Open Mic

Ok I gotta check my Gmail calendar to see what has happened in the last week. Man..ok show at Lucky's with Theo and Andy last Thursday good times indeed apparently the owners have changed hands so we will see what happens there. I hope we still are able to play music on the patio every Thursday (well, most Thursdays..June 17th we will be at Dan Dougan's Listening Hours at Gateway Film Center 8p-11p). Friday we traveled to Delaware to play at Bixby's/Cabo Wabo/Coco Lindo/Bixby's? This place has changed hands a few times and has changed names and concepts a lot more times. Well ok, the concept since the last time we were there is the same but the name is back to the original Bixby's or Bixbyes..not sure the spelling. Let's just say there were not a TON of people there, well there was a huge table at first and when they left, it was like crickets. To summarize the night after that I will attempt to do so in a few words. Break, chips, great salsa, very tall beer, discussion with manager, chips, check cut almost in half, drunk couple, girl passed out in woods, manager cursing a lot, more yelling, leave early, drive home, Cafe Bella...hey atleast it ends well right?

Friday was a busy day. Before the Delaware gig Andy and I played "How Sweet it is to be Loved By You" for my dad as a surprise at his school (he just retired). That was really great to see the kids sing along. Then Andy and I played a happy hour biker night of all things at Gaswerks in the Arena District. It was hot but a good time I think some bikers actually liked what we were doing, I played some Johnny Cash and Hank I figured that would make sense, they seemed to dig it. Then on to Bixby's which you know that story.

Ok so on to Saturday where Andy and I (Shaw Brothers) were slated to play Arts Festival. We arrived at around 3ish I think, for our 3:30 slot. Since the budget got cut a few years ago there is no acoustic stage I believe there is just one stage for the bigger bands. Well, all I know is that we have not had a stage the past two years we have played and we have had to supply our own PA. All good, we are totally used to this especially with the duo, we set up in 10 minutes. So there was a tent in the parking lot of Batelle Hall of CCAD and we are technically supposed to be "roaming musicians". Andy and I kind of surpass that and just set up our PA in the tent. By the first song we had probably 20 people watching us, in and around the tent. By the 3rd song Andy switched to djembe and I took my acoustic guitar. As I was strumming around the third chord of the song a woman came over and basically was like "you all have to leave..there is a huge storm coming". So I had to stop my song and figure this all out. We opted to just have everyone come up close and we'd turn the electric off and do it acoustic. People were into it and the one volunteer girl said it was cool. I started to play and another girl comes up "this is not an option, you have to leave"...I said "we are unplugged we are just going to wait it out the other girl said it was cool"...."oh ok that's fine".... I am standing there with my guitar kind of dilly dallying at this point wondering what to do...a third girl comes up "this is not an option"....OK OK we are not playing the Arts Fest this year, I get it. Ha. All we wanted to do was play a set for some great people. We had so much fun last year and sold a ton of cds we were just really upset we could not play. It ended up raining pretty hard and Melissa, Ginger, Andy, Theo, Michelle, and I went to Tip Top and had a great lunch. The sun came out and we went back to the festival but the Shaw Brothers did not play a set, bummer.

Saturday night we had a night off, wow?

Sunday my back/neck totally gave out and I was in tears...not sure why just a lot of drumming/violining/guitaring I think is taking it's toll and I need to find some good excercises to do soon. I am getting a massage next week! I will ask her about stretches and such. So ASB had a gig at Crew Stadium for the college rugby tournament and Theo ended up playing drums. It was only like 4 songs or 3 so I heard he did well, thanks Theo! That sucked I didn't get to play but oh well gotta stay alive, luckily it has gotten better...phew more in a bit.

Michigan, Hoggy's, Open Mic

ASB played in Michigan and Dayton last weekend. Good shows all around White's Bar in Saginaw Michigan is a cool place, people buy cds and they have not even HEARD you play. The Banana Convention despite them not taking themselves seriously (or it would seem that way) are musically great, and great people as well. I always enjoy hanging with those guys and wish when we got together we would do so more. We played One Eyed Jacks for the first time in Dayton and it was very cool indeed. Good food, good people (shout out to London and Melissa and Ro for driving out) and a good set overall, I felt really good about that performance.

Tonight after a torrential downpour and tornado sirens...oddly enough I went and played with a band called...wait for it...SIRENS. Molly Pauken, Kay Harris, Pete Carey, and Jeff Peters (tonight it was Louis Chamouse filling in). They play every Wednesday at Gahanna/New Albany Hoggy's. This is just a hidden gem of a group and night to see live music...atleast if you are in the scene I am in, it is definitely not hidden to people that come cuz they pull a crowd. I was fortunate to go on tour with these guys (as Jonalee White band) and I looove playing with them. Kay Harris has one of the best voices I have ever heard, Molly Pauken is a BEAST on the bass and she is a beast on the guitar and anything she touches really, Pete is great, and Louis was great too filling in for Jeff who I love. Anyway so I asked them if I could sit in tonight and they let me play a few tunes. Man hearing Kay sing "The Ocean" is just a treat. Oh the other song tonight that really blew my mind was "The Whipping Post" by the Almann Brothers..wow Kay is just a bad ass.. I will try to get some brief video I took but gotta see if the sound sucks or not.

After this I went to Thirsty Ear (ok it's called Woodlands Tavern now..) to get some money for booking I do there and also to check out the open mic. Great crowd, Molly Winters is doing a great job with the open mic and a ton of great people out. I feel like playing all the time I know a lot of people in town but there are continually more and more people that I have never met that are doing their thing right in Columbus. Andyman Hopkins (who I do know..fortunately) asked me to hop on stage with him and that was great. I met his band the Slick City Ramblers who are awesome and a few others tonight I hadn't met..Columbus is just bursting with talent. Eric Nassau is one of my favorite songwriters in town and I played fiddle with him too, so awesome. Good night tonight.

ASB plays June 19th at Skully's we are auctioning off ..or raffling off a FREE house concert for you and all of your friends (if ya win) so that should be cool. We are giving away gift certificates and what not as well..it has been branded "The Give Back Show"..Billy's Playhouse, LES Crew, and ASB I am excited about this one. Until next time...