Starting to look like spring around here with 5 to 6 days of sunshine in a row. I was *so* excited to get back to the market since i haven't been there since early January.
Gah! when i arrived it were plagued with other musicians in full flight and all the good sunny spots were all taken...no place for the late-arriver to set up with barraging the patrons when a cacophony of homespun tunage and entertainments. So i slipped over to the shady side, set up in front of a very bored looking chocolatier and dug in.
Yesterday marked my first foray in to actual Vaudevillianism. I actually tried to do a bit of a dance while i got into a number. This is sort of the plunge that I always hope to take but spend each day running from any sort of leap of faith like it. More later.
Not to be presumptious, but i do feel like i was in fine form. I've had plenty of rest and i've been studying new tunes and learning some new chords for tunes that I can't WAIT to whip out on the market/earth at the earliest opportunity. My guitar playing was more sure, as it was much warmer than the past bajillion times, and I sung as close to my real range as possible...only once did i croak out a poor low note (during lone pilgrim), and once i swallowed a falsetto that i shouldn't have even approached in the first place (during Buffalo Tom's paen to wasted, perfect time - Summer).
I busted out the two Misfits songs that I'll go to my grave knowing, as i've known them since i started playing, nearly. I was feeling a bit restless, and thought maybe i should pack it in, but then i saw a clump of tied up dreads above a gray Misfits hoodie sweat shirt, so off came the fingerpicks and out came the flat pick and here comes the bass riff for "london Dungeon" and the fella's head wipped around and gave me such a grin. It got bigger when i was done with "dungeon" and jumped right into my Misfits-by-way-of-superchunk-on-halloween special "Horror bizness". I really should learn "Bullet" but i'm afraid singing that song in public would actually cause me to land in the jailhouse. The young gent scooted up to tell me "I never hear the misfits at the market" and i could only shrug and wink "Claro Que Si! but now i'm here and now you DO hear them at the market". highlight of the day. wow. yes. it really were.
So, i figured out on Saturday that i've been singing "Moses, Don't Get Lost" in Fminor. So i tuned up my A and D strings a whole tone each and capo-ed at the 1st fret and bingo! now i have a guitar tuned to Open Fminor. I've never been shown that by anybody and I was pleased as punch to figure it out. But, when the georgia Sea island singer do it, they've got like, 6 folks clapping and stomping in that way that causes my hackles to rise. To mimic it, 1 think white-boy - i started stomping with my feet and smacking about my guitar to get the different tones. I felt like the first Vaudeville entertainer leaving the cave for the first time to see if there were any sabretooths about. But if you're not going to go balls out. why go outside? I don't know if it was a success... and my slide and singing "Nobody's fault but mine" is kind've intense and a downer for the market...but it felt actually cathartic to do....so it stays. I don't know how to make my guitar sing quite like Rev. Johnston...but i do try. Also - i don't wanna cast stones, but I think the Duhks are an emasculated, updated-not-so-much-for-the-millennium version of Peter Paul & Mary. and not in a good way. Have a listen to a sample of their version of "moses, don't get lost" and let me know if you agree, or if I should stick to what i know, and leave my opinions whereever the fuck.
New songs i busted out that I hadn't ever busted out before:
- London Dungeon
- Horror Bizness (both misfits)
- Lone Pilgrim (B.F. White)
- Moses, Don't Get Lost/Nobody's Fault But Mine (trad./trad)
- Move it on over (hank williams)
- Midnight Special (boogie like your name is Huddie)
- Po' Black Mattie (R. L. Burnside)
- Chips Ahoy (Hold Steady - my version is pretty short though)
- The Five Deadly Venoms (hyder)
Songs I hope to bust out soon:
- Blackwaterside
- Souper Trouper (Camera Obscura style)
- O Pato
- Manha de Carneval
- I Heard the Voice of A Porkchop (come cover me in grits)
