Saturday, November 10, 2007

SWG Show Review Nov. 9

Here's my show review in plain old text.
You can also recheck it at the ol' myspace page if you want.

Here are some photos from my last show at Rico's. The first is me and the second is My Name Is Milk. Thanks to Somafied for the pics. Thanks to my head for looking smaller than normal. And a special thanks to the fish eye lens.





Rico Coffee November 9th

This show was a pleasant surprise. I've had a few pretty horrible weeks. For the past two weeks I've been in and out of being sick, losing my voice, etc. Fiona and Joy have also been sick, so sleep has been sporadic for everyone and the misery index at the Guiles' house is at a new high. We're going to survive, but it sure ain't fun. Did I mention I had two wonderful nights of kidney stone related pain? Yeah. That was part of the "sure ain't fun" of the past couple weeks.

The pleasant surprise was first, there were more people here this time than last time. That's always nice. Our faithful attendees were attending (how attendant of them!) and several new faces were in the audience. We had offers of live bongo playing from one audience member and some neighbors of mine also came. It was an all around fun evening and I got to pick and choose from a bunch of songs that I've been wanting to play. This once-a-month residency has been working out nicely so far.

My Name Is Milk, co-headliner for the evening, started things off in strong form. As soon as he comes out with a recording I'll be better at identifying the titles to all of his songs, but last night I was in the middle of figuring out my set while he played, so I didn't do a very good job of tracking his set. Milkman played his newest song (which is a tear-jerk masterpiece) and ended with his great set-ender, Goodnight, I Love You.

Here were the songs in the order they were played...or close to the order they were played:


I Won't Back Down (with modified kidney lyrics)
-I dedicated this song to my kidneys. Tom Petty sure has written a lot of songs I like.

Weapons of Mass Destruction
-I really, really need to do a good recording of this song. I like it and have played it to positive response for sometime, but I've never recorded it properly. I have one recording with spastic drumming that captures the idea I want, but really sucks as a recording.

Can You Hear Me?
-I decided to do this song in a simpler version because I forgot my lyric sheet, but everyone seems to like this one when I play it. I scratched out a modified lyric to use for the evening and it worked out fine.

The Next Chapter
-I have a pretty good recording of this song that I included on my second E.P. I handed out 10 hand numbered copies tonight. 5 new songs. It was fun. This is a really good song too (of course, I'm biased). My recording had only drums and acoustic guitar as background instrumentation, but it sounds so full that I really like it.

Here's To Things I Haven't Done
-This is a song that may eventually become a Pushstart song (if I don't record it first). I may work up an acoustic/drum demo version of my own to release on an E.P. in the future. I love how it feels when I get to the chorus on this song...mmmm....big chorus.

Don't Be Waitin'
-This song is the step-child of two other songs I'd written. The guys in Pushstart liked the verses but didn't like the original chorus, so I took a chorus from another song I'd been working on (in another key) and slapped it on, and they LOVED it. It was weird for me at first, but now it seems natural and I can't imagine it any other way. This is another chorus that I'm really proud of.

Help!
-Another cover tune that I modified to fit my kidney/intestinal situation. You've got to be able to laugh at yourself and your life or else you just get sad all the time.

Country Star
-Jeff said I should play this song for someone that was coming, so I broke it out from memory (because I HAVE performed it hundreds of times by now). It went well and didn't feel as worn out as it's felt in the past. It was like visiting an old friend. I may have him over again sometime soon.


As Milkman heckled me, I cut into the first line of this song...

I've Got News For You
-On my previous 5 song E.P. The recording of this is very basic. I love the 3 part power yell harmonies on the last chorus. I was trying to copy a song I'd heard before (but couldn't remember what it was). I'd really like to mimic what the Verve does on their vocals on Urban Hymns. He does a lot of vocal tracks where he sings the chorus in octaves (a low and high voice) and it has a great sound. Not that this song is ANYTHING like the Verve. I just think maybe that was the original inspiration for HOW I recorded it.


Fill My Mind With You
-ON the new 5 song E.P. (#2). A pretty and simple song I wrote for Joy.


One
-One of my all-time favorite songs from one of my all-time favorite bands, U2.


Bridge Over Troubled Water
-Once before I had played this song and then done a few after. My friend Eric told me once before that I probably shouldn't try to play too many more songs after playing this one. It IS like, super epic. It IS by Simon and Garfunkel, the masters of 60s and 70s top 40 pop. (Would they be considered top 40?) I love this song too. This song has deep roots with me because I've heard it since I was a kid on my mom and dad's record player. I still have the record.


Song I left out that I want to try and do next time:

Don't Give Up (a newer song that I really like), Such Great Heights, Los Angeles, With Friends Like These Who Really Needs Amphetamines.

I also want to play Tammy Faye, I Love You and People Are Pictures next time. Both were on the new 5 song E.P. but I didn't have enough time to practice them (due to the sore throat, lack of sleep, kidney stone-esque, very bad, horrible week).


Covers I'd like to do:

The Lust, The Flesh, The Eyes, and the Pride of Life (by the 77s). This is a song I used to cover all the time that I absolutely love. I may try and find this one and pull it out for Dec. 14. We'll see how the kidneys fare.

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