K&W at Java Joe's -- 20Jun2008

It was our first "weekend" gig at Java Joe's, after two previous (pretty empty) Thursdays. We were both afraid that we'd be expected to be a rock'n'roll Party Band, but the Party never materialized, for better or worse. We had a dozen or so people at the peak, and small groups moving in and out all night, but it was never even half full. The upside was that we could just play our standard "mellow coffeeshop" stuff, so we did. And did, and did. We somehow ended up playing, without a break, from 7:15 to midnight. I guess "closing time" is when owner Chuck leaves, and he didn't seem like he had any intention to, so I just "called it" at midnight. My fingers, knees, and back had had enough, and I was starving.

Anyway, it was fun, if anticlimactic after all the anticipation/dread (and practice!) of the preceding week. Fun enough for me, anyway, but Warren is getting pretty discouraged at our lack of audience there. We were expecting to crash and burn in front of a huge party crowd. Instead, we did just fine, in front of a small turnout. The former would have been disastrous, but the latter is just boring. Actually, I guess when or if we try again is a moot point, since Warren doesn't want to bother with any more empty Thursdays, and there are no free weekend dates until December.

Still, I may go in solo for another Thursday or two as a solo, and see if I can get something going. We had about 8 people the first time, and essentially none the second. Chuck keeps apologizing, saying "I don't know what happened!", but I think it's just 'cuz we just don't have a following of any kind. I'm guessing that Chuck really can't tell the difference between people who come to see, a popular local band, and people who come just to see whoever's there. He thinks his crowds on the weekends are the latter, but I think we've proven that it's more of the former, alas.

But I'm not sure I can afford to keep doing both the Tuesday Open Mics and playing on Thursdays, at $13 in gas for the round trip. On the other hand, the Tuesdays are pretty big fun, despite only getting to do three (or two!) songs. I'm getting to know, and be known by, the other musicians, and am probably on the verge of having some of them join in on some harmony and/or percussion, and that'd be fun.

Or, this coming Sunday afternoon, there's gonna be a new kind of Open Mic there where the organizer wants people to try to group-up, so more people get to play, longer. I'll try to go to that, and see if anybody wants to play/sing along to some of my James Taylor stuff.