Books, Beans, and Loop Machines
Last night I played at the Truckee Book and Bean, a little coffee shop/bookstore in Truckee. Kristin Lagasse hosted a songwriter’s showcase (originals only in round-robin format). I’d answered an ad of hers on craigslist and she’d responded inviting me to last night’s show. Apparently there were four of us who had agreed to come, but only two (not including Kristin) showed up. So, we each had lots of time to play our music.
Kristin played ukulele and sang poppy love songs filled with catchy turns of phrase. She has a beautiful breathy voice not unlike Norah Jones or the girl from Coeur de Pirate and she’s a good songwriter – multiple times I caught myself smiling at one of her subtle, smart lyrics. She’s obviously been playing and performing for a while; her performance seem very polished. She mentioned she’s playing soon up at Cottonwood restaurant – maybe I’ll have to go listen.
Then Brett got up there with his violin, mandolin, an octave pedal and a loop machine. He proceeded to play a mix of introspective and comedic songs, some of which he unabashedly forgot the lyrics to in the middle, or worked out the melody by going over a section of a song a few times through. He was amazingly entertaining though, partly because he’s a good fiddle (it sounded really cool looped and with a bass octave) and partly he didn’t care about messing up. Sometimes he’d just stop the song with his head cocked, searching for the beginning of the next verse, but he always had a smile on his face and so we in the audience were drawn in to happily rooting for him as he struggled to remember a lyric or find the melody. My dad and I agreed that Brett could actually make a conscious comedy performance out of that kind of stage experience – he was really funny and his songs were entertaining.
In the first of two sets I played Honey Bunny, Brighter Hopes and Heaven. For the second set I tuned to DADEAE (a tuning Michael Hedges uses for All Along the Watchtower) and played Home, Man in Black, You Know You Want Me, and Feel Like Dancing (to which I’ve added a little slower, soulful part at the end before jumping back into the chorus).
In all, the atmosphere was extremely relaxing and fun, such that I felt very at ease on stage and was really happy with my performance. My dad had a good point that I still need to work on more volume control when going for the higher notes, as I was blasting the audience too much. He’s right, I need more vocal control, but to be honest I was happy just to hit those notes last night. Still, his honest criticism is appreciated and I feel like I’m coming along a little bit each time.
ps – I forgot to take a picture last night so I put up one of me in Missouri with the mandolin I got for Christmas. Sorry Truckee Book and Bean, I’ll feature you next time!
I’m Chuck McCumber. I live and work in Reno, NV, where I’m finishing my MBA at UNR and where I play at open mics (and an occasional paid ::gasp:: gig) around town. Cecil’s Refrain is my long time music project and this site is a place where I talk about my experiences playing and the fellow musicians, artists, and fans that I meet along the way. I’d love your feedback. And if you’re ever looking to jam, hit me up.
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