One Year Ago Today

Sep 8th, 2012

One year ago tonight, my amazing band The Long Lost and I played the Parkside Lounge, my first gig back from a long live performance hiatus. I wrote down some of my thoughts about the night..

Thoughts on the Parkside

9.09.11
The first gig back. There were many ideas, feelings, expectations, etc. leading up to the Parkside, but mainly I hoped to remain as relaxed as humanly possible so as to have as good a time (show) as humanly possible.

Overall, I’d say it ended up being just about halfway between the best and worst I could have imagined (these are quite extreme on both ends), with a slight but definite leaning towards better. This description, though, would not include the very few, but undeniable, fleeting moments of elation/surrender that took place, which definitely throw the experience as a whole fully over onto the ‘better’ part of the spectrum. (Maybe not surprisingly, this characterization seems to jibe pretty accurately with my experience of life in general).
(editor’s note – I was being dramatic. I love my life.)

As much as anything else, the night was defined by a room filled with close friends, family, and loved ones, both offstage and on. As Jordy said to me after the gig, “I knew that a lot of your people would come out,” and I’m heavily thankful, gratified, and warmed that they were all there for /with me and us. I think that cushion of good feeling was what allowed the band and I to navigate through a virgin set list despite the various minor or major pitfalls (technical, psychological, emotional, equipmental, etc.) that would probably accompany any first gig back after so long, but that were nevertheless thankfully dealt with and passed by in a manner appropriate to their deserving, i.e. not too much.

9.20.11
Listening back to the recording, I hear now what actually went down. Very happy that it sounds significantly better than I thought it would, and significantly better than it sounded from the stage (though still not nearly enough bass), just generally way too fast – by-product of nerves and excitement – Robbie warned me not to do this at the last rehearsal. You were right, man! Next time