Tag: Shows

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20, 22 Jun: Atlanta

Friday, June 20 – Eddie’s Attic (Atlanta, GA)
Sunday, June 22 – Sweet Melissa’s (Atlanta, GA)
w/ Matthew Kahler, et al.

So, on Wednesday I got an email from Eddie’s Attic, asking for a phone number Todd (the owner) could use to get in touch with me about playing a show. I had sort of been hipped to the fact that they might call about a last minute fill-in by another employee there who was at the benefit show. She has been doing extensive work plying my name around the club, and I’d mention her by name but I hesitate to when she doesn’t know she’s being mentioned. Booking names and owners are a matter of public record, so that doesn’t seem such a big deal.

Anyway, I gave them a number and later he called. The show was the early show on Friday. On the weekend Eddie’s has two shows, an early one, with one act, all ages, and then a second show usually with two acts. So, I was going to be playing a show with no other act on the bill on 48 hours notice. He knew what a weird spot it was to be in and also booked a July show at the same time as a sort of ‘thank you.’ So, I put the word out, hoping if I could draw some sort of crowd when they were expecting none, that’d look exceptionally good.

Fifty people came. On 48 hours notice. I know most of you won’t know whether that’s good, relatively speaking, so I assure you it was great. It filled the tables and the riser in back. Todd seemed very happy with the turn out and said he could see me headlining there soon, he could see me heading that way. It may seem like faint praise, but it was a nice thing to say.

As far as the show goes, for an hour and a half show solo it went surprisingly well. Chris played a stripped down drum kit for a little over half the set, which was good. We didn’t practice it at all… you sort of figure, you know, you’re in a band, you know the songs, and then halfway through one suddenly it would occur to me I had no idea how we’d end it, or what we’d do during the bridge, or something similar. But Chris was great about jumping into whatever I threw at him. I was a little phlegmy the first few songs, having broken my usual rule not to eat for a couple of hours beforehand (I ate one fry. I was starving. And I paid for it). There was great crowd response and good banter between myself and them. It was probably looser than it should have been, but with an hour and a half to play I sort of preferred it that way.

After the show Blake Guthrie, who was working the door, asked if I could come play a benefit show on Sunday for the lead singer of a local band called Rosa Believe. We’ve actually played a show with them before and I had heard about the benefit just a few days beforehand, so I agreed. It was also in Decatur at some new restaurant on the square. There isn’t much to tell about it, I was only there to play a couple of songs. The main thing was that Matthew Kahler was there and after I finished he came up and was really nice about my songs. He went on next and played a few and before I left I went up to talk to hi a little and he complemented me again and said he really wanted to try to do something somehow, together… book a tour or something, that we could really make people feel something. So I told him to email me and that I’d be up for anything. The one thing he said that I thought was really nice was, “You could go anywhere with what you do.”

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6, 7 Jun: Atlanta

6 June – the Earl (Atlanta, GA)
w/ the Blue Velvets, Michelle Malone
7 June – Circle Sky Records (Atlanta, GA)
w/ Snow White Trash, the Indicators, What The?!, Silent Kids

The show at the Earl went well enough. It hadn’t occurred to me how long it had been since we played a full band show up until just before we started. So it felt good from that stand point. But I think overall we did a great show. Somewhere near the end I started spacing out, I was missing chords that I know without thinking, I think mainly because the cover (“Antmusic”) was next and I was busy worrying about it. We had just worked it up the night before and though I always loved it I no longer knew the words. So I had made a cheat sheet for the show of key phrases I seemed to stumble on. Unfortunately, I looked at it a split second too late and by then I was lost.

It SOUNDED good, though.

The crowd was a good size and I talked briefly with Patrick who books there. I have no idea if we came across well or if it will help the cause of getting booked there (Michelle asked us to do this show).

