Tag: Pat Walsh

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6 May: Atlanta

6 May – Eddie’s Attic
w/ Pat Walsh, weaklazyliar, Sue Witty

I let this write-up sit for far too long, swamped with other responsibilities. But this was Sue Witty’s CD release party and it went well. She had a good sized crowd of her fans out. In the interest of public disclosure I will mention that I sing backing vocals on two of the songs on her new CD, which she recorded at Rob Gal’s studio. The CD is very different from Sue’s solo show, with the songs in their full band form. Linda Bolley (Gentle Readers, Michelle Malone) played drums and Ryan Taylor (weaklazyliar) played some keys. I got up during her first set to reprise my vocals but I don’t think they went very well.

I know I’ve said it all before so I’ll try to be brief, but to me CD release shows are a big deal and whenever I’m part of someone else’s I always try to do whatever I can to help it be special. So I kept egging the crowd on during my set for Sue, since they seemed to be a little disinterested for a bit. I played Janis Ian’s “Seventeen” during my set, just because I’ve always loved that song and also to be able to make a joke about Rob calling me his favorite female voice in Atlanta. It was a good choice, though, since I had a few people come up to say they couldn’t believe I had pulled it off.

That’s all I can remember, except to mention that I thought weaklazyliar’s stripped down set (just Gerlinda on guitar and Ryan on keyboards) sounded surprisingly amazing. Also, that Pat Walsh is still one of my favorites in this town, and I wish he had a little more exposure. I would think the notlame.com types would eat his stuff up… very literate and erudite pop.

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23 Dec: Atlanta

Eddie’s Attic (Atlanta, GA)
with Pat Walsh and weaklazyliar

Sometimes I think I should type up these show reports immediately after a show, but I never do. Invariably I feel like I’ve lost the mood of the thing by the time I talk about it.

My sincere gratitude to everyone who made it out. It really was a sort of Christmas party/present to myself, to basically have all of you in one place.

Pat Walsh opened up the show with Dave Condra and Tim Porterfield. They are getting even tighter, particularly on the harmonies. I had intended to maybe sing of 3 or 4 of their songs, but after they sound-checked I decided against it because I didn’t want to force one of them to not be able to sing. I did sing the lead vocal on one song, and song I had learned from pat a while ago intending to cover it at some point. Funny that when I did it was on stage with them.

Then I came up and did a song solo, and then Tim and Dave came up and backed me on “1985 by the Get-Go’s.” With no rehearsal, mind you, just having listened to my CD. Needless to say, they’re very good. Gerlinda came back up, along with Greg from Chain Poets, to sing with us on the Beatles’ “Something.” Then weaklazyliar came up to play “Guy Fawkes Day” with me, with Gerlinda singing. Then I sang back up for them on “Waiting for the 8:05.”

From that brief description you can see how the night progressed, and what the point was. Weaklazyliar and I played for about 2 hours, switching off, backing each other, doing covers. No real delineation between one act or the other. Without just describing the show from start to finish, I’ll just add that we did a cover of U2’s “Bad,” which ended with me handing a small white flag (about 6 inches square) to the audience and going on a Bono tirade. I thought it was funny, hopefully everyone else did, too. Also, Robi hopped up by request to sing “Heatmiser/Snowmiser” with me.

I was actually disappointed when the night was through. I’ve seen Gerlinda’s description of the evening already, and she’s right when she says the crowd seemed a bit subdued. I think I was disappointed because I was pinning my hopes on the show to be the thing that turned this holiday around. It’s been a very weird one for me this year, and for so many other people I know. I think I had an unrealistic hope that this show would somehow rise above that, and we’d all come together in one of those moments that only happen when they’ve been scripted for PAX TV.

This did not happen.

But, in retrospect, it was foolish to think it would. Gerlinda said, “It’s like, we’re all a little quieter; we’re all a little nicer; we’re all a little more tentative.” And that clearly seems to be the case. And so my disappointment has changed to merely gratitude, that people would allow us the chance to play some role in their lives, to make the attempt to let them forget other things. It’s a frustrating career choice a lot of the time, and it can lead you to forget what an amazing thing it is to be up in front of people who are there to hear you, and the weird, cliched sounding thing that happens when you do it.

I can never express enough how much I appreciate the support you’ve given me, and I hope I am offering something of equal value to you in return. Thank you, and happy holidays to everybody.

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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.