Author: Paul

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3 Aug: Atlanta

Hard Rock Cafe (Atlanta, GA)
Atlantis Music Conference

Paul’s Adventures in Atlantis

First off, from my experience at a lot of the showcases turnout was really poor. Previous to this year I’ve only actually caught one showcase that I recall, and turnout was very light for that, so I didn’t know how well these things were attended. But it is pretty bad across the board. I feel sorry for the bands that are making a long trek from out of state to play for a conference that presents itself as being a big deal and clearly is not (not to be confused with the bands I feel sorry for who expect a lot more than they’re going to get out of ANY music conference). There seems to be very little promotional push outside of the conference attendees, so the city itself doesn’t attend the shows. And I’m not even sure that what little industry turnout the conference has (and really, it seems pretty light) even comes out to the showcases.

Thursday I actually went out to four different ones. There were five bands playing who I know, each of them at a different time (thankfully) and at a different club (not so thankfully). Alastor played a great set at the Dark Horse to about 5 people. Kenny Howes and the Yeah! played at the Star Bar to a decent sized crowd of maybe 30 people, a bit light for a big show at the Star Bar, though. He was just back from playing IPO and had a great set. Gentle Readers played at the Echo Lounge to about 30 or so people, and everytime I see them they really do sound better and better, and it always catches me off guard. Then I caught Jeff’s (former bass player in Radiant City) band the Accusations at the Hard Rock, which had the biggest turnout I saw (about 40 or 50 people, the same as our turnout the next night at the same club). Jeff smiles a lot in that band which I find very gratifying. But I was too wiped out to make it to the Young Antiques show after that.

Friday I freaked out all day. It’s not so much the show itself but the lead up to it. I was stressed about things coming together, everyone showing up for load-in, nothing setting anyone off. Clearly, I have a lot to work through about my days in Radiant City. But load-in was no big deal, and even the minor crisis we had was handled easily.

The show itself was… well, it was good. But it was rough, too. I told someone later that I recognized it was a step forward, but it was a rough step. But it was all there, and that really does mean something to me. A lot of it was having only rehearsed twice up to that point. A lot of it on my part (and I think it was rougher for me than anyone else) was just not having been onstage with a band in so long. I have shows sometimes where I feel like, when I start, I’m not ready to start yet and I feel like the show is constantly 5 seconds ahead of me and I can’t seem to catch up. We launched into “Guy Fawkes Day” and I knew I was never going to feel caught up with the show. But it was okay. We were good. A little sloppy, but good.

And it felt so good to be there again.

A lot of people came out and I had my usual feeling that I wasn’t able to talk to anyone long enough. So for the record let me say that if you talk to me after a show and I ever seem not quite all there it’s because post-show I’m not all there but I’m really trying to be. Always come talk to me after a show, I live for that. weaklazyliar and Gina (M Records) brought me a card and a bottle of champagne to celebrate the grand re-opening of my band days, which I thought was really flattering. So once again I’ll take this opportunity to tell you that you need to get out and see weaklazyliar while you can. They’re one of the best bands in Atlanta and their new CD is due soon. You only have so much time left to catch them at this level before you have to shell out twenty bucks to catch them at some lame festival show where you can barely see the stage.

Thanks to everyone who could make it out. There’s more to come, thanks for sticking around.

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22 Jul: Atlanta

Eddie’s Attic (Atlanta, GA)
writers-in-the-round with Christopher Williams and Bill Kahler

It’s funny that when this show was originally booked I was really sort of happy to have it. But by the time the date arrived, I really wished I could get out of it.

Eddie’s Attic is really the only acoustic venue in town. It’s nationally known. Well, at least in whatever circles talk about acoustic clubs in the US. It’s a great room, the sound is amazing and the atmosphere is generally very respectful to the artist. For awhile last year I was slowly entering into that whole Atlanta acoustic clique, or at least trying to, and I played Eddie’s every couple of months. The last show there I played the night before Christmas Eve, which, at least in this town, is a poor night to play (really, all of December is pretty bad for crowds). Anyway, it was me and weaklazyliar and we played a very loose show where I would play a couple of songs, they’d play a couple, we’d play a couple together and all in all it was a lot of fun. We had a good crowd, particularly good for the evening, and it seemed to go really well.