Saturday it was raining well before the show, which was outdoors. I didn’t think it would come off at all but just around noon it stopped and they were setting up. They’d added a tent as well. So, it started two hours late but did happen. The show was for a record store called Circle Sky Records, which is in Tucker. It’s very close to my neighborhood, too, so it was a sort of community show for me. The Indicators, who I did some backing vocals for about a year ago, played before us. They asked me up for one song but it wasn’t one I sang on so I ended up on stage briefly to do nothing and walk off. I came back up a couple of songs later for a song I did know. The crowd was sort of small but bigger than I had expected, really. Once we started it had become really hot, and though there was a breeze blowing it was blocked by the tent set up. Every time I would play with one leg forward it was in the sunlight and I would get the strangest sensation of an extremity being much hotter than the rest of me. Still, we did surprisingly well, again, and I got almost all of the words to “Antmusic” this time. David, who was in the Million Box for me was there so I had him up to do some backing vocals on “Overture,” and then Lyle brought up his band’s drummer to have him do backing vocals on “Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey” (which was fairly impressive since he didn’t know what song we were doing until we started).

We received one noise complaint from a woman who drove up during the show. She complained to the police officer and to both of the stores putting on the show, to no avail. The odd thing was that she was holding a romance novel the entire time. Which is funny enough in its own right, but factor in that she DROVE all the way over with it, just to complain, and it becomes sort of bizarre.

I hung out afterwards and talked with the Indicators and Snow White Trash, who had opened the show.

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16, 18 May: Atlanta

16 May – Eddie’s Attic
w/ Kristen Hall
18 May – Park Tavern
w/ Kitty Snyder

I got a phone call from Eddie’s on Thursday night, asking if I could open for Kristen Hall the following night. I had a cold which was in full swing that night, I was already thinking there was no way I was going to be able to go to work the next day. But there was also no way to say no to a chance to play a show with someone who is such an automatic draw at that place, on a Friday. Not to mention that she’s amazing, and also, to be a little crass, she is connected and it would be good to just meet her. So I said yes, not really knowing if I’d be able to pull off singing.

Well, I needed it. This show. It wasn’t so much that it was a rousing success. The crowd was good but it wasn’t packed or anything. But it was a crowd that, since I was added at the last second, had no idea who I was. A very good sized crowd of people who didn’t know me at all. My voice was okay and I felt okay about the show. I didn’t have them on their feet but they laughed as I made smart ass remarks and I talked with some afterwards and sold some CDs.

Kristen was really very nice to me. I’d never met her before but she knew who I was and treated me as if we did know each other. I talked with her after the show was done and she told me she heard me talk about how I had a cold but she could tell that I was, like she was, my own worst critic, and that my voice sounded great. We talked about doing shows together and I told her anytime she wanted me to do a solo thing in the southeast to just let me know when and where. She also said she’d like to try to write together. This is someone who has written with more people than I really want to begin listing and worked with even more.

Just like that.

Sunday’s show was part of a series of shows all summer put on by the major alternative station in town (WNNX 99.7FM) called “Unplugged in the Park.” It’s an outdoor show under a huge awning overlooking Piedmont Park and downtown Atlanta. I have been on the particular show, called “Organic X” that is actually putting on the series, though not for a while. But they had asked me to open this show solo, and had also said they’d try to book the band in for later in the summer.

This show looked as if it was going to be the counterpoint to the one on Friday. I had spoken to Jen from A Few Degrees on Friday, they had played this last week and had to be moved inside because of the rain and there was no crowd. When I got there, not only was it raining but the area under the awning was flooded. They had to pump the drains to get it cleared so we managed to keep the show outside and there was actually a crowd. Unfortunately, they didn’t really pay much attention. It wasn’t easy to begin with, because with the size of the ‘room’ and the way the acoustics worked, I felt dwarfed. Playing solo just didn’t carry very well, and three or four songs in I was really just playing to myself in my head.

But it was a good show for outside things… talking with Matt from 99X again. Finding out that there is a demand to see me playing at Eddie’s (it’s a long story and one maybe I’m not supposed to tell), and also that there are people inside Eddie’s pushing me to open big shows (which was why I got the call to open Friday’s show). Talking with Kitty Snyder (who I saw for the first time a few weeks ago and really like) about doing shows together. Having someone out just because they heard “It Was Something” that morning on 99X.

So it’s not such a bad feeling at the end of the weekend. Nothing is fixed, but at least I can feel a little more at ease.