Greetings and Salutations!
Last night at Getty’s, we played our first show in front of a moderate crowd consisting of friends, family, and other interested parties. The cheers were loud and enthusiastic, and we appreciate every last one of them. I did a head count in between sets, and it seemed like there were far too few people to be making that much noise.
We played a mix of tunes from the upcoming CD, an oldie but goodie from the Rain Kings days (‘The Next Temptation’), another old favorite that had never before been played with a full band (‘Esperanto’), and some covers thrown in for good measure. Two full sets. Very cool of Getty’s to take a chance on us headlining our first time out. I hope we made it worth their while.
It’s always interesting to see how a song evolves from one form to another, even simply from the rehearsal room to the stage. The arrangement may be locked in, practiced and polished, yet when played in front of an audience the song can take on a completely new life…or die on the vine. Nothing that dire happened last night, but the way the material played out has caused me to re-evaluate the approach to our upcoming show at Milla’s. Certain songs will be left off, new ones will be added, and others will change to more or less prominent positions in the set. Then we’ll have to make changes based on how well that goes over. The process never ends… and I love it!
John Clark commented before the show that it was amusing for him to see us switching roles. Being the band leader in Jupiter he tends to be the pacing, nervous, tension-filled guy, but last night I was the one in full-on backstage jitters mode. I couldn’t help it. This show was a culmination of over a year’s work — recording my first album, putting a live band together — and getting back to being a frontman for the first time since the Rain Kings broke up. I do like to think I have at least improved in dealing with this tension over the years. John should have seen me when I was doing those Pink Floyd tribute projects in my early 20s… those were the times that tested men’s souls.
The show had a few rough moments, but we pulled through and had a really good time doing it. It helped to be playing with guys I already know, for the most part. John and James Clark (no relation) and I have been playing together in Jupiter for about a year, and James played for a bit in the Rain Kings as well. They brought the lightning and thunder, respectively, and had their share of standout moments This was my first time on stage with Tim Hollinger, and I didn’t know what to expect, but he was great — a multi-tasking, multi-talented guy with terrific stage presence. He even stepped up to sing lead for our cover of Pink Floyd’s “Have A Cigar,” and it was awesome.
I made two dedications during the show: ‘We Are One’ went out to author Douglas Adams, who passed away just last week, and ‘Join The Club’ was fondly dedicated to everyone in the room. Surely they could have been other places on a Thursday night, but they chose to hang out with us. “Right here and right now, I’m feeling pretty damn good,” I said. And I meant it.
Huge thanks to The Name Droppers (featuring my friend Dave Freestone on bass, and what a surreal thing that was, since we started playing music together as kids) for their strong opening set, Tommy the soundman for his expertise, patience, and support, the designers of the “Spit” concert flyers for providing everyone with conversation fodder for most of the night, and webmaster Fozz for documenting the whole thing. Due to some technical mishaps with the soundboard recording, we won’t be able to post any audio clips from this show, but I’ll be in touch with Fozz shortly to see how the video turned out, and we’ll definitely have some pics up over the weekend.
Here’s to the first step on what I hope to be a long and rewarding journey.
bye for now,
your humble correspondent
TB