Bar Tales

I began the new year in one of my favorite places to perform. I like it because the staff is so nice and personable. Other than that, it’s your typical neighborhood bar. Live music is only offered on Thursday nights and I’m guessing that since it was a holiday, the “regular guy” wanted the night off. So, B and I came to the rescue.

The gig was to start at 9:00 p.m. so we arrived a little after eight in order to set up. B wanted a little extra time in order to try out the “toy” I gave him for Christmas.

It’s a recording device which allows him to record to a SIM card or directly to a CD. It’s pretty cool and this would have been the first time he used it outside the house.

Once we were all set up, my favorite server brought me a cup of hot water for tea and we were ready to go. The set up in this place is pretty interesting. Doors separate the dining room from the bar area. We set up and play in the dining room and when the gig begins the doors are opened. Picture this: we are in an empty dining room playing for the people sitting at the bar … who can’t see us. Each time a song ended they would applaud and a few times a patron would join us in the dining room and assure us that they were listening. They didn't want us to feel as though we were playing to an empty room. Which we were. Usually, there are people in the dining room having dinner and drinks but since it was the holiday … it was just us.

There was one drunk, white guy with ripped jeans and a bottle of Bud Light who stood at the door because he seemed to really enjoy what we were doing. When I sang “Give Me One Reason” he danced and sang it with me. Same thing with “Waterfalls”. Same thing with the Stevie Ray Vaughn tunes that B sang. The guy likes music and he also likes to talk. Whenever I wasn’t singing he would come up and talk to me, which didn’t sit too well with B since we were recording and he just doesn’t like people too close to the stage area. He’s funny like that. Finally, we decided to slow it down and I think B did an instrumental version of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” which was just beautiful. Drunk, white guy comes up to me and says, “We would really like to hear some stuff that has more pep in its step … not this slow stuff.” When the song was over, I relayed this information to B and he, in the most colorful way possible over the microphone, let the guy know that he would play whatever the hell he wanted to play. Yeah, he’s just funny like that.

The night was dragging and I was tired. We were scheduled to play until midnight but B told me that if I wanted to cut out after the break than I could. I’ve told him time and time again … do not give me an out clause, because I will certainly take advantage of it. And I did.