Last Weekend's Two-Date-Tour
It's past time that I should be writing about last weekend, September 7-10. To summerize, driving, playing, flying, playing, sleeping, recording, flying, driving.
Friday morning after work (night shift, Thursday night) I got in the truck and headed down to North Carolina to play a show with my pal Gerald, aka Sound of Singles. For him it was to be a record (literally) release party for his "Sound of Singles Sings Seger" (Bob Seger, that is). For me it was a chance to play in a town in which I've never played. Heck, a STATE in chich I've never played. As the drive meant that I wouldn't be getting my usual day's sleep, I did have to stop and nap once. Oh, but how I love road trips. Anyway, I got to Gerald's down in Durham & we headed to Borders to see the Last Town Choir do a shorrt set, which was thoroughly enjoyable. After a dinner salad we packed up for the show. That is, Gerald packed all his gear (I just had an acoustic guitar and a bag filled with CD's and harmonicas) and I helped a bit. That night's venue as the Nightlight in Chapel Hill. The Nightlight is one of those places I can only picture existing in the south. It's a dusty funky old used book / record / CD store with a lunch counter that turns into a bar at night. Sound-wise, it had good big speakers and a nice little stage. Very cool. My set went pretty well - I played 8 songs or so, 30 minutes - although I think my guitar was a little out of tune. I'm going to have to buy one of those stompbox tuners. The audience was very attentative, almost disturbingly so ("Oh my God! They're all STARING at me!!!"). King of Dogs, a charming male/female two-piece was next. This was their first gig but they knocked me out. DJ Ali (I forget her DJ'ing name) spun traditional country mixed with hip-hop and did an amazing job of it! Hearing vinyl on her nice turntables & a decent system was a real treat. I see why people love the sound of vinyl now. Sound of Singles, Gerald's one-man-band, was next. Gerald plays a lot of non-guitar stringed instruments - uke & things I can't hame - and runs them all through various effects and amps for a surprisingly good effect. I didn't know you could get a big sound from a uke!
After heading home, Gerald's home, I turned in after a shower and a bowl of locally made peach ice cream. A few hours later I was awakened by the reality that it was time to catch my plane to New York. It was a small plane, a puddle-jumper, and the weather was nice. I wish I wouldn't have been so tired. I've never flown into New York before and it would have been a good day for airbourne sightseeing.
Once I got my bag at JFK I took the subway into Manhattan, tranferred, and took another train out to Queens. There I met my pal Sasha. We went to the diner down the street (by this time it was 3 pm and I was starving) where we caught up and talked music. After some good conversation we headed back to his place & got ready for our trip back into Manhattan to the Living Room, where I would be playing, not in the main room, but in Googie's Lounge upstairs. We got there as Greg Koons was playing to an audience of 4. Fortunately more people arrived for Carolyn AlRoy's set. Carolyn was responsible for setting up the evening. By the time Matt Keating came on the place was pretty well packed. After terrific sets by Greg and Carolyn and Matt, it was my turn. I felt like I played well, but lots of people were talking during my set. I made a mental note to ask Sasha if they were talking because I sucked or because they'd all come to see Carolyn & Matt and now they wanted to converse. Sasha can be brutal, so I figured it was as good a time as any to see if I have any talent. Fortunately Sasha thought I played well too & complimented me on several things. It's too late to stop now, y'know. After the show everybody exchanged compliments and headed out. Sasha & I stopped for some pizza on the way back to the train station. One thing I love about New York City - there's lots of independent cheap eats around. There's chain fast food too, of course, but in some places it seems like the only cheap food is chain fast food. It's nice to have alternatives, especially when you're poor. After some pizza we caught the train back to Queens, where (the train, not Queens) someone complimented me on my set. It took me by surprise because it was such a small place & I thought I could see everyone there, but I didn't recognize this fellow. So it was nice to get a compliment like that from a stranger.
That night I got my only full-night's sleep of the weekend. The next morning we got breakfast in the diner & headed back into Manhattan. I picked up a Fairport Convention CD & a Gene Clark CD; Sasha picked up Kurt Cobain's journals. I'm going to have to get those sometime. That evening, after "chinese mexican food" (Sasha warned me that it was mexican food cooked by chinese people; I was like, "what, chinese people can't make a burrito?" Turns out it was a burrito that tasted like chinese food. It wasn't bad, though.) we did some recording. It was really nice having someone do the engineering for me so I could just be the artist. We did six songs, solo-acoustic. I got to play Sasha's old Gibson acoustic for four songs; it's a nice guitar that's mellow-sounding enough to make room for my voice. Sasha's got some nice gear; much nicer than mine. It's old and funky and it responded well to my style. Sasha was positively ecstatic with the results. It was a good chance for him to hear how his gear would do, and I think he was actually hearing my songs for the first time. He was saying things like, "Rob! This is a hit! This is a classic!" which was really nice of him.
Because of the excitement of the recording session, I finally got to sleep a little after 2 am, which wasn't good, because I had to be up at 4:15 to catch my shuttle back to JFK. I made it up in time, but again slept on the flight back down to Raleigh, where Gerald was kind enough to pick me up at the airport. After some chat about the shows, it was time for me to drive back up to Washington, DC. Let me tell ya, that was a rough drive to make after just a couple of hours sleep. I had to pull over twice to nap. I got home in the early evening & managed to get an hour and a half of sleep before work. I'd tried to get the night off, but sometimes that just isn't possible. It was a tough night & I think I finally caught up with my sleep this weekend. It was well worth it, though.
