A difficult show in Philadelphia tonight. We have two people, Seth has 3 or 4, and the headliner brought the other 6? Oh – wait, no, two people just walked back out because they didn’t know there was a cover. The sound is great, the venue is beautiful, the sound guy is great, our two friends supportive but I just feel my energy go forth and dissipate. It all exits and drains, diffuses and dies – we never lock, we never growl into our raging selves. It happens, but as disappointed as I am about the turnout (we’d had a lot more claim they were coming, as did the other two musicians) – I’m angry at myself for not throwing down, full room or not.
Seth sings about being 35 – and I can certainly relate to that. Playing to an empty room to a couple of people who don’t really care – is that all I am going to get to be? Pomfret will be better. And I know that for a fact, and that keeps me sane. I know Connecticut will treat us really well, that we’ve got a couple of festivals coming up and they’re going to be amazing (even if one of them will be completely filled with naked people). Music is about immediate gratification. Except for the nights when it’s about delayed satisfaction.
Art and farts in Rhode Island.
Seth pulls a laugh from the slowly-growing audience with a little moment in his cover of Little Red Corvette. The rest of it is his usual dazzling bass virtuosity. I’m feeling my face grow hot with the feeling of a thrown set, the buzz of too much caffeine, too little sleep and a LONG day in front of us tomorrow.
The main act, Brian Russo, whips out a Tacoma and a bluesman voice that belies his white-boy self and I can’t believe that a night as good as this goes so ignored in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on a beautiful night like tonight. It makes me sad – there’s so much incredible stuff centred around our profession, but we’re in a world that’s over-stimulated and wouldn’t know a good thing if it bit it in the ass (he said, justifying the night). Still, the venue certainly can’t be pleased. What few people ARE here seem to be mostly drinking water or their BYOBs….
In whatever case, I’ve been accused of only ever seeing a silver lining, even on storm clouds such as these, but it’s not true. I ALWAYS see a silver lining, but that’s definitely not ALL I see, and often as not I’m straining my eyes to catch it. Sometimes you have to strain to even imagine you’re seeing a light at the end of the tunnel, but at least it keeps you moving towards the train- I mean towards the destination!
