25 January – Smith’s Olde Bar (Atlanta, GA)
w/ the Drexlers; Acres
A strange little show.
I didn’t know either band previously. I got the show because the Drexlers were finishing up their CD at Rob Gal’s and were figuring out their CD release party. They wanted someone to open the show acoustic and Rob suggested me. When I got there for load-in it turned out I did know some of the band; Greg from Gentle Readers was playing bass (he’d just joined a week before) and Wayne Glass, who I met a few years ago when he played with Viva la Diva, was playing drums.
I was originally supposed to do a full solo set, starting at 9pm. But the club wanted the show to start at 10pm. The Drexlers had wanted to have a listening party after their set so I told them to just let me know when to go on and how long to play, that it wasn’t a big deal to me. It was their CD release party after all and I don’t think anyone should give up anything they want on that night. It’s like a wedding ceremony for a band. So I ended up just playing five songs, including one on the uke and one on tenor guitar. The crowd was a good size, but the lighting being what it is there I couldn’t see any of them. But the response was good. Also, I had a couple of people I didn’t know come up to say they’d shown up for my set. That’s something, I’m happy to say, that’s becoming more common.
Geoff, who played stand-up bass on my CD, produced their CD and he was there, along with Mike Rizzi (from five-eight) who also played on the CD and who I’d never met in person. We talked for a while backstage about the usual things that closet pop fans talk about.