Friday morning after work (night shift, Thursday night) I got in the truck and headed down to North Carolina to play a show with my pal Gerald, aka Sound of Singles. For him it was to be a record (literally) release party for his "Sound of Singles Sings Seger" (Bob Seger, that is). For me it was a chance to play in a town in which I've never played. Heck, a STATE in chich I've never played. As the drive meant that I wouldn't be getting my usual day's sleep, I did have to stop and nap once. Oh, but how I love road trips. Anyway, I got to Gerald's down in Durham & we headed to Borders to see the Last Town Choir do a shorrt set, which was thoroughly enjoyable. After a dinner salad we packed up for the show. That is, Gerald packed all his gear (I just had an acoustic guitar and a bag filled with CD's and harmonicas) and I helped a bit. That night's venue as the Nightlight in Chapel Hill. The Nightlight is one of those places I can only picture existing in the south. It's a dusty funky old used book / record / CD store with a lunch counter that turns into a bar at night. Sound-wise, it had good big speakers and a nice little stage. Very cool. My set went pretty well - I played 8 songs or so, 30 minutes - although I think my guitar was a little out of tune. I'm going to have to buy one of those stompbox tuners. The audience was very attentative, almost disturbingly so ("Oh my God! They're all STARING at me!!!"). King of Dogs, a charming male/female two-piece was next. This was their first gig but they knocked me out. DJ Ali (I forget her DJ'ing name) spun traditional country mixed with hip-hop and did an amazing job of it! Hearing vinyl on her nice turntables & a decent system was a real treat. I see why people love the sound of vinyl now. Sound of Singles, Gerald's one-man-band, was next. Gerald plays a lot of non-guitar stringed instruments - uke & things I can't hame - and runs them all through various effects and amps for a surprisingly good effect. I didn't know you could get a big sound from a uke!
After heading home, Gerald's home, I turned in after a shower and a bowl of locally made peach ice cream. A few hours later I was awakened by the reality that it was time to catch my plane to New York. It was a small plane, a puddle-jumper, and the weather was nice. I wish I wouldn't have been so tired. I've never flown into New York before and it would have been a good day for airbourne sightseeing.
Once I got my bag at JFK I took the subway into Manhattan, tranferred, and took another train out to Queens. There I met my pal Sasha. We went to the diner down the street (by this time it was 3 pm and I was starving) where we caught up and talked music. After some good conversation we headed back to his place & got ready for our trip back into Manhattan to the Living Room, where I would be playing, not in the main room, but in Googie's Lounge upstairs. We got there as Greg Koons was playing to an audience of 4. Fortunately more people arrived for Carolyn AlRoy's set. Carolyn was responsible for setting up the evening. By the time Matt Keating came on the place was pretty well packed. After terrific sets by Greg and Carolyn and Matt, it was my turn. I felt like I played well, but lots of people were talking during my set. I made a mental note to ask Sasha if they were talking because I sucked or because they'd all come to see Carolyn & Matt and now they wanted to converse. Sasha can be brutal, so I figured it was as good a time as any to see if I have any talent. Fortunately Sasha thought I played well too & complimented me on several things. It's too late to stop now, y'know. After the show everybody exchanged compliments and headed out. Sasha & I stopped for some pizza on the way back to the train station. One thing I love about New York City - there's lots of independent cheap eats around. There's chain fast food too, of course, but in some places it seems like the only cheap food is chain fast food. It's nice to have alternatives, especially when you're poor. After some pizza we caught the train back to Queens, where (the train, not Queens) someone complimented me on my set. It took me by surprise because it was such a small place & I thought I could see everyone there, but I didn't recognize this fellow. So it was nice to get a compliment like that from a stranger.
That night I got my only full-night's sleep of the weekend. The next morning we got breakfast in the diner & headed back into Manhattan. I picked up a Fairport Convention CD & a Gene Clark CD; Sasha picked up Kurt Cobain's journals. I'm going to have to get those sometime. That evening, after "chinese mexican food" (Sasha warned me that it was mexican food cooked by chinese people; I was like, "what, chinese people can't make a burrito?" Turns out it was a burrito that tasted like chinese food. It wasn't bad, though.) we did some recording. It was really nice having someone do the engineering for me so I could just be the artist. We did six songs, solo-acoustic. I got to play Sasha's old Gibson acoustic for four songs; it's a nice guitar that's mellow-sounding enough to make room for my voice. Sasha's got some nice gear; much nicer than mine. It's old and funky and it responded well to my style. Sasha was positively ecstatic with the results. It was a good chance for him to hear how his gear would do, and I think he was actually hearing my songs for the first time. He was saying things like, "Rob! This is a hit! This is a classic!" which was really nice of him.
Because of the excitement of the recording session, I finally got to sleep a little after 2 am, which wasn't good, because I had to be up at 4:15 to catch my shuttle back to JFK. I made it up in time, but again slept on the flight back down to Raleigh, where Gerald was kind enough to pick me up at the airport. After some chat about the shows, it was time for me to drive back up to Washington, DC. Let me tell ya, that was a rough drive to make after just a couple of hours sleep. I had to pull over twice to nap. I got home in the early evening & managed to get an hour and a half of sleep before work. I'd tried to get the night off, but sometimes that just isn't possible. It was a tough night & I think I finally caught up with my sleep this weekend. It was well worth it, though.
posted by Rob Christensen | 12:39 AM
|
0 comments
