So i sang last night at State Grounds. Maybe that sentence should be the extent of this entry, but i'll elaborate for the sake of being interesting (even if it's not interesting to anyone but me.) I wasn't aware that there was an open mic night over there until perhaps 8:30, when Chuck asked me to play "High Voltage" by Electric Six with him during his set at 9. That invitation was reason enough to speed home and grab my guitar, all the while debating in my head whether or not to play a set of my own. I made a deal with myself. I thought if there were any spots open before 10, i'll play. If not, i'll just listen to Chuck (who by the way, played lots of good new stuff) and just chill.
I arrive in a rush back to SG with my guitar, and i'll told 'hey, theres no acts for a while after 930, why don't you play?" I started to get nervous.
So i play "High Voltage" with Chuck, and he finishes playing the rest of his set. So, I make my way to the front (or is it back?) of the room, sit down, and talk into the microphone. I said "Since i've never really used one of these before, what's a cool rock 'n roll thing to say into this during a mic check?" I think that was pretty rock.
Or maybe not. Anyway, i play about 10 minutes of dead-string rock/jazz/blues/atonal instrumental junk, and for the last number, I sang. I sang the word 'again' out of tune at the beginning...but I thought I pulled off the song decently.
After my retreat from the stage, my friends said it was pretty good, and I don't think they were just saying that to be nice. So it was a good experience. Maybe I wouldn't have gathered the nerve to cut my teeth if I knew in advance about this open mic. I think being almost thrown into it at the last mintue was probably the best way for me to do it.
Edit: if i knew how to link, i would have turned Chuck's name into a link to his blog, but instead i'll just write out the link here: http://blogofthehurricane.blogspot.com/
