An hour past showtime. I will never, ever, ever play into microphones outdoors ever again in my career as a bitchy little folk singer. The student tech crew could inexplicably not get either of our guitars to come in via our pickups, so we had to mic them both with microphones. Now, i dunno if you’ve ever seen me play before, but i shimmy around like a belly dancer with a cricket put down the back of my shirt, so giving me a stationary microphone to play my guitar at is the worst idea you could ever have. Furthermore, they couldn’t even get our vocal mics to come out of the monitors in front of us, so i couldn’t hear Gina singing anything directly, just from off to the side. After sitting there strumming a G chord for ten minutes while the sound guys did everything but get us any sort of monitor mix we could hear, we finally decided to start and see what happened.
“Punk” was a thankfully quick crash and burn, though at that point we were assuming the monitor problem would get fixed. In our naivety we managed to get some good harmony going. However, the set took a downturn during “Deadweight” when two obnoxious guys were standing directly in front of us having a conversation and we still couldn’t hear ourselves playing. I, of course, started directing all of the lyrics right at the conversationalists – which wound up getting their attention rather quickly (they especially looked up when i screamed “i can’t get rid of you even if i want to, cause your deadweight the way you serve no purpose”). “With or Without You” was quick and rather painless for me because Gina was singing, but i couldn’t hear her guitar so i didn’t know what the hell was going on. “Lost” sucked because i couldn’t hear my guitar over the reverb of our voices (which finally found their way into the monitor), so i basically just played it quick and angry (which generally works well). I stalked off to retune after that and Gina bravely attempted “Landslide” solo while the wind dueted into her microphone, after which i came jogging back onto the stage for a very brave attempt at “Under My Skin” (in which the solo was rendered totally moot because Gina had no pickup for her acoustic guitar so we couldn’t hear what she was playing). After that we were supposed to play another 20 minutes of songs, but i was basically just muttering “fuck” under my breath inbetween every lyric and Gina was totally frustrated, so we hammered out “Can’t Do” and walked right off the front of the staging area without even saying thank you. Yep… i’m a rock star in training; i’ve got the attitude and everything.
The next band’s instruments all plugged in fine and the band sounded wonderful, even though they had too much reverb. There was a chick guitarist in the last band, but i was too pissed to hang around much longer. Somehow i managed to sell fifteen demos in the midst of all of this, but that leaves me with mucho extra copies, so get your orders in now. Ugh.
Five hours. I just ran into Gina, so … she’s here. I also dropped off my rapidly fuzzing liner notes to be copied on stock paper – had i planned this out properly i would have had the liner done digitally for today, however when it comes down to digital liner notes or underwear to wear for your show the right choice is (usually) doing laundry. Also, Gina and I were just totally improbably asked to record songs for a play opening in D.C. in July that will be playing at the Philly Fringe Festival, which means we might get to perform live there. This is ultra-tentative, but if i pursue it i think it’ll work out. See how easy it is to network when you’re not just some random kid recording dumb little concerts for your website ;-)
Meanwhile, somehow i leaked the liner notes before the demo release (i know how: i am a dumbass), so people are starting to catch wind of the thanx they received. I’m probably going to change the inside liner notes for each “pressing” of the disc so i can keep straight which ones got made when, so hopefully there’ll be some continuing surprises. But, now i have to sit at my desk and stew for another hour while my copies are being done. What fun.
Six hours and fifteen minutes. The liner notes are finally done (i take this down-to-the-wire stuff seriously), and i’m just this bubbly giggly mass of idiocy every time i look at them. Sure, i’ve been listening to the demo for two or three weeks now on my stereo, and i gave Peter Mulvey the first virginal copy last week, but this is something wholly different. On my living floor there are 42 copies of my emotions waiting for an image to go with the sound, and i’ve got it in my hands. And i even lined it up on double sided paper with the admissions office copier! Love those DIY production values! So, anyway, i’m not getting very much work done, but all of my little demo errands are finished except for getting the liner notes copied and cut. More updates soon.
The concert countdown is now officially underway! Seven and a half hours and counting until Gina and I take the stage awash in fame and record high temperatures. Am i nervous? Possibly; i’ve basically invited everyone i know to come see us play this tiny acoustic set of songs and we’re playing in the midst of some Drexel bands who i’m a minor-league fan of. And we’ve never done harmony on “Punk,” “Under My Skin,” “Never Say Goodbye,” or “A Perfect Day” live before. But, no reason to be alarmed – after all, part of the charm of acoustic musicians is their ability to entangle and then unknot themselves from oddball onstage situations without ever breaking a sweat. Or, at least, they don’t break a sweat from the stress. The heat might get to them, though.
Errr… right. 5:30 today between Market and Chestnut & 33rd and 32nd. 42 demos available for a to-be-decided price. And me pretending i’m a rock star.
I was just idly chatting with Selina after our fraternity meeting, and she told me that she’s “seeing someone.”
::deep breath::
I thought i was going to be crushed or hurt or something when this finally happened (and i think i knew she’d move on to someone else before i would), but i’m not. It just feels like the whole situation with the two of us resolved somehow – whereas before there was something slightly dischordant stretched out between us. Resolve might be the best feeling i’ve ever known; do any of your favourite songs end without one? For those of you who aren’t musically inclined, that usually means the song ends on a chord other than the one you were ‘expecting’, or when it ends you feel the notes moving towards something but they never get there – instead they just hang in the air and trail out. I wonder of things like that have an effect on whether or not people like a song… because i honestly can only think of one song that i love which doesn’t resolve. It’s almost like how we expect a happy end to movies, even though we know real stories don’t always turn out that way. Our ears expect something even though the only thing that would lead us to expect it is the gravity of the notes themselves. Or, the actors to the plot. Or, the people to each other. But, sometimes in life resolve involves drifting away as much as it does coming together.
Or maybe a little of both.