Rosewood at the West End Alley

Last Saturday was the first of two scheduled Rosewood Trio gigs at the West End Alley, a new restaurant in Pottstown.

We'd been rehearsing, and had some new songs to add to the set list. We've also rehearsed a couple of times with a drummer, but he didn't play this gig with us. The place was too small, and the stage was just big enough for three of us. (Parenthetically, I guess it was short-sighted of me to pick "RosewoodTrio" as our Facebook URL, when we won't be a trio if we do add the drummer. "RosewoodMusic" would probably have been better. Oh well....)

We arrived around 6:00 to set up, as we were scheduled to play from 7:00-9:00. It's a cute little place right on the main street of Pottstown, and they have a professional PA and sound system, so all we had to do was plug into it. Darling Wife and Brother Chris were there to see us, and they had an appetizer as we set up and did our sound check, then ordered dinner as we started our first set at 7:00.

We played about 50 minutes, took a 15 minute break, then came back and played a second set until 9:00. Sandy had her brand-new Taylor, which sounded fantastic - and I think the mix was good. The little on-the-fly changes we make are always amusing and always keep me on my toes. I know that no one in the audience would ever notice, but I smile to myself and think "that's not the way we rehearsed it." But we're nimble enough to react and stay with it seamlessly. As always, it was a blast to play with them. Darling Wife pronounced her dinner excellent, as well as the BYOB wine we brought.

Our last song was Brown Eyed Girl, and Sandy jokingly told people to dance and sing along. She didn't know that Brother Chris *never* needs a second invitation to get up and dance. He grabbed a waitress he'd been talking with all night, and they danced the whole song. She was a good sport, and when I tried to thank her afterwards for being a good sport, she assured me that she understood and that it was a pleasure.

As we were cleaning up, we asked Darling Wife to take a few pics, and maybe we could get a good one to use as a promotional pic (replacing the "cowboy hat" pic we've been using.) The one at right is the one we like best.

Another fun night of good music. And another paid gig too (very small pay, but a paid gig nonetheless.) We all celebrated with a glass of wine and a dessert.

We'll be back there again Saturday evening, Dec. 21. And Sandy already has a Christmas surprise in mind.