Live at Abbey Theater...

Tonight I got to do something that I cherish in the U.S., but in Italy. I haven't played music on stage in about three months, probably since December when I played an acoustic show with a friend of mine Dave Eisner. Tonight I had the chance to play on stage again, and boy was it fun to shake the cobwebs off.

I'm not going to sugar coat it, my performance didn't go exactly as planned. When I say that I mean that I always have in my head the exact way I see a night going, and while that didn't necessarily happen, it wasn't all bad, I promise.

I had talked to someone via Email about playing at Abbey theater, and they let me know they were starting open mics in March. They wanted me to confirm being able to play, to make sure they had people there, so I gladly said yes. Early in my trip here I bought a guitar, a $40 classical guitar from a bookstore, right handed, so I had to take the strings off and restring it for my funky lefty playing. It's been good to me, but at the end of the day it's still a cheap, pretty much plastic, acoustic guitar. I haven't used it for much other than fooling around in my room, so when I found out I was going to play I started putting it through a rigorous practice schedule this past week.

I was told three songs, though I could have gotten away with more as the night turned out, but I prepped to play three songs. I always struggle with song selection with the band, I have so many different songs in my head I want to play and in different orders for a setlist. I overthink it sometimes, but it's better than going in unprepared.

Song selection for this one was particularly tough because I was playing a Solo act, my first time ever playing out solo. Normally when we play small shows I play with at least one other person, normally my bandmate for the past three years and great friend, Kevin Tymon. He's a great guy to play with, and I could have used him tonight to back me up through all three songs.

So three songs... First is a no brainer, I played "Fighter" which is an original I play with the band. It's one of the only songs I play guitar on/sing lead. Yes, not only was I shaking off 3 month old cobwebs, but I also rarely play guitar/sing lead at shows, that's normally up to Kevin in the band, or whoever else I'm playing with if its a duo act with me and another person. So I didn't even practice Fighter really for this show, it's stuck in my mind forever. A reflex to play almost. How about the next two songs? Well I decided to do covers, over much debate on what to play. Normally I have someone to discuss setlists with, but this time I was alone to my own opinion. I was back and forth between playing "The General" by Dispatch, and a Dave Matthews Band song, which was bound to be a crowd pleaser. Trouble was, I didn't know how to play any DMB songs fully through/sing with them, and I surely had never played one live. I settled on playing "Grey Street" if I was going to do a DMB song, and taught it to myself a couple hours before the show.

For the third song I must give credit to the above-mentioned Kevin Tymon. Back when the band was young, Kevin wrote an awesome medley of Rap songs set to a comical acoustic tune.It's been 3 years and we've played it at every show thus far. I decided to keep up the tradition, along with adding some newer songs to the end of the medley (You can download an old copy from 5pointmusic.com and click on downloads, then on the World Cafe Live Show, or if you're feeling generous, search 5point on iTunes and buy the "Rap Medley" from there). I know it gets a little old sometimes, but I absolutely love this song.

So tonight finally came, and me, as prepared as I was going to be, was ready to take the stage. I was honored first off to see so many of my classmates and friends come to the show tonight, even though I told them I would only be playing a couple of songs. There were well over twenty Saint Mary's program students there tonight, and I hope they all had as much fun as I did. The Jamie duo was also there, and I thank them for their attendance as well, putting up with my crazy antics on their trip.

The setup for the show couldn't have been more awkward. A stool, with a microphone for vocals on a mic stand. To mic the guitar, we had to place a Mic in a beer pitcher and prop it up so that it was pointed at our guitars. There were 4 of us that played tonight, and I went on second.

So here I am, with this crazy rig to play into, and I start my first song, "Fighter". Trouble was, my volumes were completely off, and I'm pretty sure you couldn't hear my guitar. Well I couldn't hear anything, which led to me struggling with playing. There is nothing worse than not being able to hear what you're playing and singing, but I'll keep the complaining to a minimum.

I got through the first song, and decided to go with the DMB song after asking the audience what they would prefer. As it turns out, ( I probably was breaking some cardinal rule of playing live music) a couple hours worth of learning a song is not sufficient for playing it live. I struggled through the first minute of the song, and when I got to the chorus completely blanked on the chord sequence, so without missing a beat I transitioned into one of the songs I know best, "The General" by Dispatch. I played the song with ease, only having to switch my singing style and volume because I still couldn't hear myself. Song over and I was just getting into a groove. The third song was a crowd pleaser though, and I'm confident I ended on a strong note. Going from song to song in the medley I could feel the crowd getting more and more into it. I really started loosening up and having some fun with it, and by the end, my last part of the song being "I got a Feeling" by the Black Eyed Peas, I think everyone was having a good time (or "night").

Overall I had an amazing time playing for everyone, and I sure hope that they enjoyed it as well. Having played my fair share of shows to empty houses, I couldn't have been happier with the crowd that showed up tonight. I took the opportunity to do something I've been wanting to do all semester: I had all of my friends and classmates sign my cheapo guitar that I bought here in Italy. It will forever be a souvenir I will cherish ( I just have to figure out how to get it home!)



(Someday when they are all rich and famous this guitar is really going to be worth a lot...)