Today at Mass a family sitting ahead of us all left right before communion, which seemed like odd timing to me - most people leave right after communion if they're going to leave early - but maybe they had Father's Day brunch reservations. Then we went home, and I changed into my band T-shirt for my first Make Music Madison gig, with my band. We played in the driveway of the house where we usually practice, and Travalon and I were running a bit late to get there, but it didn't even matter because the group before us had just finished and there was a lot of confusion going on. We finally started about eight minutes late, but the audience seemed enthusiastic... and unfortunately, so did the mosquitos. It was a cold, gloomy day, and Travalon went to Leopold's and got not one but two coffees for himself, and an iced pandan latte for me after the gig. Then we went home so I could change again.
Our original plan was to go see Nauti Nauti, the yacht rock group we'd seen on the Monona Terrace rooftop a couple of weeks ago, at the East Side Club today. They started right after my gig ended, plus I wanted to put the mandolin away and change into a more tropical T-shirt and my hot pink captain's hat, so we were a bit late getting there. It was starting to drizzle, so we wondered if it would be called off, but the parking lot was packed, so we would have had to walk blocks in the rain to watch them play in the rain. (The band itself is under an overhang at the East Side Club, so they don't have to worry about their equipment getting wrecked by the rain. Only the audience gets wet.) I had brought my violin, so we went to the music club for the usual Slow Irish Session, which today was incorporated into Make Music Madison. They had acts all day at the club, mostly ukulele groups, but I couldn't have done that with my own band's gig. (Still, it would have been pretty sweet to play all three instruments in one day!) Travalon went to fight with Bald Bull at the arcade, while we only had half a dozen people playing and no audience when we started the session. More people joined, and some audience members wandered in, including a guy I work with who had just gotten back from Alaska. In the end I'd say it was a pretty successful gig!
Travalon and I went to Jiffy Lube, and we looked to see if there were any other Make Music Madison groups playing nearby. The big band was playing at the park near Hilldale again this year, and we thought about going, but then we found an open mic on Merry Street, which wasn't too far away. We went there and watched a couple of guys with guitars who had written mediocre songs (one about a pink moon), and some kids who were cuter than they were talented singing along with pop songs, and three guys named Dave reciting something by Dr. Seuss about too many Daves. It was in someone's backyard, and we got the distinct feeling everyone else there knew each other, but it was a publicly listed venue so we were free to attend. I think the big band might have been more fun to see, but this was entertaining in its own way. On the way home Travalon and I started writing a song about how we only wanted to hear songs about trains which may not be any better than what we heard at the open mic, but it certainly isn't any worse. Maybe sometime I'll record it and post it on this blog.
Famous Hat
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