Tag: Shows

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28 Mar: Atlanta

28 Mar – Eddie’s Attic (Atlanta, GA)
w/ Michelle Malone

We started off well and ended well, in spite of little things in between. After making a point last time of talking about how I need to stick with the acoustic on the songs I use it on, we started in on “Sherman” and I broke a string during the song. I managed to swap guitars somewhere during the bridge and ended up playing electric for the whole show anyway. Sometimes the fates are fickle. The crowd seemed good, we got a loud cheer for “World Where You Live” and then good cheers afterward. I think we were a bit subdued, again. It’s the stage, for one thing, being so small (and smaller still with two bands worth of amps on it), there’s really no room to move at all. But the club itself feels quiet, and it’s hard to start capering around the stage even if there were room.

There’s something about coming home after a show in town, though. I don’t notice it when the band is on the road, though I did have it when I was out solo. I come home completely drained, and usually starving. There’s just a very particular feeling to it, the weariness of bringing the equipment in, of changing out of the clothes… it’s like a deliberate forestall of relief, and the feeling when I finally sit, have a drink, a little food, it’s like nothing else. Probably about as close to relaxation as I ever get.

I was sitting here, with an overcast sky, taking in that weird nostalgia I only get at the start of spring and autumn… and I started thinking. I used to go see local music just after high school. More or less it was people I knew. I saw Uncle Green at the Metroplex and actually travelled with them to a few shows out of town. I saw another friend’s band, called the Mystery Cycles, play a place called Margaritaville on West Peachtree. But the first time I ever went out to see a local act I didn’t know was at a club called the White Dot, which used to be on Ponce de Leon Ave.

It was Michelle Malone.

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22 Mar: Atlanta

22 Mar – the Earl (Atlanta, GA)
w/ the Yum Yum Tree, the Features

I haven’t played the Earl in about a year and a half. The last time I was there was only the third show with the Million Box, my previous backing band. We were still sort of forming as a unit and it was the first show where I felt like it had it’s own identity. We did well, brought in 60 people on a Wednesday night at midnight. But even so I could never get back in. Being a pop band is a tough sell in Atlanta.

The way I finally got back in was through the kindness of Andy Gish of the Yum Yum Tree, who asked us to play this show with them. We opened and played a good show to a good-sized crowd. I feel fairly sure most of them did not know who we were, but I think a lot of them were also fans of the Features (who went on last), a pop band out of Nashville. So we were playing to a crowd that was expecting pop of some kind. They applauded but there wasn’t much interaction, which felt like a let down after our set but they kept that attitude for most of the night, so at least it wasn’t just that it was us.

I talked briefly with a couple of the guys in the Features after their set, but I don’t think they really put it together that I was the guy that opened. The person who does the booking there was working the door so hopefully that will help my case when I start trying to re-book.

I feel a little like I sold myself out somewhat. I left my acoustic at home and decided to do the two acoustic songs on the Telecaster. They sounded fine, but afterward I was a little mad at myself for doing it. Sometimes you can work yourself up over a show and start second-guessing what you do and you start to try to plan a show based on your idea of what the crowd will want. In a way that’s all well and good, and it’s not that it backfired at all, but I don’t think I’ll do it again. In the end I’d rather go down or be ignored as me. The fast and soft stuff is all mine, and there’s no reason to change that to try and win anyone over. If they buy the CD they’re going to end up with that side of me anyway.

I also talked with someone about the whole idea of having some sort of loose organization to try and band all these struggling Atlanta pop bands together. I’d been spending some time over the past week trying to pin down ideas, then it turns out I meet this guy who’s already halfway there. It seems silly to try and compete; it would sort of defeat the purpose. So now I’m not so sure what to do.

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21 Feb: Iowa City

21 Feb – Univ of Iowa Memorial Union (Iowa City, IA)
w/ Indigo Girls

When I saw the room for the first time it wasn’t at all what I expected. It was more of a really large banquet hall with a very high ceiling, but it held 1600 people and the show was sold out. My ‘dressing room’ was actually a smaller banquet room off to the side. They had called when I was in Cleveland asking if I had any requests for the room, and I just asked for water. They pressed me on it, as if they just really wanted to PROVIDE something, so I told them if they could get me a Mountain Dew that’d be nice. In the dressing room there was a cooler with water and about 20 cans of Mountain Dew.

I’m just one guy. Not even I have that big a problem with the stuff.

Anyway.

I talked with the Girls on the drive over about doing “Don’t Dream It’s Over” with me. It was a last minute thing and I know they were wiped out from this whole tour but they agreed to give it a go anyway. After we ate we went over it at the table. Then I had about an hour to kill by myself wandering about the building. As the time got closer I kept taking a look into the room and it was only about half full and they were all sitting on the floor (the room was standing only).

With five minutes before I went on I took another look and it was packed and they were pressed up against the raised stage. Amy walked out with me to introduce me and the place went up and it was LOUD. Really loud. And they went on and on. Nervous? Yep.

So here’s how it went… They cheered loudly after every song. I started with “Fall Down” and after the first chorus got my first mid-song cheer from a crowd. They cheered punchlines. I made a concise political statement before playing “O, Columbia” and they went up. The Girls came out for “Don’t Dream It’s Over” and they went completely nuts. They sang along on the “hey now”s. They cheered the line in “Hitchcock Blonde” (“tells herself she’s no one’s Hitchcock Blonde”) at the end. They were loud and great. I told them so.

After the set I went out as usual to sign CDs and meet people. I was getting a better response than the last show already at that point. People telling me they never like opening acts and they really enjoyed me. I noticed when I went out that I had already sold CDs before I came out.

I went back in and watched the full Indigo Girls set, joined in on “Closer to Fine” and “Kid Fears” again. Just like Cleveland the place went nuts when I hit the third line of the Michael Stipe part. They were so loud I couldn’t believe it.

Back out at the merch table I sold and signed CDs. I sold as many CDs as the best shows in Florida with the band. As the crowd thinned I sat and talked with a group of people for about 15 minutes or so, they invited me to go eat after we were done, but I had to say no since we were leaving for Chicago immediately after. But I would have really liked to have stayed. It’s one frustrating thing about being in town before the show and leaving town right after. When I’m there no one knows who I am and by the time I’ve potentially won them over I have to leave.

On the bus once again everyone went to bed pretty quickly. It was a four-hour drive to Chicago and I was getting a little carsick. I lay in the coffin but didn’t really sleep. We got into Chicago around 4am or so. I got about 3 hours of sleep before going to the airport. I ran into Amy waiting for the flight and we talked a little. I really dislike flying, not because of fear but just because it’s such a tedious uncomfortable experience. I actually lucked out and got a three seat row all to myself, but unfortunately I had two sales guys sitting behind me who LITERALLY never shut up for the entire flight. I tried to watch a movie on the laptop with headphones to drown them out but the seats in front are so close there’s no way to comfortably look at the laptop screen.

I really hate flying.

I ran into Amy, Emily and Sulli at baggage claim, hugged and said goodbye.

Back home, where no one knows anything happened.

Back home, where I’m unemployed and can’t pay my bills this week.

I can’t describe my mood or whether it’s good or bad.