bengarvey.com

A few of the <A href="http://www.treehousecoffee.com">Tree House</a> regulars post their experiences at the open mics on the web:

<a href="http://blog.jasonvertucio.com/2004_01_01_archive.html#107535242232940894">Jason Vertucio</a> -

I got there in time to sit down and enjoy some early on Roz King. Good times, man. That man is a very amazing performer. I wish I had an ounce of his talent and skill behind the mic. Or maybe I do, and I should wish I had two ounces. I dunno. I feel I have an ounce of talent and skill. But I need more. 4oz should be fine. Anyway, I was last on the list, literally. And that was at about 10pm. So I was caught offguard. Anyway, I pulled out three songs. One I realized halfway through that I'd done there before. I can't remember when, but I did "clear" at that place. And I was playing everything slow, and I kinda wanted to speed up in the middle of everything when I realized I was drawing breakneck slowness and stuff. Well, anyway, I did that, and then I pulled out "Forever December" by Tabitha's Secret. And once again forgot that I have a new song that I'm supposed to try out. I did that extra slow compared to how fast I usually play that song.

After that I announced, at about 10:15, the next song I'm about to play is totally out of time. I had planned on playing close to 10:50. But a lot of people were no-shows. Anyway, I opened up my book so I'd have the lyrics in front of me . . . and I did Semisonic's "Closing Time." Best part of the song . . . . .

. . . . when my A-string broke clean off at the saddle.

I kept on playing anyway. But that didn't work out too well, so I had to sing a capella while someone fetched me a guitar. I think Jarrod had his all ready . . . or it might have been AJ (I didn't pay attention) but by that time I had grabbed the nearest guitar (i.e. Ben Garvey's). I stopped the song so I could put on the strap and plug his in. Thanks Ben. And I picked up right where I left off and finished that thing, much to the relief of many, I'm sure. I also realized how difficult it is to talk while playing guitar. I'll have to practice that.

Then Roz AJ and Ben played some more songs. Which was good 'cuz I missed out on the opening players, including AJ and Ben. All in all a fun night, except for my poor purple guitar. And the spot on the saddle where the string broke . . . well there's a big depression into it, like where the string dug in real deep on that thing. And I wonder if that's why it broke.