office Lounge and they play till 11.  That will leave me about a half hour to support their cause.

After that, the guitar is put away for another week.  Or maybe longer.  Or maybe never.