Things have been settling in real nice with Rob on the bass and we’ve decided to start branching out and doing something really bold like trying to play in the evenings every once in a while. We did a hit on Monday at the park around 5pm and the energy in the band was just great but there were not that many people. The proposal came up to barnstorm the Bowery Poetry Club that night. I think the exact words were “The Leprechaun Qui S’adore is playing. We can totally just take that gig over!” (insert sinister laugh)
It wound up being a little more polite. Stefan just knows every person at the Bowery Poetry Club as he did booking there forever and a day. It was their open mic night so we wrangled a 20 minute set in during the breaks.
The performers that were on stage were alternately genius, horrible, genius and horrible, and one who was so genius and horrible that he was my favorite. What a train wreck! Here’s a synopsis. An asian guy with a cane gets up on stage and starts shouting at the crowd. “Hello” The shout back. “Hello” etc… Then “I Love You.” Less shouting. Then “Tell me my name” The one’s that know him shout “Donny!” Repeat several times. Waiving of the cane. The DJ starts playing “Come on baby light my fire” and then he starts singing “Hello, I love you, won’t you tell me MY name.” It was spectacularly bad! I looked at Rob who had a face of utter confusion and appreciation. He concurred that this was his favorite act so far.
When the readings were finally over, we literally jumped up on the bar in the back of the room and started to wail. I got up on the bar and I was so shaky and uncomfortable that I had to sit down on the bar immediately and do like a fire-side casual kind of thing. Clifton just started playing a clangy minor thing which through experimentation turned out not to be “Ritz” or “I found a new baby” but, in fact, “Bie Mir Bist Du Scheon” Stefan jumped up on a tiny cocktail table. All the girls and guys were grinding. We had the place in pandemonium, singing and shaking for 20 minutes. I was playing trumpet as loud as I could and singing louder than I could. Clifton was hitting his guitar with as much muscle as he could muster. It was a god awful racquet! But it worked for the room and we left as total rockstars!