Monday, June 01, 2009

Mocha Maya's a Recap

Oh, dear readers. I've been away for a week or so. Did you miss me? Yeah, that's what I thought.

Where did we leave off? Ah yes, yes. Shelburne Falls and my solo show. Well, let me tell you, thanks to a group of great friends and supporters it turned out to be a perfect evening. I drove up early with Lesa and Jason Bourgeois and we enjoyed a nice dinner before giving Jason a brief tour of the little town. He seemed enchanted as we gazed over the glacial pot holes and promenaded over the bridge of flowers. Enchanted, that is, until I shoved him over the railing and into the icy waters below.

Ok. I didn't really do that. But if I had, I would have.

When it seemed like a good time, we dragged my equipment into Mocha Maya's and I set up in the little window stage. It was a very leisurely and relaxed process. I put up two microphones and plugged in both my guitars just in case somebody came up and joined me on a song or two. It turned out that that never happened.

Most of the time that I was getting ready, the cafe housed only the three of us, the employee behind the counter, and three friends of hers. But as the time of my show approached, familiar faces started ambling in. Ray Mason (Ray Mason Band, Lonesome Brothers) showed up with a smile and a list of songs to request. Dave (from the Winterpills) and Kelsey, our friends Debbie and CJ and Debbie's twin Sarah from NYC, Scott (Levelette) and friends, Rick and Fred (Group DeVille), all came in, as well as some folks that I didn't know. I think at one point there was an Andrea there as well. It's all a bit of a blur now. I believe there were twenty two people there, and only twenty seats.

I had an excellent time performing. Instead of a traditional set-list (list of songs to play), I created a random song generator by cutting out teeny strips of paper with song names on them and handing them around in a little box for people to draw from. The box was passed around from person to person and between each song a new one was chosen. This was a little disconcerting and frightening for me but it was fun and it kept me on my toes. It also forced me to play a few songs that I otherwise would not have.

I also created a MadLib for the night and between songs I asked members of the audience for words. At the end of the night I read it back and it turned out to be a really great one. I had to stop at one point due to laughter. Perhaps, I'll try to find it and post it here for y'all to read.

I played for an hour and a half, but it felt to me like fifteen minutes. The audience was spectacular and listened and sang along and played along and laughed along with me. They made my night.

1 comment:

Rick M said...

It was a great evening. Welcome back. I missed you both.