Friday, May 27, 2005
Delayed Response to Open Mic and Other Stuff
One of the staples of this blog has become my chonicling of the goings on (mostly mine) at open mics. Didn't get to that on Wednesday night as I was pissed about seeing a "Red Carpet" show for the American Idol finale. Man, that still boggles my mind. Why the hell should I care who shows up to the finale of a relity TV show? And I know a lot of people will say "just change the channel!" Believe me, I did, just like I do any time an awards show comes on. I know that it's only my opinion that this kind of TV is C.R.A.P., but I'd just like everyone to look at how stupid it is.
I wrote a post last night about/against an idiot family member who pulled something unbelievably stupid endangering another family member. While everything I wrote is true (in the sense that everything I wrote about awards shows was true) I don't feel that it's really nescesary to air our family's dirty laundry in this forum. I did post it and it was up overnight. If you saw it, I make absolutely no apologies. What this person did and has done with their life is nearly unforgiveable. If things don't change and change quickly I'll post it again, it's saved as a draft and I can recall it at any moment.
So with apolgies to those who have been waiting about my open mic escapades for the past two days, here goes. I showed up at Dunn Bros. at about 6:45 Wednesday. I help Mike set up when I can and we usually do some songs together during the first slot. As this show has grown, Mike has found it nescessary to limit performers to 15 minutes, making a sign-up sheet with time slots that musicians can choose. Mike takes 7:00-7:15 (the first slot) and gives TSA and I 9:00-9:15 (the last slot), that leaves six other slots that musicians can fill as they arrive. So when I arrived at 6:45 on Wednesday, 5 of those slots were filled. Even before the open mic started, there were some guys sitting there who forgot to sign up and a pair of musicians who showed up. So before the open mic started, it was over booked. Add to that that about 5 groups of musicians showed up between 7:00 and 8:30 and you'll get an idea of what this is starting to turn into. Mike is really good about giving everyone a chance to play. The list is not set in stone and shuffling has been known to occur. I've never seen anyone who wanted to play not get a chance to play unless it was their choice. Mike really does a fantastic job handling this show, but I'm starting to wonder if the Dunn Bros. employees are going to get pissed at us for staying open after the regular closing time.
All of that said, Mike and I got a late start and limited ourselves to just two tunes Behind Blue Eyes and The Rolling Stones' Ruby Tuesday. I'm suffering through a little chest congestion right now, so my harmonies weren't as good as they were on Saturday night, but it was still pretty good. All of the regulars showed up after us, Joe Buckholz, Just Cal, Aaron Voss, Nate and Shawn (excellent once again!) and newcomer Ryan Holzer who is really pissing me off with his superior harmonica playing. Damn, he can play that thing. Joe Buckholz refered to him as "Steve Thorpe, but young and hip." My apologies to Steve, though I'm sure Joe meant it as a compliment to Ryan and meant no disrespect to Steve. And in Joe's defense, Ryan is just a bit younger than Steve. My jealousy aside, I hope Ryan keeps showing up to area open mics. He's new to the area and it's a great way to meet people.
Slappy is Jebus actually took the stage at our appointed time, which is rare enough. We were suppposed to do just two songs and had no idea what we were going to do when we got up there. I suggested Are You Drinkin' With Me Jesus since it went over pretty well a couple of weeks ago. While playing that, I thought how we hadn't done I Will Survive in quite a while, so that was second. That always gets a reaction out of folks, and Mike was kind enough to join us on base. We finished up with Treat Me Like a Dog which keeps getting better. If we actually practiced it, it would probably turn into a nice little song. That would require effort, though, and we are probably the laziest band in the market. What're ya gonna do....
BOJ
I wrote a post last night about/against an idiot family member who pulled something unbelievably stupid endangering another family member. While everything I wrote is true (in the sense that everything I wrote about awards shows was true) I don't feel that it's really nescesary to air our family's dirty laundry in this forum. I did post it and it was up overnight. If you saw it, I make absolutely no apologies. What this person did and has done with their life is nearly unforgiveable. If things don't change and change quickly I'll post it again, it's saved as a draft and I can recall it at any moment.
So with apolgies to those who have been waiting about my open mic escapades for the past two days, here goes. I showed up at Dunn Bros. at about 6:45 Wednesday. I help Mike set up when I can and we usually do some songs together during the first slot. As this show has grown, Mike has found it nescessary to limit performers to 15 minutes, making a sign-up sheet with time slots that musicians can choose. Mike takes 7:00-7:15 (the first slot) and gives TSA and I 9:00-9:15 (the last slot), that leaves six other slots that musicians can fill as they arrive. So when I arrived at 6:45 on Wednesday, 5 of those slots were filled. Even before the open mic started, there were some guys sitting there who forgot to sign up and a pair of musicians who showed up. So before the open mic started, it was over booked. Add to that that about 5 groups of musicians showed up between 7:00 and 8:30 and you'll get an idea of what this is starting to turn into. Mike is really good about giving everyone a chance to play. The list is not set in stone and shuffling has been known to occur. I've never seen anyone who wanted to play not get a chance to play unless it was their choice. Mike really does a fantastic job handling this show, but I'm starting to wonder if the Dunn Bros. employees are going to get pissed at us for staying open after the regular closing time.
All of that said, Mike and I got a late start and limited ourselves to just two tunes Behind Blue Eyes and The Rolling Stones' Ruby Tuesday. I'm suffering through a little chest congestion right now, so my harmonies weren't as good as they were on Saturday night, but it was still pretty good. All of the regulars showed up after us, Joe Buckholz, Just Cal, Aaron Voss, Nate and Shawn (excellent once again!) and newcomer Ryan Holzer who is really pissing me off with his superior harmonica playing. Damn, he can play that thing. Joe Buckholz refered to him as "Steve Thorpe, but young and hip." My apologies to Steve, though I'm sure Joe meant it as a compliment to Ryan and meant no disrespect to Steve. And in Joe's defense, Ryan is just a bit younger than Steve. My jealousy aside, I hope Ryan keeps showing up to area open mics. He's new to the area and it's a great way to meet people.
Slappy is Jebus actually took the stage at our appointed time, which is rare enough. We were suppposed to do just two songs and had no idea what we were going to do when we got up there. I suggested Are You Drinkin' With Me Jesus since it went over pretty well a couple of weeks ago. While playing that, I thought how we hadn't done I Will Survive in quite a while, so that was second. That always gets a reaction out of folks, and Mike was kind enough to join us on base. We finished up with Treat Me Like a Dog which keeps getting better. If we actually practiced it, it would probably turn into a nice little song. That would require effort, though, and we are probably the laziest band in the market. What're ya gonna do....
BOJ
# posted by Blind Orange Julius @ 10:07 AM 
