Walden’s coffee, dirty girls, and sea shanties
I played tonight at Walden’s coffee house – a coffee shop on the corner of Mayberry and McCarran next to Buenos Grill. It was my first time to Walden’s as a performer – it’s cozy and warm and very fitting for a bunch of acoustic performers. Tonight’s open mic was hosted by Todd South of the Reno Music Project (I think most or all of the open mics at Walden’s are run by Todd) and there were five other people signed up before me. Many of them were tuning and practicing as I walked in.
Todd got up there first and played a few of his own. I was impressed at a large book of songs that he had with him – all of which were originals I assumed. He talked about having lost a songbook years ago that was full of other songs, some of which he’d luckily recorded, but the rest of which he had no other record. This reminded me of Rory Dowd; one of his poems is about losing a book of poetry and how it leaves a hole in you. That’s why I tend to write my lyrics on a computer. Not as quaint and there’s no room for doodling, but I don’t lose my songs either.
After Todd came a middle-aged man in a French beret, who had a wonderful sounding guitar and who sang about dirty girls and mistrusting politics. He made a good point that songwriting comes easier when there are more constraints applied. I think that’s true with most things creative.
Then a few other guys with acoustic guitars played some originals and some old 60’s stuff. About this time my Dad and his friend Ross arrived – they were looking for some craziness on a Saturday night and Walden’s sounded right up their alley (what can I say, they’re old). But I was happy to see them and have people in the audience I knew.
A young girl from Minden with an incredible voice sang a few originals while strumming awkwardly on the guitar. She’ll get better – she can’t be more than 16 – and she has a talent for performance. Hopefully she’ll keep at it and come back.
Dad and Ross endured some interpretive poetry while I tried to remind them the concept of “open” mics. I guess as a poet and having graduated with a Bachelor’s in English lit I was more attuned to spoken word. They were merely thankful when the music came back on.
A man who had to have been eighty, at least, played a few ragtime songs from his childhood. I hope I play as well as he did when I’m his age.
I got up and played five (Todd let me go a little long): Brighter Hopes, Feel Like Dancing, Leaves, You Know You Want Me, and Polkadots and Moonbeams.
“You Know You Want Me” has a lyric about meeting a girl at Emerald City Café, which happens to be right across the street from Walden’s. I sang the line and then quickly stated that I knew-it-wasn’t-Walden’s-and-it-was-just-part-of-the-song. People laughed.
After my set, I met Ashley and Kristin, an AV tech at the Grand Sierra and a nursing student at TMCC (respectively). They informed me that during my set my dad came around and told them who I was. Then he took their picture and tried to either give them $5 for it or charge $5 for it – I’m not sure now. Either way, we joked about the “interesting” people you meet at open mics, some who are interesting-interesting and some who are interesting-good. They laughed and said, “The jury’s still out on your dad.” His comment later was that next time he’s going to wear dark sunglasses and sell tickets. Yep, that’s my dad!
After my set a guy came up with an accordion and played sea shanties. Never seen that before. He was really good too – I want to find out who he is – I could use some accordion in some of my songs!
In all, I was happy with my performance and it was great to have my Dad and Ross there. The crowd seemed to get really into it too and I appreciated that, especially after getting accustomed to Zephyr where the PBRs usually trump the performers when it comes to capturing the attention of the barflies.
Thanks again to Todd and the other performers at Walden’s – I’ll definitely be back.
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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