Hosted

I got to host the open mic/mike at Lena's last night. Firstly, it was quite a wonderful open mic. There were a lot of great performers. It was one of those nights where each performer transitions into the next seamlessly, like you are watching one long performance instead of many little ones. Everyone played and sounded wonderfully; it was a great evening of music. The crowd was rather small, but it was a good crowd of mostly musicians. And it was an appreciative crowd that really listened to each performer. It was a great night.

What can I say about my hosting? I opened with a joke (how do you catch an elephant? dig a hole. fill it with ashes. put peas around it. when an elephant comes to take a pea, kick him in the ash hole). I snapped gum in the microphone (unintentionally, of course). I stuttered, sputtered, tripped over my tongue, and showcased various other "talents" of along the same lines.

I took some pics of performers:

Phil Drum. (who also played with Dave Scheffel during Dave's set. I also played shaker and triangle with them. I should have had Stephanie take a picture of big shaker/triangle debut...)



John Dermont (who I said "holds his guitar kinda funny" thinking people would laugh. they didn't, and I felt bad, hoping I didn't insult him!)



These guys, who sounded really good for their first performance, called themselves the skidilee crunch diddle dee skee skee dilly what what (or something) band. We had a good laugh at my ability to actually pronounce it right on the first try.



Courtney Blackwell. Another first timer. She played originals, which were wonderfully written and deep and sensitive -- my kind of stuff!



The list, with the doodlings of Stephanie. ("doodlings" -- ha ha ha).



Palatypus, who I haven't heard live in a while. I check out their myspace page every now and again. They sounded excellent and have some really great songs, which are deep and sensitive and work well in the folk atmosphere, but strangely fit in a the clubs and band shows.







Rainman. Who played the last song of the night, "Mystic Moon," an original of his, which is quite poetic.



I played before Ray came on and played one more to end the night. I played Until I Fall Away by the Gin Blossoms and Endless. I like playing Endless to small crowds because the silence during the silent, hold-out parts is wicked cool.