great gig

It's always so weird to me. Last night, I was all but praying the rain/snow/sleet would just start hammering down which would mean everybody would just stay home, which would me there really wouldn't be any reason for me to pack up the sound system and go play my Arsaga's gig. Mostly this feeling is brought on by the frustration that I don't have any new songs to play. (that is a story for another blog...)

However, the evil weather did not fall upon us, and I went to the gig. When we got there, the place was full of what looked like young (loud) high schoolers. Of course, it's a toss up as to whether this situation is preferrable to showing up and nobody being there. But this has happened before, and I didn't worry too much about it, because (with my sound system) I can be way louder than the kids and when I start playing. They usually start getting tired of trying to flirt, freak out, be weird over the noise that I'm making and usually clear out pretty quickly. Not last night.

They hung around quite awhile and just talked (yelled) louder. It was pretty annoying, especially for the people sitting anywhere near the kids that might have actually been trying to hear me. More than anything it made me wonder how/when/where I picked up the particular notion, that if you are anyplace where somebody is performing, it is only right to be respectful. That doesn't mean that you can't visit with your friends, drink your coffee, read your paper...it's not a lecture class. But AT LEAST, don't try to talk louder than the performer. That wondering led to my wondering how/where/when/why these kids missed picking up that particular bit of courtesy.

Finally, before I got too mad and said things I shouldn't into the microphone, I tried to good-naturedly asked if they could just not yell/screa during the songs. I told them they could be as nutty and loud as they wanted to in between songs if they could just chill during. This helped. In fact, then they started contributing to the tip jar and a couple even bought CDs! Weird... (Could it be an indication that we humans actually want boundaries? hmmm....)

Anyway, in addition to the kids, there were a number of other people who seemed to actually be there to hear the gig. We sold a fair # of CDs for a coffee house gig, and it's always nice to see pockets of people (including another group of older high schoolers) who were really digging the show. All in all, it was a really fun night. If you were there, thanks for coming! Next gig is Feb. 19th, be sure to bring your friends!