Time Is Running Out

I think I'm finally fried for the cover band thing for now.

Don't get me wrong, the money and camraderie are great, but I'm tired of being a half-assed musician.

Tonight I'll talk to Ned about the future of our band, and basically tell him that I don't think I want to do it anymore (after July).

We've got two major holes to fill (drums, vocals), and so far, it hasn't gone well in that department.

The more I think about it, the less I feel the time spent away from my family justifies the amount of money I make.

Plus, honestly, I think I want to really get into songwriting again, and this cover stuff is sapping all my energy, not because I have to prepare for it so much, but rather because it takes a lot of mental energy I could be devoting to other musical endeavors (not to mention non-musical endeavors like my kids and wife).

We had a good gig as a trio at Carlos & Charlie's last night, and if we have a few more good ones, it'll serve as a fitting end to my time playing in bands for money. I will probably still do cover gigs as a solo acoustic act (speaking of which, I have a duo gig next Friday, July 6th at Johnny Fins, provided it's not completely under water), but for now, the full-band thing isn't very appealing. Too much rehearsal, too many gigs, not enough control.

I love the guys in the band, and it's not really about them. I've just reached a point where I don't feel up to doing it anymore - it's too tiring, mentally and physically.

I've always driven home from gigs with the thoughts that I never want to do it again, but I never woke up with those thoughts until this morning. I've got a gig tonight in Round Rock at a place called "The Rock Room", which should be good, because the crowd there is pretty receptive; it's small, so even a small crowd fills the room, and that's always a more enjoyable experience, in my opinion. Then a gig 4th of July at the old standby "Bourbon Rocks", the aforementioned Friday "Johnny Fins" acoustic gig, and back at "The Rock Room" on July 7th. After a private party up near Temple on the 14th, nothing until August, so that'll be when I will say goodbye, unless Ned begs me to play the Light Bar gigs...

Stick a fork in me, people. I'm done. But this blog and my music site will get a lot more interesting because of it.

Johnny Fins Acoustic

So half of Roman Holiday played a gig at Johnny Fins tonight.

It was decent, though there were times I wanted my cohort to just stop playing. We hadn't rehearsed enough, so the rhythm work was pretty all over the place on the songs we played together.

The crowd hung around, though...that was so cool. I guess we didn't suck.

The staff was friendly and nice, and I got to play "Elenore" by the Turtles and "Hello" (my acoustic show staple) by Lionel Ritchie.

I enjoyed it. No ringing ears after the show, and a nice check in my pocket. I think I could get used to this sort of thing.

It was good practice for becoming the singer, because it really showed me where I was inconsistent.

I think my next bit of therapy will be recording every song we do acoustically so I can hear where I need to improve.

I think that might be a helpful thing. I also need to learn how to breathe like a singer, because I was running out of air all night. It was really pissing me off.

Well, enough about me...oh, wait, no, this is my goddamn blog! Peace to all!

Triumph (and I ain't talkin' 'bout the dog)

So all my singing fears were pretty much pointless. Some songs I tanked, most songs sounded great, we were very inconsistent musically, but in the end, it was a pretty damn good gig!

The ROT rally folks were pretty cool, and I got to see Leslie's freckled man-butt through a thong (a uniquely Austin experience), and the staff at the Iron Cactus was AWESOME.

So I view the show as a triumph. The next test? An acoustic show at Johnny Fins in two weeks. It should be quite interesting, because I don't know how well it's going to go without a drummer.

We will be trotting out a very cool version of "Pour Some Sugar On Me", though. :)

Gotta find the fun anywhere you can get it. I might slip in a few originals, too, just for good measure.