13 Apr – 10 High (Atlanta, GA)
with 6 Against 7, Over October
A quick run down the roll call…
Lee Cuthbert is amazing. Just so everyone knows that at the outset. We rehearsed twice (more or less) for this show. I went over the Lee’s house one night last week and we went over the songs, just the two of us. I think we did them a couple of times, at most. Then Monday night the band rehearsed, and she already had most of them down. We rehearsed Saturday morning and she had them all down, and we came up with a cover song for the show to pad the set out. Just like that.
Similarly, my band is amazing for their abilities in that regard. I feel lucky to have people like that around me.
Finally, Nicole, who books the Ten High, is great. I had a realization today as to why, and it’s because she actually gives you the sense that you matter, which is something I think it’s safe to say is extremely rare in booking shows. I was talking to her after the show about booking another, and I was wondering how far in advance she was booking, because I wanted to try and get one more show booked in there before my hopeful CD release in August. When I mentioned the release her eyes went wide and she said, “You HAVE to do it here!”
I’m sorry, you’re a good club that has crowds and you WANT me to do the show there? When did I enter this strange parallel universe, anyway? So, anyway, the night will be mine to organize and pick the other bands. I digress. We’ll talk about this later.
The show was good. We were surprisingly tight, I thought, and I felt relatively relaxed once we started. It felt normal, if that makes any sense. I just deleted a bunch of crap because I came to a sudden realization… up to this point I have been playing these band shows with a strange sort of mindset. I think subconsciously I haven’t felt as if they were really… mine. Like, I was still the guy from Radiant City and I just happened to be playing a show with some other people. It’s funny to realize that after over two years. But this show, without articulating it overtly until now, it was me. It was my band and my show. I know I was more animated than I have been up until this point, more focused. Most of the previous shows I have done a lot of thinking about where I’m standing and am I playing the right chord and is my voice okay and on and on and on… this show there wasn’t so much of that. And it felt good.
Hey, it’s me, Paul Melancon. I just didn’t realize it until now.
So, the cover we did was “September Gurls” by Big Star, which worked well, I think. Thanks to everyone who came out… you know, I stress before every show about the turnout and it’s almost always unfounded, and I’m grateful to everyone for that (though maybe I shouldn’t tell you that, you might stop coming). I stuck around through the rest of the show (we were first) and hung out with the band and also with Gentle Readers and Andrea from Daemon Records. Pete, David (who I should also mention gave me CD copies of the Beach Boys’ Smile and some Martin Newell stuff for my birthday before the show. The big lug!) and I went walking up to the CVS for needed refreshments after the set, and at one point Pete asked me out of the blue if I had heard Beulah before. Thankfully I had already discovered them recently, just in time to appear to be hip to the scene, and then I made one of about 4 mentions of Death Cab For Cutie during the evening.
Let this be number five… I bought their CD Photo Album a week or so ago and am still playing it incessantly. I pushed it with abandon Saturday night and I see no reason to stop now. Death Cab For Cutie – Photo Album. Go get it.
There was one other thing during the course of the evening that was really kinda cool and has some potential for the future, but right now it’s just something I have to keep to myself. I don’t mean to tease, but a) I hate to mention it and then have it not pan out, and b) I watch a lot of baseball and have become a very superstitious person about my music career. But it did allow me to quote from That Thing You Do!, as if I needed more excuses.