Alright … Week Seven. I often think about promotions and how it actually works. At first I started posting listings on facebook about the Pete’s gigs and I don’t think it made any difference. Our first show was ok attenended. Luckily its a pretty small room back there and having even 15 people makes the room feel populated. But each show has grown and grown… more than I though possible. Each week gets better and better from the perspective of crowd.
Another thing that keeps improving from show to show is the rapport and story telling we’re able to convey and share with the crowd there. It is getting more and more natural and relaxed. This is exactly how I’d hoped it would proceed and what I felt I, personally, would benefit greatly from. Witness us in process. Every week, for me, at any rate, the subtext has been, “learn how to relax on stage and stay consistent and fun with a character.” This last week was the best. I felt as if it was a peak in happiness, and communicating that happiness. When I’m just with my friends, especially back in the BUTZ days, we would just make up some pretty out concepts that were funny to us. We were all more or less on the same page so we could get out there together and really make each other laugh with some crazy nonsense. Well, finally that is starting to happen with a group of strangers over the course of an hour. We are becoming more and more able to take them on a journey into whatever is making us smile in that moment. As weird as it may be. (In this case we got as far as imagining eating cappuccino gelato with Glenn Close.)
The themes thing is proven fun too as at least a handful people have become regulars to see what the theme will be each week. This last week the theme was mostly determined by the fact that Stefan could not make it to the show do some unavoidable conflict. “Alabama” Steve Lewis lent a hand on harmonica but especially on trombone and the theme became “Smell the Brass” We just picked some tunes from the repertoire that we knew Steve would sound good on. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this before but Steve is a wonderfully musical guy who can play guitar, trombone, harmonica, bass and also sing really well. Good guy to have on your team. No matter which us core members needs a sub we can call Steve.
Earlier in the morning, on this particular Monday, we had Steve out in the park with us as well playing trombone. He was lamenting that he hadn’t played since the last time we had asked him too a month ago. It didn’t matter. The fact that his musicality and sense of pitch are so more developed than his actual trombone technique make it just a super fun, nasty mess of trombone sound with all the grind-y, slid-y, slippery, event that make a trombone fun to play and listen to. Smell the brass.
Actually so many great tracks from this weeks show that it was hard to pick just one. I decided on Careless Love. It just got real groovy . . .
If you are reading this in syndication you can listen here.