Black River Barn

Went back to the Black River Barn, and actually played this time. The house band had no keyboard with them, which was a good thing, so I could use mine. They had a substitute guitarist, and they let me play along during the warmup set at the beginning of the open mike.

The guitarist was a bit inexperienced, so he forgot I was there. As a result I just comped, played no solos. I played through the house sound system (a necessity because there was neither time nor room for my own amps). This made it difficult because the house system has no monitors at all. Just three PA speakers, two at FOH and one 12" one in the rear near the ceiling (a fact which I discovered later). So I could hardly hear myself, and played by Braille. I'm sure I was playing in the wrong key at times.

There weren't too many people raring to play. When my turn came I played solo; I did New Frontier (first time playing this for people), also Hello It's Me and Big River. I did the best I could; the mike was extremely hot and the keys sounded distant. I didn't get much of a reaction, but was glad I came. I was able to load out before the night got too long.

Black River Barn

Went to the BRB to see how the open mike is progressing. It is still hosted by Hoi Polloi. Music starts at about 10PM on Wednesdays, with the house band playing a few numbers and then getting out of the way.

There is now a signup sheet; the sheet is organized into two sections: one for solo/duo acts and the other for bands. Each act as it signs up lists the titles of the three songs they intend to play. This level of organization bodes well, and even though I did not sign up or play this time I'll come back. This would be a good place for me to try some of the stuff that I like to do but my regular band can't do.

Difficult load-in and tiny stage so make sure you scope the place out before showing up with keys, drums, or a band of any size. Good house sound system; you could play the keys through that.

I stayed to listen to a couple of acts. First there was a kid playing Stairway to Heaven on acoustic guitar. Before you laugh, let me say that the kid was a pretty good player, so it was sort of impressive. Then there was a keyboard player who played a couple of original tunes (he used a DX-7 MIDIed to a Yamaha Motif head). I could tell that he was an experienced player; unfortunately, the fact that his material was all unfamiliar to everyone left them flat (polite applause). When the subsequent act, another kid with an acoustic guitar, took the stage at about 11PM, I knew it was time to go.