PERFORMANCE LOG: MARCH 2007

I was able to steal some time on Mar. 13 to get out and play. It was the second week of Jill's show and she only had practice on that Thursday night (the open mic at Anneliesje's is on Tuesday). It was quite crowded that night and most of the crowd were high school kids. Usually people only half listen during the open mics at Anne's but when I started performing, it got very quiet. It was a weird feeling but also very cool. Afterwards, I had some nice comments from some people I'd never met before.

Mar. 13 - Woke Up; Dear Prospective Employer; Song For A Day; That's Okay

I was able to get back to Front Porch the following Thursday, after having to miss the festivities for a month. I felt nice to be around the usual gang and to be a part of the community again.

Mar. 22 - Dear Propsective Employer; Decoder Ring

This past Tuesday I was back at Anneliesje's for the open mic and it was dead. I was the only person signed up to play until Graham came in as I was getting ready to start. I played four songs, debuting "The Only Thing" (which I had finished writing that afternoon) and having Graham join me for a song, then hung around to watch Graham; after that the hosts asked if anyone else wanted to play and things got weird. Eventually they asked if I wanted to play more, so I grabbed Graham and we did two songs together (I borrowed a bass from the hosts to do it). It was good practice, anyway.

Mar. 27 - Dear Prospective Employer; Decoder Ring; The Only Thing (debut); 23 Across (Graham on piano); Jews & Gypsies (Smith) - bass, backing vocals; Liquor Sink (Smith) - bass

I honored "The Year of 35" by playing at Front Porch on my 36th birthday the other night. It was the perfect way to spend my time, getting to hang out with friends and listen to them play as well as getting to play my own stuff. I also debuted another new song, which I had finished writing that afternoon.

Mar. 29 - The Only Thing; A Phase (debut)

Last night Graham and I had a show. We were part of a triple bill with our friends Adam Roney and Mike Pancini. The show was in a comic book shop in Lansing, IL of all places - Stand-Up Comics. If you had told my 16 year-old self that I would one day be performing in a band at a comics shop, my head would have exploded. Adam went first and pulled another friend, Tom Adamson, up to play with him. They'd never played together before and sounded good. We were next up. It wasn't our best performance - we had some technical issues and I also had the capo in the wrong position for our first song, which was a bit of a problem, but I redeemed myself by doing a good job in my debut as lead guitar for one of Graham's songs. We did get a good response from the small crowd, though. After us, Pancini played with an accordion player and his wife Jillian on theremin and xylophone and backing vocals. Like I said, a small crowd but it was a fun night. We also had someone from the press there...the same guy who reviewed our show at the Blue Room Cafe last summmer. So, we should see a review or write-up in the near future.

Mar. 31 - A Phase (Graham on slide guitar; Justin with the capo in the wrong position on his guitar); Tuesday (Graham on slide guitar and kick drum); Wednesday (Smith) - guitar; The Sigh Begins (Smith) - keyboard; The Only Thing (Graham on guitar); My Little Zombie Girl (Smith) - keyboard