A Golden Day

We had one of those golden days yesterday. It was sunny and 60 degrees, and suddenly everyone was out and about. It was like a tribe of cave dwellers who suddenly emerged blinking into a blazing new world. We walked the lakefront, it was quite the scene -- when the sky is blue, the lake is too.

Sara our bass player came up to visit us, and we recorded some new tracks for our band WWSP in our little home studio (a Mac, a mic and Garageband!). I think we're getting even better as we go. I love the new titles we have so far: Tricks on the Brain, Lavender Rays, the Mirror. Sara tracked her bass, she has an old Fender bass that gets a real nice, deep resonant sound. She has really blossomed as a player.

Then we went over to the Brothers K Coffee shop on the corner and signed up for the open mic. There is such a great vibe at the Brothers K, it's a real neighborhood hub. A guy named Thomas runs the open mic, he's a guitarist who specializes in exquisite jazz stuff, one of his favorites is Django Reinhardt. There was also a guy named John who is kind of an old-timer, (older than me!), who blasted through a great acoustic version of the Who's "Pinball Wizard." John reveres the classics and he brings them across with panache. Plus he's got one of the sweetest voices you'll ever hear.

There was some other cool stuff, someone did an acoustic White Stripes song, a Dylan, there was a Cryin Shames song too. Then we got up, the three of us, me on guitar, Sara on bass and Carla on vocals. We put across three of our new songs. It was great, a good mix, Carla sang with confidence and grace. Everyone listened attentively. You can really feel it when an audience is with you. We finished and the audience clapped and cheered. It felt really good.

Like I said, it was one of those golden days...

UPDATE: Miles Raymer of the Chicago Reader tipped me to this great video mash up. Sergio Leone and Arcade Fire. A perfect match of image and sound. Check it out!