Show review: The Red Vic last Friday

It's already been well over a week since the Red Vic cafe show but I'm just getting to the review now. Sorry about that. Things have been a whirlwind lately. Honestly, that show was a bit of a rough night for me. I was having anxiety over there not being parking and having to double park and unload all the gear and how was I going to eat dinner and just basically freaking out over nothing but freaking out nonetheless.

So, my wife and I drove up there and found parking pretty close, somewhat easily. Gee was meeting us later so we had her drums with us. We unloaded and took store of the cafe itself. Honestly, it reminded me of this weird art gallery that I used to play in Santa Cruz back when I wrote brutal, acoustic guitar songs and went by my first name only. Cristina. Awesome. Anyway, this art gallery was the type of place where bad spoken word took place alongside bad interpretive dance. To top it all of, it was called "What Is Art?". You should never name your business a question you don't want answered. Because the answer is: not that.

The Red Vic really reminded me of "What Is Art?" both in looks and smell (old coffee, pine-scented cleanser and mildew) and also there was weird "art" that consisted of paper cut-outs pasted to foam-core in the shape of peace signs that sold for hundreds of dollars. Really? My anxiety kicked into overdrive and I started contacting everyone I know to make sure they were coming because it's best to overcome these situations in a group. I wanted to give the Red Vic a chance because I've heard really good things about how supportive the audience is there. Except, here's the problem, nobody else brought an audience. Six groups played that night. Not to brag, but I brought fifteen people. The other performers brought literally zero people with them. Ouch. Was it just an off night? If you know the answer, please contact me.

It was great playing for my friends though. Some old co-workers came out (thanks Lauren and Sara) and I had some surprise visitors up from Los Angeles and Santa Barbara so that was good stuff. Plus the show was early enough that we had a chance to meet up afterward and get a drink or two elsewhere so in the end, it was a great night. Rumor has it that recordings might exist of the set that night but I haven't heard any yet. I will try to track it down because one big plus of the Red Vic cafe was that it sounded great.

What was nice about that night too was that as we were leaving the bar later that night, it finally started raining. I'm not sure how long it's been since it rained but several months, at least. Too long. It had been threatening to rain all night and the sky had been dark but it hadn't opened up and let it go. Something about the weather juxtaposed with how stressed I'd been feeling earlier... I don't know, it just felt like this release, like it meant something. What it meant, I don't know but don't you ever feel like the world is trying to show you something?

p.s. Did anyone take pictures at the show? Would someone please take pictures? Wifey can never remember to do so and I need to keep this blog visual. I know I can only hold your attention spans for so long.

Concentrated concentration

My shoulders are still messed up and though the pain has gone from a pinched nerve feeling to merely the sorest, sore muscles I've ever had. My physical therapist has been pushing my back ribs into place and marveling at just how tight my muscles are. She also warned me to fix my posture, which I've been doing. It kills.

As a result, I've been staying away from the cursed computer which gave me the shoulder problems in the first place. At first it was difficult but luckily school started up around the same time so I've had less time to be checking my email/myspace/facebook/news obsessively. Truly, I've realized that I'm getting far more done as a result. It's forced me to really focus and get what I need done on the computer then step away. I've gotten my homework done, put together radio promo packages, written a press release (about the surprise I'm announcing this week) and contacted some clubs about shows (success at the Red Vic). That's all in the last three days. It's good. I think I need to continue on accordingly. Less internet, more working.