The Musical Whimsies of Davis

For those of you who dont know, I have been playing Open Mic Nights again at a college town called Davis, CA. I play every sunday at a bar called the G Street Pub, and every first friday of the month at Borders Bookstore.

Davis is really receptive. Its quite refreshing. If you put on a good set, people will stop playing pool and darts to listen to you and cheer you on. So its a nice change of pace. And there are also less covers and more original material, so it has made me a lot more comfortable with putting my originals out there, because I know people are there to check out a little bit of new music. So its been fun. I get compliments after each time I play, from random people in the bar, and from other musicians, and have even made a few friends out of the whole ordeal.

After meeting a guitarist named Mike, who plays with this band called "the Awks", we started talking cause he really enjoyed "Yoshimi Battels the Pink Robots" - which is always a huge fan favorite (thanks Dwight) - He told me after he heard me play that song, he became obsessed with it and was listening to it non-stop. So I arranged for him to join me on stage to play it with me, and he obviously agreed that that would be fun. And it was. I love playin music with anyone, especially if they are good, but Mike really enjoyed it as well, which meant a lot because he was in a band with a lot of really good musicians.

So "the Awks" invited me to join them for a jam session every sunday night before open mic at the G Street, and I gave them my number and told them it was a grand idea. After one jam session and another set with Mike which consisted of "Yoshimi", "One Dollar Bill", and "Get off This", they invited me to join the band. They want me to play rhythym guitar and share the singing duties with their lead singer John, whom they describe as a ego-tistical maniac. John has a really good voice, but he is kindof a douchebag, and since they love me, they are hoping to slowly ween him out of the band. Mike also really enjoyed my original "One Dollar Bill" which we jammed on together a few times already and is excited about working with me. So I am ecstatic if you can imagine. I havent been part of a band yet, and I can only learn from it all. I have no expectations, other then to show up and have fun playing whatever it is we are playing. They are all cool guys too, and are always open to your song ideas and what not, so it will be a good forum to get feedback on my originals, and learn the songwriting process.

So basically I am in a band. Although we havent had a formal practice yet, Mike and I have formed somewhat of a duo already anyways. We dont practice much, because we are both busy with work and him with school, but he is good enough to follow me through the songs I normally play, and it sounds fantastic. People wanted an encore last night from us, but they wouldnt allow it because some hardcore band called "GLUG" was supposed to play.

That was the only negative part of the Open Mic. There were 5 artists playing that night, plus GLUG and the Kid Adam who runs it. After talking to Adam about time constraints he told me that GLUG had to be on from 11 - 11:45 and then Adam was to play his set the rest of the night. I was kindof upset by this situation and felt it defeat the purpose of the open mic night. If this band GLUG is supposed to be good enough to play gigs, then they should not be coming to open mic nights and preventing people like myself from more playing time...Maybe Im just being ridiculous because their music makes me want to murder puppies. But after being spoiled at Downtown Manhattans with a half hour set, it is hard to get my point across in three songs...