Nice Night at the Monkey

Look at me, writing a post about a show! I played solo last night at Java Monkey -- my musical home away from home -- and in spite of various harbingers of doom, it turned out to be a good night.

The signs things might not go well started with logistics. I had to miss my son's baseball game for the show, and we had some carefully scripted planning go awry when the auto shop called just before 5:00 to say the van wouldn't be available after all. We'd have to get a rental. When I dropped my PA gear off at Java Monkey, the stage temperature was about 85 degrees with 90% humidity. At least I wouldn't be cold! I went to park, keeping my guitar with me, and it dawned on me that I had not brought a microphone stand. Meanwhile, I drove around Decatur three or four times looking for parking, and finally ended up in the lower deck at the library (don't tell anyone). So I walked the three blocks or so back in the 90 degree heat carrying my guitar, and was pretty tired and grumpy by the time I was ready to start setting up.

But things turned around pretty quickly: some friends from college -- whom I haven't seen since college -- were there with their three kids. That was very cool, to say the least! And the always helpful JM staff set me up with a perfectly serviceable microphone stand, so I was able to get my rig set up and sound-checked without any further glitches. While I set up, more people I know filtered in so that, by the time I started playing, there was a nice audience out there on the patio.

Nothing to be done about the heat though. I just stood up there sweating, and I'm still a little dehydrated from it today. I started off with a John Hurt number, and I kicked it off in the wrong key (which I do about half the time). So I stopped and made some random dumb comments in an effort to cover my gaffe. When I started back -- in the right key -- I hoped no one would be the wiser. After the rocky start, seemed like things pinged along pretty well. I didn't really prepare a specific set list for the show. Instead, I recycled the list from when I played the Monkey last month, and I just kind of winged it as the mood struck. I played a couple of songs I haven't played in a long time, and I changed the order up a bit.

As often happens at Java Monkey, it felt more like a conversation than a "show." The room is small enough for me to go "off mic" a lot between songs and talk to folks, and we discussed the merits of murder ballads and the relative tameness of contemporary popular country music and such-like. I was bummed not to have Shelle with me, but it turned out to be a really fun night. I reckon I played for about an hour and a half. If you were there, thanks for coming!