August 11th, 2022. My brother said it better. I’ve got an open mic.

This may seem a weirdly personal post about my open mic, but it’s what’s in my head – plus it all DOES tie together… you’ll see.

Holy crap it’s getting late earlier! Jon Patton is in the shadows there playing drums for his father. The set is imperfect, but it made Steve Patton really happy to get to play with his son, and the way he talks about his multi-instrumentalist (40-somethin’) “kid” warms even my jaded, broken heart.

So here’s my brother saying what I’m thinking. My dad was 30 years older than me when he died in April of 2005. He would’ve been 78 today. On the one hand I’m trying not to let that occupy me head, but then when my brother posts this and I’ve been silent, I almost feel like I’m a bad son… by… not publicly remembering my father on social media? Our souls have been WARPED by the times. He’d recognize me and my Saturn but very little else. 18 years out of the world is a very, very long time and I miss him, but I wouldn’t relish explaining 2022 to him.

I have a moment of break down and work on pushing through the day. I have my Thursday night here to distract me and to keep me sane. And it’s a beautiful, packed, crazy night.

Joey came out. Heather came out. We had ilyQuorum but we proooobably should’ve picked other songs. I also was training someone on sound gear and my focus was scattered. Somedays I’m really good at spinning all the plates, sometimes that performance plate is one plate too many and today… well, it never crashed down but “Terms” rode the catastrophe curve and “Good Enough” with drums but no bass-line cello does NOT Live up to it’s name!

Chuck and his daughter Erin performing. Smile of pride as he plays. Maybe I’m just feeling emotionally vulnerable, but it was one of my favourite moments of the night.
(though this seems a more-typical father daughter interaction!)

Fortunately, the spectacular talents of everyone else made up for my own failings and I felt really good about giving this beautiful stage over to so many wonderful locals. It was the finest of open mic nights : professionals rubbing-elbows with first-times, bands and solo artists, the young and the old – and especially pertinent to my own personal mental maze – several father / kid combos that made me so joyous. I know it ain’t always perfect, and we are almost invariably embarrassed by our parents (and we, as kids, yeah – we earn every moment of that by embarrassing our parents), but I hope they know to treasure these moments!

Here’s the video from the night. It’s just a rough – if you want a remixed version of your performance, it’s all multitrack, 2 camera shoots. I ask for a minimal fee to do that for you. IF you’re like “oh damn, I didn’t know you did that – can you pay special attention next week and make sure it’s framed pretty and stuff next time?!” I can do that too. Just contact me at rob@ilyaimy.com.

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