3/2/08 – Union Square Mezzanine 3-6:30pm – Baby Soda – Patrick Harrison – Accordion, Jared Engle – Banjo, Debbie Kennedy – Bass, David Langlois – Dishes, Jesse Selengut – trumpet.
We got lucky again with the Union Square Mezzanine spot again. No one was there with a MUNY banner. Debbie had inadvertently showed up an hour early and was holding the spot. It was so beautiful outside but still till too cold to play. Consequently I feel that it was hard to hold people’s attention (even our our own) while the sun was still shining upstairs. The first set was pretty rough for me musically. This was day 6 of 6 straight days playing hard. My chops were sore and needed a break. We got into a bad feedback loop: No one is listening -> Music is average -> No one is Listening -> Music is lame -> No one is listening -> Let’s take a break. Just to make matters more surreal – at some point during this first set a cow showed up:
He was holding his mask in his hands for a piece. Then he put it on and started doing this kind of silly walk dance, kicking his legs way up into the air.
The second and third sets went much better. We just needed a break or something to reset the switch. We wound up doing pretty good… We sold about 20 CD’s total. We were gathering a good crowd but nothing like the last time here when the cops shut us down. The cop thing does seem quite random to me. There is a police station about 100 yards from where we play and cops are milling through all the time. “Once bitten, twice shy” I guess because I was very tuned in to their presence.
During our second set a girl made us a portrait. Sweet. Jared has an extra hand… Debbie has about 8 fingers on one hand… Patrick has a black eye! Click to see it full size…
When we finished Debbie and I headed over to Moto to play the with Sean Condron. I was so hungry I couldn’t focus. Debbie and I ordered the chicken with mashed potatoes and cabbage. Man, their food is but good. Have you been? It’s one of Brooklyn’s really magical hang-outs. The food is terrific, they have good pours of house wine and beer. The ambiance of that place is just warm, cozy, hip, different. The owner / designer, Jonny is a motorcycle enthusiast and really wanted to make the place feel like 1938.
For the musicians, its always pretty cramped. The room is a long triangle with the front door and the musicians at the most acute end. Eventually we got comfortable. I was sitting down with my left ear right next to Debbie’s Bass. A great seat!! At one point I was listening to her solo and I had one of those transcendent moments pondering the miracles of human achievement and ingenuity. All the intelligence that went to the making of this bass (A Czech bass from 100 years ago) and the subtlety and joy and training involved in its performance. Ah Guinness. The Irish elixir of contemplation. We started off with “Swing Gitan” and Debbie, Sean and I were just locked in from the outset.
Sean is great to play with! He has many many wonderful country and old time western music. He is always talking about great musicians that I have never heard of. He had just gotten back from a 2 week diving trip to Honduras and he was relaxed and was singing great. We did “Minnie the Moocher” as a closer and Sean got ever one singing all weird in the call and response part.
I liked reading your blog…keep up the good work.