1 post tagged “open mic night”
... last night was open mic night at the little coffee shop nearby... and yes, we went and yes, I sang alone in front of people... something I never imagined doing... if a few years back someone would have told me, You'll be in North Carolina and singing alone at a coffee shop, I'd have laughed in their face...
... Jay, Danielle and I put in some practice time too during the past week... so we actually had a nice little set put together by Thursday... we opened with "Mama I'm Coming Home" by Ozzy Osbourne, with Jay on electric guitar (his shiny Les Paul and Marshall amp, well cranked!), me on acoustic and Danielle singing... and we rocked it... usually, during most act on open mic night, customers come and go, get their coffee or ice creams and leave... but I have to say when we started playing, people took seats and benches and stayed... so our first song we great, and Jay ripped the solo and the whole thing sounded perfect... then the three of us did "Spoke in the Wheel" by Black Label Society, and again Jay was spot on with the fills and solos, while I did rhythm and Dani sang... I don't think the people there ever heard anything like it before, and Jay got a big round of applause...
... then I backed Danielle for her set... we started with "Standing Still" by Jewel, which Dani sings very well, and it's a good strumming song for me to loosen up with too... then we did "If You Were A Sailboat" by Katie Melua, a favorite song of mine, but very soft and sometimes the coffee grinders were muting the softer parts of the song... but we made it thru and did a good job, tho later we decided we'll have to watch doing songs that are too soft... next up was "Constant Craving" by kd lang, and this was my first little bit of singing in public, as I backed Dani on the choruses... but the piece de resistance was our last song together, "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree"... we first got everyone clapping, and then when I started the guitar they recognized the song... this was our best song of the set, cause we got everyone into it... and I was beating the hell out of the guitar, cause I wanted the chorus to be heavy and to really sound out, and the other guitarist and Jay thought I was going to bust strings for sure, heck, I thought I was going to bust strings, cause that was my intention, to make it loud and heavy at any cost... and Dani belted it out perfectly, so we were feeding off each other for that song... then we pulled out "Dust In The Wind", which I was kind of messy on, as it was hard to come down from the energy of "Black Horse..." to this mellow song, hehe, but we got thru it and I think we could do it better next time...
... so we began to step down, and people were saying, That's it?... and Dani said to me, Well, we could do some of the songs we dont really have worked up yet, OR, you can sing... and I was still unsure at this point, but I said alright, and sat back down... and I did "Hallelujah" by Jeff Buckley, which I think I do a pretty decent job of... and the nerves sure helped my vibrato in my voice, lol... I didn't know at the time, but the guy who runs the open mic night said to Danielle that I should do stuff like this more, that I was good... I got nice applause after this song, and they wanted more, so I did "If You Could Read My Mind" by Gordon Lightfoot, which I did alright with, I think it needs work... then I did "Coconut Grove", and then I was pretty much done, hehe... so we got everyone back up for a little blues jam to close the night...
... I'm still surprised I did it, that I sang alone in front of people... all my years in bands, it was easy cause I was in the background, I just had to play my guitar, I never envied being the frontperson... so this was really something for me to overcome, and I think I did well... put it this way, I plan on going back and doing it again... I'm already thinking of songs I think I can pull off... there are some pics of the night, and when I can get to them I'll post what I can...
