My Open Mic Update

I met Bill Martin last year. He had posted on Craig's List that he wanted to jam. I contacted him, we jammed, and have been doing open mic's in the recent months. Bill has a nice singing voice so he does most of the singing. I have a couple songs that I do. We tend to stick to three venues and try to stay active each week. In Westfield one evening, a reporter came in to do a story. It appeared in the Chicopee Herald and it was the photo of Bill that she chose for the article...

Sometimes at open mic's, you get help from other musicians. At Patti's 410, which has their open mic on Thursdays, we often have bass guitarist, Al, back us up...

...and, if there's a drummer handy, we get that kind of help, too.

Many times, though, if Bill's not available and I feel the courage to go solo, I will get up and do some original material. I heard, once, that your songs aren't good until you hit your 1000th. I'm so far from that many that I will likely be churning out crappy songs for some time. I do think, though, that they keep getting better, so I'm encouraged.

So, even though my ears still feel some discomfort when the music gets loud, I can tolerate the quieter acoustic sounds.

What's really been nice for me in the last year is that I've met some really nice folks in the open mic scene. We all keep showing up, encouraging one another, and listening and learning.

My Poor Ears

My band mates and I have parted ways. It's not because I wasn't having fun, it's because things got too loud, and my ears started to hurt. Really. During some of the practices (we hadn't played out as yet), I would feel pain. So, I had to quit. Now, I'm more acoustic. My friend, Bill, and I practice once a week and hit an open mic almost weekly. He has a good singing voice and I try. My song writing had gone into a funk for a while, but I wrote two new songs in the past few weeks so something is rekindling. As far as rock and amplified sound, I have to cool it. I can still play, but at very low volumes. Some of the open mics have a rock element and I have to watch what I'm doing. If I sit too close to the PA or stay too long, it's probably not going to help my ears. But I'm aware and so far so good. I also jam acoustically with my friend, Ken. He started the band effort in the first place and although I can't play his style for rock anymore, he's so good on guitar that jamming is awesome. So, all in all, I won't be a rock star. I may be a singer/songwriter of sorts...but I have to keep it mellow. And I have enough opportunity with friends and venues in Western Mass to make mellow just right for me.

Open Mic Experience

Here's a view of the open mic venue in Westfield, MA. It's held in an art gallery called the Gaslight Gallery one a month.

I had a chance to perform there last night and did four of my own songs plus an oldie, King Of The Road. Everyone sang along with that one. We ended the night by having all the musicians come up and do a couple songs jamboree style.

I used "technology" to display (for me) the words and chords of my songs. I had a Kindle with songs in Chordpro format. It should have worked flawlessly, but I'm still getting used to it...it wasn't perfect. I completely attribute my problems to pilot error. The small crowd didn't seem to mind as I made fun of myself. (I told them I was turning pages.)

I recently picked up a looper and I'm going to try to work that into some performances later on. I guess I will need to just practice this stuff. Hopefully, with more singing, my voice will get better, too.

I've actually done a couple of these open mics in another venue, Patty's 410 in Chicopee. I am having fun, though.

FYI - the photo is a pano shot I made with my new HTC One X phone. I like the phone as it has a larger screen than my old iPhone. It's also thinner and fits my pocket better. So far, it's a good upgrade choice I made (only cost me 99 cents). I'm going to see how well it records music at our next band practice.

Phyllis and the OGRB's

Here's an update on music, songwriting, jamming, and things in general.

I found a band. I didn't "found" it, in the sense that I laid the foundation stone. My band mate, Ken, did that. But he found me - I found him - all thanks to Craig's List. I've been quite happy ever since. I've got that feeling I had in high school when I was in my first band. We even hit that magic moment during certain jams. The music flows, independently, from each of us and magic happens. Not always. Just sometimes. But that's good.

So, there are six of us and, for sure, we're struggling with the normal human stuff that any group has to face. We do have a bunch of material we're testing out. We've each had to balance work (well, not me so much), home, family, and practice time. Our goal is to play out. I envision jamming with Sir Paul one day. Realistically, it's more like we'll play some open mics, pubs, bars, and just make good noise.

We don't have a band name, yet. I've started referring to "us" as Phyllis and the OGRB's. That's because, inside my head, OGRB means "Old Guy" and she ain't. But, for now, the rest of us are. I suppose we could say it means Olden Goldie Rock Band, but that's lame. Maybe Ostentatiously Gifted Rock Band? Yeah, that works, too.

Once we get a name, we can get a website, print business cards, get T-shirts, maybe have someone write a graphic novel about the superpowers we develop.

For now, I'm OK with Phyllis and the OGRB's. It's a placeholder.

Oh, and every once in a while, we sound OK. It's a work in progress.

FWIW - I still jam with Bill Martin. He and I like a softer sound. More folk, less rock. He's helped me tailor a couple of my original songs. He tends to make them shorter, fulfilling that "less is more" thing. It works, too. Thanks, Bill!!!