Happy Father’s Day! I’m wishing my Dad was still around so I could send him some good wishes. I was imagining 12.01am and calling him and yelling “HAPPY FATHAH’S DAY MUTHAFUCKAAAAAAA!!!!” Which really makes me titter, cause – you know – it’s factual. But, alas, a) he probably wouldn’t have been amused by that and b) he REALLY wouldn’t have been amused by that.
Last night we took the stage OUTSIDE at Brewers Alley for the very first time. It was hot, it was humid, moreso than I was expecting for 8-11pm, but it’s reminding me of those horrible bar gigs at the height of the summer where your instincts get so excited about stepping outside of the steaming venue during your break, only to find the asphalt radiating the days heat back at you, enveloping you in sultry, steamy air – worse than what you’d faced INSIDE.
Sultry – there’s a word that’s changed meanings for me over the years. It used to be such a delicious, sexual word…. But by now, my mind flinches at the word because it means hot summer nights where no part of me ever feels dry and your skin slowly suffocates and shrivels under an envelope of slick, sticky sweat. Oh how I hate summer.
But the show itself was good. I’m always wary of the restaurant gigs. You’re playing to people who aren’t expecting you, generally we’re interrupting dates and family dinners and trying to integrate ourselves, our music and our personalities into someone else’s story of the night. The venue wants us to snare people’s attention so that at the end of dinner they stick around for dessert or a couple more drinks because they want to sit and hear the band – and we do that pretty well. We want to interact with people so that when that couple looks back on the night they say “oh, and when you took me to Brewers for my birthday a couple of years ago, that’s where we met that great band…” and we’re successful at that too. We get letters and phone calls from people whose first date was with us in the background somewhere – in a couple of cases, years later we’ve played their weddings!
A hot day at Honfest! Georgie Jessup performing at Honfest in Baltimore, MD. It’s been a long time since I’ve heard a killer lapsteel player and Georgie had one of the better ones that I’ve seen. In the background you can see Eric of Umbrella Radio running sound. People in the audience say it sounded great – but on a 90 billion degree day, we just felt lucky to make it through the gig without melting!. Dorian juggling his crystal balls – wait – actually I think those balls belonged to someone else. It was awkward. He’s an insane clown posse all by himself. Our old percussionist, Alfred Kamajian! Braving the heat at Honfest, it was great to see him again – and I was glad he could hear what ilyAIMY’s been getting up to – and glad that he seems pleased by the sound. GOSH he’s a good-looking man! Of course Ash declared it his kind of weather. Above – mOsno performing with Kristen on cello and sahffi on backing vocals. We were in very good company at the Bacardi Stage, sponsored by Umbrella Radio at Honfest. There are some pretty amazing performers in Charm City and I’m proud of my community.Now if only we could ALL go on some sort of Charm City TOUR….
Being a musician is an interesting business. It’s not like selling a widget that’s needed out there in society. Someone who finds themselves widgetless has to hunt down a couple of widget-makers of the appropriate type and comparison shop – and as a widget maker I know someone’s out there looking for me…
lyAIMY at Honfest. We should’ve worn beehives, but we didn’t. We simply weren’t as Hon as we should’ve been. But frankly, it was too freakin’ hot for Hon. ilyAIMY joined by Ashraf Dawod at Honfest. Even though he’s hidden in the pictures, we DID have Sharif around there somewhere! The whole day was brutally hot and I was horribly aware of barely making it through the gig. I’m not sure what else I can do to resist the heat better. Other than wear shorts. But we don’t want to get TOO crazy.
But as a musician, we have to go to our customers and insist that they want something they didn’t even know existed. We have to interrupt them, get in their face to a certain extent, invite them into a relationship. We turn some people off, and we can’t force it, but in an isolated society like ours I’m often surprised by how many people respond SO positively to having a stranger invite them into the conversation. It’s exciting and different.
