I've been going through 2010 month by month and revisiting my favorite shows. July-December 2010 memories follow. If you missed it, the first half of 2010 is here.
July
Tuesday the 20th: RISA show at the Towers in Narragansett
I don't have a particular story about this show -- I just remember it being a fun one, with lots of good music from a bunch of RISA songwriters at their best, in a beautiful location by the sea.
August
Saturday the 28th: Final show at the Alphabet Lounge in NYC
This expedition was more notable for its craziness than for it actually being a good show. I'd done two previous shows at the Alphabet Lounge, the first with thirteen folks in the audience and the second with nine. So the trend was downward but I was still hopeful. However, it turns out that most of the people I know in the NYC area get out of town at the end of August, so as the show drew closer it looked like I might not have anyone in the audience.
Finally I decided that the appropriate way to deal with the situation was to just to embrace the poorly thought out nature of the whole thing. So I decided I would drive down the day of the show, play for whoever was there (or to the staff if nobody turned up), then head to Brooklyn to see Allysen Callery play, then drive home that same night. In the event, my show got pushed back an hour, and in addition to the one person who showed up to see me there were about half a dozen people there who were there for the second act and hadn't gotten word of the delay. I played for them and we all had a good old time. I stuck around for the second act (which seemed only fair -- plus he was quite good!), then I went to Allysen's show, ate some tater tots cooked in duck fat, and drove home, getting to bed maybe around 3:30 am. The next morning I got up bright and early so I could see my friend Natalie play piano at her church. My strategy for the weekend worked -- I had a good time because of, rather than despite, the craziness of it all.
September
Decisions, decisions. The 4 Corners anniversary show? The electric Killdevils show in Worcester with delicious meatball sandwiches? The Pawtucket Arts Festival? But really it's no contest and I have to pick:
Saturday the 11th: Jacob Haller & the Running Commentary at AS220
A while before this, Natalie Markward (guitarist and singer in Anne's Cordial) had intimated that if I wanted to start a band she'd be interested in playing in it -- a lot of my music is pretty bluesy and she had been wanting to get more experience playing the blues. We'd played a show at the Mill in May with Eric Hastings on drums which had been a lot of fun and then things sort of hanging fire for a while. Finally I got my act together and booked some more shows. Natalie suggested trying out Joe Auger on the drums, we ran through some songs, and September found us with our first actual show, at AS220. I think we decided on the band's name a day or two before the show.
Since the show was at AS220 it had to be all original music, so I had to consider what songs I had written could work in a band setting. Some were obvious because I had previously played them with the Killdevils or in settings similar to that, but others were less obvious -- I'd never played 'Stale Tequila' with anyone else before, for instance. But in practice Natalie and Joe caught on very quickly and brought out aspects of my music that had never occurred to me. In fact, at our second show the next month someone commented that they could tell we'd been playing together a very long time, when at that point I think we had had a total of about five practices!
At AS220 we were the second act and the crowd included both friends of ours and people who stuck around after the first act. Some of the crowd was a bit drunk but were mostly friendly, and my friend Daniel encouraged people to dance. We all felt we played well, and I couldn't stop smiling through the whole show.
October
Friday the 22nd at the Raven in Worcester
Joe was busy for this show so Natalie and I headed up to Worcester to play this show as a duo. But first we stopped by my mother's house for some dinner, which was delicious. After that, it was off to the venue, which is Edgar Allan Poe-themed, so we couldn't be completely sure what parts of the decor were there because Halloween was coming up and which were there permanently. We were on first and played a fairly long set, with my mother and her friends providing cheers and commentary from the crowd, which was pretty great. We also got to see Kevin James (who I had had as a featured act as my open mike), and it was good to see him again. We're going back in January and bringing Joe along and I think it will be a good time.
November
Friday the 19th: First Works show at the Black Box Theatre
I responded to a Craiglist ad put out by the folks at the Black Box Theatre (part of the Artists' Exchange in Cranston) in mid-October asking if they might be interested in having a night of singer/songwriters performing all never-before-performed songs. We exchanged a couple of preliminary emails that didn't include a lot of information and then on October 29, while at the airport to go to a friend's wedding, I got a message saying that we were booked for the 19th. The problem was I hadn't actually asked anyone to participate yet, thinking I would have a couple of months to get things together instead of a week and a half and I was still considering exactly what I wanted the event to be like.
I wanted to give people as much time as I could, so while at the airport I used my cellphone to send facebook messages to a bunch of songwriters I know. Some couldn't do it and some didn't respond but enough people wrote to say they were in to make it all doable. They were: Judith Bingham, Kim Lamothe (who unfortunately ended up being too sick to play), Frank Martyn, GW Mercure, and Chris Monti.
In the end it was quite successful, with everyone having a different sound and a different approach, and it got me to complete some songs I'd been working on for quite a while. I hope that I'll do something like that again sometime -- though the moment of panic when I read that email at the airport isn't something I'll forget soon.
December
I intentionally didn't actively pursue bookings for December, because I knew that with all the holiday shows around town opportunities would come my way without me seeking them out. And indeed I ended up having shows on December 2, 4, 7, 12, and two shows on the 18th, making for a busy little month. These shows were all a lot of fun, but my favorite was:
Sunday the 12th: Tribute to Marlene Dietrich/Benefit for the Faxon Animal Shelter
This was a show put together by Daniel Ouellette. After some back-and-forth it was decided that the schedule would go as so:
- On first, Jacob Haller and the Running Commentary.
- Second, Daniel Ouellette and Cheryl Castonguay sing four Marlene Dietrich songs accompanied by Natalie Markward on piano.
- Third, Daniel and Cheryl sing four of Daniel's original compositions with Jamie Silva on bass guitar and an electronic backing.
- Finally, Daniel, Cheryl, and Jamie are joined by Jacob Haller on piano and Joe Auger on drums for some more Marlene Dietrich songs.
It was a relaxed, fun afternoon show. The Running Commentary set was fun -- at Daniel's request it ended with me playing '(Whenever I'm Sad, I Do A Web-Search For Pictures Of) Adorable Kittens', appropriate for a benefit for an animal shelter -- but there's something about scrambling to put together some music you'll never play again with a group of musicians you haven't played with before that is just fun. Not to mention that I hadn't heard Natalie play piano much before and was really impressed; she did a great job. As did everyone, really. Daniel knows how to put on a show!
jwgh, will still stay over here (but it's mostly friends-only).
