The gig last night at Jimmy O’Donnell’s in Baltimore was pretty good. It was a wood-panelled bar with the O’s game on in the background and a four-hour set ahead of us, but it was one of those gigs where even the one friendly and a little overzealous drunk guy who kept enthusiastically dancing into rob’s microphone wasn’t enough to keep it from being a great night.
Joe and the flailing dancey woman at Jimmy O’Donnell’s in Baltimore, MD. She kept backing into my mic stand. Hit me in the cheek and once in the forehead before I got pissed and told them to be somewhere else. Joe was very, very friendly and had a really cool voice.
We whipped out all kinds of stuff we haven’t done in forever to make sure we’d fill the time (Autobiography of a Pistol, Torch, Argonauts, The Marc). I did bitchin covers of Fire and Rain, Every Breath You Take, Rocket Man and Wonderland, aided by the slight edge of cold in my voice that always seems to help you sound more awesome … just on that first day.
Heather and I got to play the Herndon Festival in Herndon, VA last weekend. We rocked them. I also found Heather the perfect gift – a compact hammock. It’s something she’s mentioned at least once almost every time we’ve been out on a Trip and there’s been nice weather – the desire for a hammock. I win.
And I’ve (fortunately?) discovered that one of the best ways to get tips – a method I’ve never considered before – is bribery NOT to play something. I threatened the audience with Britney Spears and then suggested the tip jar looked a little empty, and you would not believe the number of people who jumped from their chairs to get their bills to the jar! It actually became a really funny, and completely unplanned bit. It was one of those moments, the golden moment you have sometimes where the performer and the bar patrons transition into performer and audience. We do mostly originals, which makes it harder for us to get to people who can’t just connect with a familiar lyric or melody. So, I think it was there, in the shared humor over a cover, that we actually started to really connect and it became more than a mere bar gig.
The Dreamscapes Project crashing the Herndon Festival in Herndon, VA.
The owner was really pleased and wants us back. It’s definitely not something we could do too frequently because it’s tough to fill a 4-hour set when you do mostly originals and we’d want to keep the sets sounding fresh, but all-in-all, a good night. And we got to see our friend, Ray, who had his first day off in about a million years and chose to spend hours and hours of it with us in a Baltimore bar.
Today, though, it’s just me and the cold, Will’s cold I think. I’m writing this from bed, where I plan to stay for the bulk of the day. We have a LOT going on in the coming weeks.
