Valentines at the Bakery

Last night was the first Rosewood gig of the new year - a 7-9pm Friday evening (which coincidentally was Valentine's Day) at St. Peter's Bakery. We played the bakery twice last summer, so we knew what to expect - it's a charming and cozy little place, and the staff treats us very well - stuffing us with their pizza and delicious baked goodies.

The first question was whether the gig would actually happen, as we'd had 18 inches of snow the day before. I had my doubts, but we got word early on Friday that the bakery had power and the gig was on.

The second question was whether we could get our PA and sound working right. You might think that a three-piece acoustic trio would be a very simple operation - but it's not. Chip handles this, and I don't know the details of what he does - but both guitars go into a mixer, which feeds a PA system and a monitor. My amp is currently completely separate - I just plug into my amp and set an appropriate volume. My new amp with the XLR output will let me go into the mixer and the PA.

So the setup is fairly complex (at least to my inexperienced eyes), but it's always worked with no issues. Last night when we set up and powered on, there was a loud buzz coming from the PA. We couldn't figure out where it was coming from. We were grasping at straws. Was someone's phone interfering? We turned off our phones. Was a power cord wrapped around another? We untangled them all. This was right up until our 7pm start time, and tension was high.

Hey, that's a smile, right?

I don't think we did anything that "solved" the problem, but we started playing and it mostly went away. But it was a tense and adrenaline-filled warm-up instead of the relaxed warm-up we would have preferred.

I wondered if the snowstorm would have people staying home - and had an image in my head of us performing for Darling Wife and the bakery staff. But I couldn't have been more wrong - the place was completely packed. As we were setting up, the staff was getting extra tables and chairs out of storage.

The stage area is small to begin with, and it was even smaller last night. We couldn't set up three across - it had to be Sandy in front, and the two of us behind her. This made things a little harder. We key off of each other by sight and sound. The bakery filled with people was quite noisy, so we didn't have all of the sound cues we normally have. And not being in a line meant that we also didn't have the visual cues we normally have.

The result is that it was not our tightest performance. It went fine, and I'm sure that no one noticed - but the three of us knew. Our sets were well-received, we got a number of very nice comments, and the tip jar was gratifyingly full.

We played two new songs we've been working on - Carole King's "It's Too Late" and The Boxtops' "The Letter". We also did a mini Beatles set in honor of the 50th anniversary of their coming to the U.S.

We relaxed with a glass of wine before tearing down. The bakery folks gave us each a bagful of goodies and a big loaf of fresh-baked bread. I got the raisin and walnut loaf. Yeah baby.

Musical Week in Review, 2/9

It was a fairly quiet week music-wise:

* No buying or selling, and not because I wasn't trying. C'mon Craigslist, help me out!

* No Rosewood rehearsals. There was supposed to be one tonight, but it didn't happen. Our next gig is Friday night at St. Peter's Bakery. Not coincidentally, Darling Wife knows where she'll be spending her Valentine's Day. We've always had fun there, and are looking forward to it. We hope to practice twice this week before the gig.

* I listened to Eric Johnson's Live from Austin, TX in the car today, and that never fails to blow me away. Amazing guitar work - unbelievably clean.

* Just because. Here's Steve Winwood playing "Can't Find My Way Home." And here's a good lesson on it, with a beginner tilt. And here's one, more advanced, by my favorite YouTube guy.

Finally, a joke that makes me smile.

A boy starts taking bass lessons. He comes home after day one, mom asks what he learned. "I learned the E string." He comes home after day two, mom asks what he learned. "I learned the A string." Comes home after day three, mom asks "did you learn the D string today?" "No I had a gig."

Musical Week in Review, 2/2

A few things of interest happened this past week.

* I bought a used bass amp from the Craigslist classifieds. Why do I need another bass amp? The answer is Rosewood gigs. Our setup has been the two guitars and the vocal mic into a PA system, with my amp independent of the PA. If I had an amp with an XLR output, we could run me into the PA too. The advantages would be a more balanced sound - and we could also record straight out of the PA. The amp I've been using is powerful enough, but it doesn't have the direct out. Now I have an amp that does. Not coincidentally, there's now a bass amp (as well as a bass) on CL looking for the right buyer.

* Younger Daughter is continuing her weekly guitar lessons, and she's making amazing progress. The reason is simple - she's working hard at it, practicing every day. I could not be more pleased - not because she's doing something that I like, but because she identified something she wanted to learn, and she's learning it.

Pete Seeger's banjo

* I'm still doing my Mike Marshall mandolin lessons, and I still think it's a fantastic program. It's a really well thought out series of video lessons, and it's helped me tremendously. I still haven't sent him a video....

* Folk icon Pete Seeger passed away last week at age 94. I wouldn't say I knew enough about him to call him an influence or a hero of mine, but he was a legend on the folk scene. I learned reading the obits that he wrote some folk classics, including "If I Had a Hammer", "To Everything  a Season (Turn Turn Turn)", and "Where Have All The Flowers Gone." Simple beautiful songs. RIP, Pete Seeger.

* Rosewood gig in 10 days. We weren't able to practice this past weekend, and we won't be able to practice next weekend either, but we'll rehearse twice next week, and that will be plenty. I can't wait!

Mandolin at the Acoustic Jam

I mentioned in my last post that the monthly acoustic jam meetup was last Sunday, and that I played a lot of mandolin. I'll expand on that now.

The jam was the first time I'd taken my new baby out in public. I had gotten a number of nice comments from my musician friends on my FB profile pic, and a number of folks came up and wanted to check out my new baby up close.

My intention was to play as many songs on the mando as I could. Most of the songs we play in the jam have fairly simple chord progressions - which is by design. It's an inclusive group that welcomes players of all levels. If you know a handful of basic chords, you're not going to be totally lost.

The first thing I wanted to see was if I could follow along with songs, in real time, and be fast enough with chord changes. Gratifyingly, the answer was yes. With a few exceptions ("B7...where the f&%^ is B7?"), it was fairly effortless, and felt good.

Then there's taking a lead. Don acts as our bandleader (and is invaluable to the jam), and he'll nod at people to give them 8 bars to solo. I know the basics of what to do, and was looking forward to trying - but it didn't go well. The issue was projection. I'd never really thought about that before. I play in my room or in the basement, and I'm not playing *for* anyone - quite the opposite, I try to play quietly, so as not to disturb anyone. So when I started my lead, I realized that I couldn't be heard...then I realized as I attempted to be louder, that I'd never really "dug in" and tried to project. And when I thought about that, I lost track of what notes I was playing.... Crash and burn....

 That's okay, crashing and burning is going to happen now and then if you're challenging yourself, and it was among supportive friends. But I'll be damned if I'll make the same mistake again. I'm now thinking about projecting as I practice. If that means I get the occasional "keep it down in there!", so be it.

Overall, it was fun and a great experience. My confidence is growing, and I can't wait for next month's jam. Or maybe even a sooner jam, if I have the nerve. Stay tuned.