Alright, figured I’d post a little blurb about my opening set at the Marine Pub this past Saturday May 24 in Burnaby. Also on the bill: We Found a Lovebird and The Furniture.
I had a 20 minute block and had originally going to be playing electric [probably my Gibson ES-135] with a drum machine, but a couple weeks out I still wasn’t happy with the drum machine arrangements and decided to axe it and go acoustic instead.
This was my set list [as scribbled on the white board in my jam space]:
So, Saturday night comes and as the guys in We Found a Lovebird were getting set up [my set up consisting of pulling my guitar out of its case and plugging into the mixer], the UFC fight was on. Wouldn’t say I know a damn thing about the UFC, other than in the title fight between Dillashaw and Barao, it was obvious even to me that Dillashaw would likely win right from the get-go. Barao might have been the champ, but he was the one chasing Dillashaw, so it seemed to me that Dillashaw was the one calling the shots right off the bat.
And Barao never did get the upper hand back.
Well, it was clear my job was going to be a fair bit easier that night than Dillashaw’s.
My set went well, in fact I dare say it was probably the best maQLu live set thus far. A few mistakes which probably no one but me caught, the sole exception being halfway through the second verse of my last song, “Naive,” when I guess I was a little too loose on the pick and the damn thing went flying out of my fingers.
I had had a feeling all week something like that might happen, because it happened at least 3 times in rehearsal, so I’d slipped a few spares down my bra. Turns out that digging into one’s boobs for a spare pick probably only takes 10 seconds, but it’s a loooooooooooooong 10 seconds in front of a crowd.
Guess next time I should go for the more pedestrian method of using one of those rubber pick holder things that snaps onto the mic stand. I have one kicking around here somewhere, maybe.
Other notes: since I’ve noticed before that I find myself a little at a loss for what to say in between songs when I just try to wing that part, this time I took some inspiration from something Adam Carolla likes to say about preparation and memorizing comedy beats. Basically, it seems at least a couple times a month on his podcast someone will call in to ask him about tips for getting into stand-up comedy and the same thing always happens: aside from his usual advice about hitting open mics etc., he’ll always say, OK, give us a couple minutes of your best stuff.
And the answer is inevitably: “Uh…”
Keep in mind, these guys all listen to his podcast, they must have heard him do this before and therefore known he would put them on the spot, and they decided when they were going to call in, so they ought to have prepped for it and been ready to roll.
Anyway, it occurred to me that like those aspiring comics calling into Carolla’s show, I ought to, y’know, figure out my song intro beats in advance instead of trying to wing it. So, I came up with a couple little points for each, not necessarily comedy although the intro to “Lucky Paw” sorta was, worked those into rehearsal, and lo and behold, less nerves when giving the set, got some laughs, and hence it went better than previous shows.
Duh.
Anyway, my set out of the way, it was time to sit back and relax and enjoy my front row seat for We Found a Lovebird’s excellent alternapop set.
And then The Furniture came up to close out the night with their high energy quirk punk pop sounds.
Attendance wasn’t too high, but it seemed a lot of people were out of town this weekend. I know for my people the friends most likely to come out and see the show were away on tour with their own bands or on vacation in Europe or visiting family out of town. And then my brother was out of town chaperoning his son at some longboarding race.
Speaking of my brother: Usually I delegate video camera duty to him when I play. Now, with him out of town, I did make a note to myself to remember to bring the damn thing, and I certainly did.
And then as I put my guitar back into its case after my set, I saw my video camera bag sitting nestled in my bag with my spare cables.
Oops.
Oh well. Y’all just have to take my word for it on how the set went since there’s no video evidence.
I don’t currently have another show booked, but I am chatting with a couple friends about doing something later in the summer, so once I have more info and something firmed up, I’ll post about it. In the meantime, I’m checking out a few open mics around town to figure out which will be a good fit for my music, so I should have a few appearances at those over the summer too.
