datamusicata

So I did two shows this weekend. One at McCabe’s Guitar Shop in Santa Monica with my pal, Dirk Hamilton (www.dirkhamilton.com) and the other a songwriter night with Jude Johnstone (whom I had never met before and she was delightful – www.judejohnstone.com) at Hallenbeck’s in North Hollywood and, because I have been working on a one man show for the past year, I did essentially the same set at both places.

This is very challenging. Trying to present the same show every night and bringing to the stage the same joy, professionalism and spontanaety that created the first show is not so easy. And I’ve been thinking about it, because I not only want to help you all, but I also want to learn and grow from this experience.

Here’s what I think.

If you are playing things like opening sets (McCabe’s) or songwriter things (Hallenbeck’s) then you should take that opportunity to try out some new stuff. New songs, new stories, new keys, new orders of songs; take your chances in those arenas.

And when you get on stage for a concert of your work, then you do the show that you’ve been putting together. I should have tried some new stuff Saturday night. Now to be fair to myself, I wanted to make an impression on Dirk’s audience and so I did a truncated version of my two hour show. I did an impactful thirty minutes and it was very effective. I sold a ton of CD’s, so I know the audience liked it. And come to think of it, I did do the new song, “Backstage At The Resurrection” as a nod to Easter. But choosing what to do when is an art.

It is a high wire act because you definitely want to impact the audience and you want them to go away thinking that they would like to see you again, so you want to do your strongest material. By way of example, Stephen Bishop sat in and did three of his very best songs. Not the newest, but some of the very best. It was a good choice. He only had a few minutes and he used them to his advantage. Wise move.

But you also want to grow as a performer. I guess what I’m saying is, when it counts you pull out your best stuff and you let them have both barrels. And it counts if you are trying to get booked back at that venue; if you are trying to impact a producer, agent or manager that has come down to see you; if there is someone in the audience that might be your future ex-- you know when the gig is crucial.

Yes, every gig counts, but they count in different ways for different reasons. I always make certain that I entertain the audience because I think that is the primary responsibility of anyone who has the audacity to step into the spotlight.

But you also owe it to yourself as an artist, composer, musician, performer of any ilk to stretch out and I mean stretch out in a way that you don’t do when you are rehearsing or practicing. I mean, trying out the new stuff with no net. You learn a lot and you come away with the song or performance a little bit more under your control.

The Chinese say that the purest gold burns in the hottest fires and there is no hotter fire than that spotlight with a live audience looking at you. You do things, create things and pull things out of the hat that just don’t happen at practice.

So make certain that when you do those open mics, those songwriter things, that you take some chances and make certain that when you are the headliner or the show is important for whatever reason, that you give it your best shot by doing your best stuff.

As for me, I’m still in a quandary as to what I should have done with those shows. They went great and I sold a bunch of CD’s, but did I grow as an artist from those two experiences? I don’t know, at least I can’t say for sure that, yes I did grow.