Booking working the way it does, I finally managed to schedule another show, this one, sometime in May. I looked at it as a real opportunity to make a statement and say, here’s where I am now, seven months down the line and close to a new CD.

But by the time the show arrived, last night, I didn’t care anymore. The band is together now, and ready to go, and so rather than bringing a fresh life to playing solo the show ended up being about the last unwelcome gasp of my acoustic career. I did not want to be there, and to be honest I did very little to promote it. The show itself was okay, a little rough for my first two songs, but it all pulled out okay. Turnout was low. The format was a writers-in-the-round where we all trade off songs, and both Bill and Christopher were good. Christopher is from Boston and I’m pretty sure I’ve seen him in Performing Songwriter magazine. He tours and acted like it. Bill’s local and was fairly laid back.

It was the epitome of everything that was depressing about playing solo. I never felt like I belonged. I can play a good acoustic show, but there really is a sort of signature sound to what people expect when they come to an acoustic show and it’s not what they get from me. And my heart just isn’t in the format. If I only had more acoustic shows ahead of me (and I do have some, but now they’re just one-offs, the band is all I’m focusing on now. I know if I go out of state it means playing acoustic, but I’ll worry about that when it comes) last night would have sucked me dry. But as it is, today I’m just relieved to have it over with, and dying to get on stage with the band in August.

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23 Jun: Atlanta

Anthony’s (Atlanta, GA)
w/ Pat Walsh

Let me share with you a small portion of my rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle.

So, the show was at 9pm. We’ve been having the air conditioner and furnace replaced in the house, so downstairs there were a lot of scraps on the floor, since they had just finished the job at around 6pm. I started loading out for the show at 6:45. At 6:50 I stepped on a piece of wall trim. Nails up. Not wishing to disturb any viewers I’ll just say, yes, but not all the way through the top. But the nail was very rusty. I spent 5 minutes or so while cleaning the wound debating whether I should go to the hospital or the show. Thanks to the Kaiser this decision was made for us, because they said I either go right away, or I go later to the emergency room and they won’t cover it.

So, at 7pm I head out with my equipment to the urgent care center. I wait around, they finally examine me, they give me a tetanus shot (which I have to sit for twenty minutes afterwards to see if I have a reaction) and then I’m on my way.

At 8:55 I make it to the show. Already I’m a little out of it, but I set up and start right in. Things are going relatively okay, I feel a little iffy about how it sounds but it doesn’t seem to be any big deal. Then Pat’s band comes up to start playing with me, and halfway through the first song (we had decided to just play Slumberland from start to finish) I break a string and things go downhill from there. I’m not playing very well to begin with, and I start missing chords (once I’ve restrung while Pat came up and played a song) and missing lines and it just becomes messy. It felt very amateurish and I felt like just any guy with a passing ability to play up on stage with two other people who could play and were carrying the show.

I’m sure the pain and all that colored my image of the show, but either way, I haven’t felt that way about a show in a while. I recently hit a stage where I felt confident that at the very least I can always play a good show,and the nervousness I used to fell was pretty much gone. Shows were no big deal. And it’s still a measure of how far I’ve come that afterwards I was a little embarrassed by how it went but it wasn’t really too big a deal.

Still, what a mess. I hope that was an aberration. Maybe I’ve become a little too cocky about shows. Well, for me anyway. I certainly didn’t do much rehearsing, although that had a lot to do with the lack of A/C in the house.

This morning I expected my arm to really hurt, since that’s what they kept warning me about after the shot. But instead I ache all over and feel really stiff, like I turned 80 years old while I slept.