Happy Anniversary Steve & Solid Grounds!
September 23, 2008 at 5:31 am (Playing Live) (Darwin Mamassian, Love Does the Rest, Solid Grounds, Steve Kovich, Tuesday Night Music Club)
Tonight – Solid Grounds Coffee House in Northville.
Well, I’ve managed to play out live three of the last four evenings. Lots of folks came out tonight to play. Maybe it was because tonight was the one year anniversary of Steve Kovich’s open mic night. Congratulations Steve!
I played It Ain’t Easy Being Me, Your Rocky Spine and my new one, Love Does the Rest. Big fun! Unfortunately it’s not gonna last. The next month is going to get pretty rough with some commitments that I have to take care of. I’ll keep playing in the basement and on the sidewalk at work on breaks as much as possible. Hoping to be able to concentrate on some writing as well.
Talked with Darwin a bunch tonight. We are talking about booking a show at Solid Grounds in October. I’ll post it on the schedule when we figure out what will work for both of us. Not sure I can do anything before the middle of the month so late October probably.
Out.
John
Two for the Show
September 21, 2008 at 5:33 am (Playing Live) (Baseline Folk Society, Darwin Mamassian, Love Does the Rest, Rise Again)
Last night was the first show in the Baseline Folk Society’s 2008-2009 season. Just like last week at East River there was a full house. Lots of performers chomping at the bit to get some stage time. Darwin, Steve, Kenny, Rise Again, Kathy Nieman and Paul Murphy were all there. Lots of other familiar faces. And, just like last week, I was near the end. So I wouldn’t feel rushed I only played two songs. Did Your Rocky Spine by Great Lake Swimmers and my newest offering, Love Does the Rest. And I still rushed them anyway. Ah well. Live and learn.
Last night was a LATE one. Didn’t even get done until after 10:30pm. I don’t really know how the organizers can help keep the shows a decent length other than limit us to two songs (which I hope they don’t do). Mike had asked all the performers to shorten it up and get right to the music, but some chose not to. It’s not bad if you go in the first half, but performers in the second half really feel the crunch of time.
Rise Again asked me to come out to eat with them again last night. Dave offered to pay but I didn’t take him seriously. To his credit, he came through! Thanks Dave! Had a great time of conversation and food to cap off a good evening of music. Thanks guys.
In other news, I’ve been kicking around the idea of putting together a Songwriter’s Workshop. Just an informal invite to a few of my friends to drop by the house or a local coffee shop to talk about the writing process and play some new songs off one another. It’s likely I won’t have time to consider this more until after the first week in October. Stay tuned!
I’m off to bed. Hope to see you at a show soon.
John
Back in Business
September 14, 2008 at 5:34 am (Playing Live) (All We Need is Some Love, East River Folk Society, Kenny Lang, Love Does the Rest, Nothin' All Day, Rise Again, WHFR)
Folk society open mic season is upon us! East River began its 20th season last night. The show, hosted by Kenny Lang, was a great one. I played dead last to a smaller crowd than that enjoyed by earlier performers, but all was good! Due to time, I decided to play two songs, rather than the usual three. Throwing caution to the wind, I decided (after changing my mind about 20 times during the show) to debut my new song, Love Does the Rest (tentative title). Not sure it’s done yet, but it seemed to be received well. Finished up with Nothin’ All Day.
The members of Rise Again invited me out to eat with them afterwards and we enjoyed good food and good company until the late hours. They are doing the WHFR show in October! Wishing them much luck. During the conversation, Cliff asked me if I was ever going to write a song for them to do. Turns out that I may have one for them already. We (Arlington Station) were going to do one of my songs called All We Need Is Some Love. I think Rise Again could do a great job on this if they choose to. Going to meet with them tonight to work on it a bit with them. Thanks to the East River folks for hosting a great show each month! Can’t wait to see you all again soon.
John
