Alright, Break it Up!
Although Dave & Lisa are basking in the sun in Florida, I managed to get out and play tonight over at Solid Grounds. We had a “family dinner” thing at Olga’s at the mall. Lindsay left for DC again tonight. After that, I headed over to Northville.
Most of the usual suspects were there. Dar, Steve, Bill, Aaron. Great to see friends coming together to play music. Although I arrived late, they let me get in the rotation and I managed to get a three song set in as well as a “lightning round” as Steve likes to call them.
Tonight I played Nothin’ All Day, Superman’s Song, Jesus and John Lennon and, finally, This Time. Surprisingly, the last one got the most comments tonight. I didn’t say anything about it being my song and a few people were trying to “place who did that one”. Pretty funny. But flattering.
Anyhoo, the real fun began after the show ended. Dar and I grabbed our guitars and headed out to the mall area (nice acoustics out there!). We messed around with Blue on Black and a bunch of other songs well into the night. Probably TOO far into the night. Haha. Both our wives called to break up the after hours party. We’re both very lucky to have understanding spouses!
Looking forward to the return of the wayward bass player and lead singer, who, incidentally, sent me a nice photo text this morning of the two of them laying around on a hammock on the beach. How cruel is THAT???
Waiting for the sun,
John
Just Like Energizers
Been thinking about the past few months recently. We started this thing on a whim in October. How did we get from playing a few songs at Baseline in November to playing an amazing show in front of a packed room at Solid Grounds in four months???
Answer: I have no idea.
But we’re having a blast and don’t intend to stop or slow down anytime soon. Well, actually, we ARE going to stop for just a couple weeks. Dave & Lisa are taking off for Florida later this week. We will resume our rehearsals the first week of April as we prepare to be the featured performers at the Baseline show that month.
In the meantime, I’ll be plinking around on the guitar, maybe do some writing or even play an open mic or two while they’re off lolly-gaggin’ in the sun.
Yeah, it’s “recharge time”.
See you soon,
John
Arlington Station
Denied! But Fun Anyway…
We set out to get back on stage at The Ark tonight. No dice. Wasn’t our night. We had a great time anyway though. Darwin, Dave and I sat around before the show fiddling around with our intruments. Then we settled in for the show.
The crowd was big tonight. Lots of musicians. I immediately lowered my expectations when I saw that. Just got ready for a great show. And a great show, it was!
Lots of talent out there. Our friend Darwin played fourth tonight and did a great job. Steve Kovich was there but, like us, didn’t get called. Michelle and Steve came out to see us, but were happy with the show anyway. And, finally, our official t-shirt man, Steve, hooked us up with some more shirts. He had a great idea tonight. If we got to play, we were going to try to sell some shirts and donate all the money to a shelter in Washtenaw County. His idea. We loved it. Maybe next time!
During one of my trips to the snack bar I got a chance to say hello to Rachel and Steve from The Hummingbirds. Very cool people. Hope to see them play live sometime. Maybe even play a show with them. We’ll see!
We’re going to be taking a short break for a couple weeks now. Dave and Lisa are heading south for a vacation shortly. I may show up at some local open mics while they’re gone to try out some new material. Hope to see you around.
Be sure to write Saturday, April 19th on your calendar! We’ll be the featured performers at the Baseline Folk Society show in Northville. Hope to see you there!
John
Arlington Station
Thank You!
Tonight was our first full show as Arlington Station. It’s hard to really know where to start.
Perfect. Yes, I’ll start there.
Things got off to a great start with Jenni singing a few songs. Then Ryan entertained the growing crowd with three songs. We’re very lucky to be able to share a stage with our children (and the rest of the two families looking on!). These are definitely moments to cherish.
Then it was our turn to take the stage. We were totally blown away by how many folks turned out to spend an evening with us. But more on that later.
Our first set:
- Leave the Pieces
- Hiding My Heart
- Where Was I?
- Angel
- Superman’s Song
- Lovin’ Arms
- One Voice
Second set:
- Orphan Girl
- Fred Jones pt. 2
- Song for a Winter’s Night
- Falling Slowly
- Jesus & John Lennon
- Stay
- I’m With the Band
But enough of the music. The real story, for us, was you. You all blew us away by just being there. The crowd was amazing. So many friends, family, co-workers. Normally when I write a post-performance report like this, I like to list the folks who came out. Can’t do it tonight. Way too many!
There were South Lyon folks. Ethan Allen folks. Plymouth Fife & Drum Corps folks. Family. Neighbors. Friends. Friends of friends. Fellow musicians. There were actually folks from three other bands in the audience (that we were aware of!). Keith, from Seven Bridges came out to support us. We’ve spent a lot of time playing music with Keith over the years. Also, fellow folkies Rise Again were there! And a couple of folks from Bazooka Jones came with Tim and Karen. We appreciate each one of you for coming out to be a part of our first full show.
Not to mention the first “semi-official” Arlington Station t-shirts! Thanks Steve! That was amazing.
And thanks to Solid Grounds Coffee House. You’re a great, hip shop. And we’re really happy that our first show was at your venue. Hope to see you a bunch in the future.
We hope to have a bunch of photos to post soon. There were so many people snapping photos it was hilarious. You guys and your cameras and camera phones. Crackin’ me up!
We’re especially excited to see the photos taken by our groupie/photographer Karen. She took some awesome shots of us at Baseline recently. She was busy snapping away tonight. She also gave her camera to Jen for a bit. Looking forward to your great work you two!
Thanks for a great & memorable evening.
John
Arlington Station
At These Odds We Should Have Won SOMETHING!
How many songs do you figure Gordon Lightfoot wrote? A hundred? Two hundred? I have no idea.
If you did know, how would you figure out the odds of two acts showing up the same night to the East River Folk Society show playing the same song?
Me neither.
Song for a Winter’s Night got a thorough going over tonight. First, by our friends Rise Again. They did a great job. They have a way of creating this sonic wall of sound with the way they play. Then we got up and did our very stripped down and simple version of it.
When we first heard them say they would be playing it, I thought we should “get the book” and find another song to open with. But after sitting there listening to them play, I knew that our version was different enough to get away with it.
After that fun, we did Superman’s Song and Orphan Girl. We’ve wanted to do Orphan Girl for that room for some time. Seemed to fit.
After our three songs, we were asked to do an encore. That’s the first time that’s ever happened to us there and we were very happy to oblige. I joked that for our encore we would be doing a Gordon Lightfoot song!
Actually, we did I’m with the Band. Big surprise! So much fun, though.
We had a pretty small posse with us this show. Karen, Mary and Rachael represented us pretty well though. If you get a chance in the future, you should really check out this East River show. Quite the variety of great talent.
The best part of the evening though, was when I realized that I was doing almost 50mph on Fort Street on the way home and slowed down in time to avoid another ticket from Wyandotte’s finest. YESSSSSSSSS! “You’ll never get me coppers!”
Anyhoo, I digress…
Good time had by all. Hope to see you at our first full show this Friday, March 14th at the Solid Grounds Coffee House in Northville, MI.
Until then,
John & Arlington Station
