I guess the Lovely Carla and I have a Judy Garland/Mickey Rooney kind of thing going in our heads and our lives. It's that "Hey Kids, let's put on a show," thing. Something drives us forward to want to "make show."
Last night it was "Neil Young Night." It was quite the show. We packed this little coffeehouse with an overflow crowd! We had 8 different acts all doing Neil Young songs. I do think the spirit of Shakey (even though he's not dead yet) sort of hung over the event.
The energy of the night was sort of haphazard and flakey. The little coffeehouse was unseasonably hot. Every act seemed to have some glitch or snafu. But the songs were solid, some were beautiful.
Our set was all over the map. We did a sublime version of "Needle and the Damage Done." Carla's voice was strong, beautiful and heartfelt. I totally blew it on "Through My Sails," I somehow fell into a different rhythm and I could not get out of it. The band played along (uncertainly) and Carla adjusted but it was not the song we rehearsed!
We did a superb version of "Powderfinger" and pretty nice versions of "Down By the River" and "Stupid Girl," and then the heat got to my electric guitar and all hell broke loose (appropriately!) on "Fucking Up." I was out of tune and flailing. We closed with "Rocking in the Free World," which was ragged and completely un-tuneful.
Also, as the Lovely Carla pointed out to me "Rocking in the Free World" did not work as a rousing closer. Something just not right about singing about being "free" in today's America of debt and dissolution. It rang hollow and out of time. A song that has not aged well for this age! "Fucking Up" seems to be a much better anthem for our time!
Anyway, it was rough. I ended up in a pool a sweat, damning my guitar! The heat and humidity made it impossible for me to stay in tune! Maybe there's a message in there somewhere. Nice event. Satisfying and unsatisfying at the same time!