Michael Estok and I have played two shows in the past two weekends. They were the same show really, just in two different places. The Intrepid Traveler Cafe in located in Cookeville right across from the Train Depot. They were having an awesome car show right outside the cafe as we got the evening started, which helped populate the intimate cafe.  In total, we had about 24 people and got great positive feedback from everyone. I debuted a new song, Alle, playing a 12-string Alvarez I borrowed from my Uncle Gary.  We highly enjoyed hitting the Steak and Shake with my sister, Katie and her friend after the show too.

Capalanos in right off the square in downtown McMinnville. Unfortunately, we happened to get booked the weekend of Bonnaroo, so most of our audience opted for the mega-festival rather than our smaller local show. We had 8 people attend, but they seemed to enjoy it.  We even had a killer harmonica player, Steve, who sat in on a song each for Michael and I and he killed!

Here’s my set list from both shows:

• Alle
• Not This Time
• 11:11
• Don’t Leave Me, Sunshine
• About Last Night – with special guest at Capalanos, Steve
• Digital Love
• Fantasy World
• So Easily

The saddest part of theses two concerts was the news from each that they are considering closing soon. People of Cookeville and McMinnville: you have to support your local venues! You really don’t know how good you have it, so get out there and support the venues and the bands!

You walk into this joint and the first thing you notice is how skinny it is.  In fact, the stage is just big enough for me to stand with a boom mic and maybe take one step backwards before banging into their cool retro sign.  In front of the stage, there’s a tiny walk way and a two-seater table.  That’s the width of the whole place.

The second thing you notice is the vibe.  It’s got that ultra cool, retro vibe going.  The kind that everyone wants for their place, but might not be able to pull off.

The third we noticed was how ridiculously early we were.  I read their site wrong and thought the show started at 8.  It started at 9.  We got there at 6:45.  Yeah.  The pizza was excellent, but everyone wasn’t happy about having to wait an extra hour longer than expected.

Perrin Lamb was still dealing with “the crud” so he played first and was only able to do 5 songs.  Even sick, he was amazing!  Apparently, he’s been featured on Kyle XY and has a new album coming out in May.  Should be good stuff.

We played after him and did 6 songs:

• So Easily
• Not This Time
• 11:11
• Don’t Leave Me Sunshine
• About Last Night
• Fantasy World

It was a different kind of place to play, because the audience was either to my left or my right, not straight ahead, which was the wall.  They had another room speaker right in front of me, which acted as a monitor.  I guess sitting around drinking sweet tea jacked with my throat because I had some pitch issues, but over all it was a fun gig.  Having Paul on perc helped a ton and gave tons more texture to each song.  I’d love to play there again.  They have a house drum kit and a Rhodes too.  It would be fun to have the whole group there and bust out that stuff and rock out.  Then again, it’d also be fun to play solo too.  It’s just fun to play.

It was a long weekend! I was fortunate to lead worship at church this weekend, plus I had a show Saturday night, opening for John Michael at Cafe Coco.

Worship went really well. I played electric on two songs (yea!), then acoustic on two songs. I led a song by Leeland called “Yes, You Have”, which was a blast and since they had played it last week, people sang along and got into it. We opened the service with my newest song, “Don’t Leave Me, Sunshine”. Everyone seemed to love how happy it was and brightened an otherwise dreary day. I talked to quite a few people who said they were trying to figure what artist did that song and they could have sworn they heard it on the radio somewhere. Soon, my friends…soon! It was a little nerve-wracking to play it so soon after writing it, since I haven’t really had a chance to polish the sound yet, but it went well. Lionel had some great ideas with glockenspiels and trumpets and who knows what else. Think Sgt. Pepper’s.

Mike got to debut his new worship song, “You Are All I Need” and it went really well! I’ve had it stuck in my head all week long. I played electric and got to do the solo.

The Cafe Coco show went well. I wasn’t expecting a big turn out, but some unexpected people showed up (Thanks Hayes family!) and really made my night. It’s always fun when you see people you never would’ve thought would come. Mike and I played 7 songs:

• So Easily
• Not This Time
• 11:11
• Don’t Leave Me, Sunshine
• About Last Night
• Fantasy World
• So Easily (encore)

We weren’t going to play “About Last Night”, but it felt like the whole set was flying through, so we threw it in. At the end, John Michael asked me to play one more song, so we repeated “So Easily” by crowd request. By crowd, I mean Anna, my wife. I would have played something else, something new, but I’m a bum and haven’t rehearsed any of the newer stuff (it’s coming!), so we just repeated the first song. It worked out nicely, since half our audience came in during the set, so they got to hear almost all of it that way.

Next up: Christopher Pizza. I’m really looking forward to this show, it should be fun, and it’s at Christopher Pizza! See you there.

So the excitement of the first show is now wearing off a bit. I’m now working on setting up more gigs and trying to work out recording times and things of that nature. We’ve got some friends around town that should be able to help us get in places we’d like to play, its just a matter of knocking on the right doors.

For those who weren’t able to make it, the set rocked, the crowd rocked, the other bands rocked, and the whole night just rocked! We pre-sold 23 tickets and sold 3 more at the door, making 26 people who came just to see us play. According to the promoter, we were the highest selling band and made the most money – $26. Not bad for a first gig. It’s not going to pay the mortgage, but it’s a start!

The set went really well. I had trouble kicking on my tremolo pedal during So Easily, but it was a relatively minor thing, I doubt any one but me noticed. The guys really nailed every song. There were some issues, of course, like any gig. Apparently Paul’s keyboard was being temperamental and the monitor mix didn’t help that. When we hit the first note of So Easily together, I was leaning over with my head between the monitors and the drum set, which turned to not be good spot on the stage. The guitars and keys were cranked in the monitors and Jeremy can pound those cymbals! My hearing is recovering a bit now, but I’m seriously thinking about in-ears.

Everyone there love our set. The sound guy even let us go over a bit because he said he was enjoying it so much. I had strangers raving about how they loved the sound and the songs and wanted to hear more. Overall, it was pretty amazing. To those who were able to make it, thank you! Here’s what we played:

• So Easily
• Not This Time
• About Last Night
• Glass Curtain
• 11:11
• Fantasy World