Walden’s, Go Girls, and tributes to Michael Hedges
It was my second time at Walden’s tonight. I’ve been feeling a cold coming on – my throat’s scratchy – but I was singing a lot today and thought, “What the hell, let’s play tonight.”
Sign-ups started at 6:30. I got there around 6:50, and there were already 12 people in front of me! I need to learn how to be on time.
Todd South (the host) started off with Supertramp’s “Take a look at my girlfriend.” Awesome! Then came “Oh, Holy Night” and an original, “Night,” which has some interesting minor chord pairings. I’m pretty sure I heard it last time and liked it then too.
Since so many people played, I’m just going to talk about the highlights. Firstly, a 12-year-old boy, last name Callahan, jumped up after his dad’s performance and played Billie Joel’s piano man on a big Korg key/synth. He was a pretty amazing player for his age, but he could have picked a song that didn’t last 6 minutes without a real change in chords. To be fair, I’m really picking on Billy Joel (if that’s possible). Regardless, the kid was good and he’ll only get better. Keep it up!
After a few other players a girl named Kristen Pittman played her originals. I really liked her second one, which had to do with driving south to New Mexico. It was called “Don’t Wake Me”, or something along those lines. It was very moody, but the chorus was a simple C to G country-style movement that was perfectly contrasted with the darker versus. She’s playing tomorrow at the Go Girls show at Spread Peace Café.
I was most surprised though when Troy (probably 15 or so, pictured at left) got up and asked Todd for a lot of reverb. When he checked the levels the first thought through my head was, “Wow, that’s about as much reverb as Michael Hedges uses for some of his stuff.” Not 10 seconds later, Troy begins by saying, “I’m going to start with a song by Michael Hedges.” He played “Ritual Dance” off the Taproot album. Then he did Zeppelin’s “White Summer” – which I hadn’t heard but was cool. I guess his dad, Todd (not the host), plays a bunch of Hedges stuff, and it was great to hear a kid his age not only listening, but learning and performing Michael Hedges’ work. There is hope!
When I finally got up there I played Man in Black, a song I just recently altered and recorded. I was still a bit rusty and it served to remind me that even after hours of tracking, there’s definitely a difference between being ready to record and ready to play.
I continued by playing Heaven, Feel Like Dancing, Honey Bunny, and Damn Reality. Despite the cold steadily killing my voice (it’s worse even now as I’m writing), the show went well and I was happy to have played.
The night was topped off when Todd invited me to play an artist showcase sometime (a 30 minute min-set in the middle of a Saturday open mic) and I can’t wait to find a date that works. Thanks Todd!!
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.
Follow me!