I slept, or tried to sleep, under the constant hum of a swamp cooler last night. I was mildly successful. It was loud. I shouldn't complain though. Jesus, be grateful, you bastard.
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Two days. 1,200 miles. 20 hours. Texas. What's amazing is that I drove the same amount of hours today as yesterday but today I drove in only one state. Tejas, conchetumadre. And what a drive! 8 of the 10 hours were spent in heavy rain; I felt my car slip and slide a couple of times. Still, I survived the dreary, uninteresting, grey-covered day. And arrived in Austin 15 minutes before my first open mic of the trip.
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NeWorlDeli Open Mic occurs every Monday at 6:00 pm in Austin and is currently hosted by the duo John Hudson & Jackie James, who open the show every week. They had a Buckingham-Nicks vibe going on (minus the sexual tension) and I told them so (minus the "minus the sexual tension" part).
Once Hudson-James finished (with The Beatles' "Don't Let Me Down" I might add), I got up in front of the crowd of 7 (John & Jackie, sound guy, guy-waiting-to-play #1 & #2, guy just there(?), and my dear friend from college/ex-bandmate, James T. Meiser) and played my songs. I played a Beatles cover, too: "I'm So Tired." My guitar was out of tune and I tried to salvage it but after two songs I ended up borrowing John's headstock tuner to clean it up. I finished my set with some pitchy chorus-ing on "Orion's Utility Belt."
The whole set was sloppy, nervous. But I got through it. Huzzah. James and I stuck around to listen to a couple of the other performers. Most notably, Ron Kewin played a set of Americana-Folk about his dog and the end - as he saw it - of America. "The Force may be with us / But the odds are against us." Oh, also, one of his songs featured a kazoo solo. And for the song about his dog Annie (and her "fat fanny") he had John and Jackie and another woman (pictured) come up and sing harmonies. It was a pretty picture. We should all be so lucky.
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But wait! There's more! James and I found another open mic in Downtown Austin. This bar had a bigger crowd, with a similar level of disinterest. So the sun went down and I went on again. I managed to not stare solely at my fingers as they forged familiar chords on the neck of my guitar. (chords I knew - I know - well enough to perform in my sleep) I even noticed, out of the corner of my eye, a woman bobbing along to two of my tunes. I tried out a Frank Ocean cover ("Thinking About You") on the younger, uh, "hipper" crowd but started too fast and, well, that song is hard to pull off. Even so, I felt more comfortable. I know these songs. I like these songs. I just got to not screw them up.
The highlight came when James went up after me. First, he sang his Christmas song "Wake Me Up Next Year" and summer-fied it, replacing the "It's Christmas Time" refrain with "It's summer time." He acknowledged this switcharoo in the middle of the song. He closed with an old Clue Jr. song, "No Place." I played it on guitar while he played some accompaniment on a tiny Casio keyboard. It was a delight and you can listen to it here:
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Yesterday morning I left Blythe, CA. Three states and one helluva rainstorm later, and I'm playing music with one of the best singer/songwriters I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. We should all be so lucky.
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Tomorrow: More Austin, one more mic, and maybe - just maybe - another college reunion.
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