Last night was totally, totally great. Neal, Jean and I were tighter than ever, my singing felt great and the music was rhythmic, energetic, totally dance-able. The sound system was so good people could actually understand the words and later they told me they caught the jokes, the innuendo, the one-liners that often get buried in my lyrics underneath the percussion and guitar.
I was completely relaxed. I knew these songs and had DRILLED the new ones to make sure I didn’t flub any lyrics. And then, bizarrely, I forgot the opening lines of “The Penguin Song.” How did THAT happen? One friend said her favorite was one of the new ones, “Sparrow” (that’s my current favorite, too). Her husband liked “Song for Valentine’s Day” best.
I also had a very good turnout and afterwards I tried to thank every friend who came (did I manage it?). I filled the bar, gave a great show and had a great time. I have GOT to work on getting a friend to bring a digital camera next time so I can post some photos. It’s bad that I don’t have any. One friend brought a regular camera and that’s it. I guess I just don’t have visual friends? My set was preceded by Chuck Cheesman and followed by Casey McCauley (says her website’s in progress). They were both great, but I felt a particular affinity for Casey’s songs since she also writes about how difficult it can be “just being me.” OH yeah..
Now I’m facing the question: so what do I do next? What do I want to have happen with my music? The first thing that comes to mind is that I still want to draw a wider audience. Most of the people at my gigs are friends and acquaintances and it feels great to be supported like that, but I still haven’t managed to pull in people who don’t know me personally but just want to hear my music. I’ve been playing open mics for months now and my email list is longer than ever, but few of those people showed up last night.
Onward. I need to work on a plan and get some details figured out and I guess in the meantime I just keep playing open mics and playing wherever I can and just keep myself out there. Keep myself “out there.” I’m keeping myself “out there” as a musician and keeping myself “out there” as a single, dating person. When do I get to come in?
Set list from last night:
(you can hear three of these if you look me up at www.purevolume.com. Sorry, I still haven’t figured out how to post complete songs to my website!)
1) Be Here Now
2) I Like Life
3) 40 (new. It’s my aging, single woman blues song)
4) Solterona
5) Not So Bad
6) Song for Valentine’s Day
7) Has Amado Una Mujer De Veras? (cover)
8) Sparrow (new)
9) Ven Devórame Otra Vez (cover)
10) The Penguin Song
11) Moving Through Madness
12) Going of Age
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