How did your gig go?

Pencil sketch by Chris Niosi.

So, you ask, how did the gig go?  This is what I have to say about that.

8 hours of workday work on 55th street. This means arise in the morn at 6:30 or so, rise, roust, get up, get it on and roll out of the sacred allnight bed and get a move on!  Shower, shave and all all the rest and get cookin'! Wake myself, wake the missus and book my sorry ass out of bed, out of the bedroom, off of the weather check and the email check and the internet and the living room and out of the house...out the door, down the hill, up the steps, onto the subway and into town. Now!!!

Do we live for work?  No.  Do we live for  paycheck?  Sort of.  Do we live for coordination of this day's project?  Absolutely not!  We live for music.

Music.

So, do this.  Get through the day.  This is imperative.  Get through, you get through, just like always.  Plow through, stagger through, blaze through, and at the end of it all...I'll be through!  Do it!  Do the thing!  Persevere! Maintain!  Get!  Through!  It!  Now!

The day: Scheduling. Managing. Fretting. Wheeling, dealing. Dealing. A lovely birthday party for Bob with salmon grill by Gloria, dropped into the middle of the day like an parachuted care package.  Better than not bad, very good, excellent! Then back to the work part.

Some hours pass, a blur, a race.  And at 5pm?  Pack it up!  Quick, cymbals in the case, guitar to the car, grab that amp, where is Randy?  Quick, grab a cab!  Get uptown.  It's just a few blocks!

Arrive at P&G Bar, I'm alone, meet with TJ, all is good.  Plug in the amp.  Plug in the guitar.  Strum, signal, yes! Alison shows up. Then Randy and Tom.  Set up guitar 2, set up drums, place mics, yes! CB strums the strings, Randy strums the strings, Tom taps on the skins, monitors, mains, audio!  People arrive, order drinks, they are there, off on the edge, over there but why we're here!

So, the playing, the show! 

I think Chris took this picture as well.

The gig, she was good. Fun and warm, covers up front, cb songs in the middle, a few covers at the tail.  High points: A little bit of Lyle Lovett - Since the  Last Time,  always dig me some Secret Agent Man, Randy and Tom jamming out on Back East, Michael D'Emidio dropped in to Zep out on This Magic Bone, and Eli requested Two Headed Boy from the back of the room. The best part was an unexpected feeling of rejuvenation as the set progressed, feeling more awake as it went along. I do like the singing and the playing, I do like it a lot.

Generally speaking, a happy groove of a night.