Another fun one comes and goes...
Last night we played at a place called Judge Bean's in Keller, TX. Kind of a restaurant/bar type of place, not exactly where you'd probably expect to see us playing. But, we were playing there for our booking agent's birthday bash. So, what the heck, right?
We needed to fill a four hour slot. So, in an effort keep both the crowd and ourselves entertained for that long, we decided to mix things up a little bit. For starters, we printed out a list of pretty much every cover song we knew. We gave that list to Marti (our agent) and said, "What do you want to hear first?" We continued with that format the remainder of the night. We'd finish a song, then ask her what we were playing next. It made the night pass quickly and was a nice change of pace for us.
We also invited Eric Wagner up to play a few acoustic songs. Sounded good... so, of course, we asked him back when we re-started our set and he sat in on guitar for Margaritaville (yeah, we played "that" song LOL) and then switched to harmonica on our song, Into The Night. Really nice job on the harmonica! Think we're gonna have to be callin' on that boy again. Anyway, it was fun. Very fun. If you guys get a chance, go check out his music - Thank you for helping us out, Eric!
There was a real party vibe in the air - people not connected to the birthday crowd were just having a good ol' time. I think that (and probably a few of those $1.75 Shiners) kept us all on our toes and in good form.
Highlights for me this time were when Heath, out of the blue, started playing and singing The One I Love by REM. Sounded good, the crowd started singing along, so I whipped up a drum beat on the control pads and Cisco got the groove going on the congas, then we, as a whole room, all finished the song. I hate to say it, but playing Margaritaville with Eric and a bunch of well-lit ladies on stage was a high point as well. Those of you who know me well, know that, while I am a fan of Jimmy Buffett, I am not a big fan of that song. It worked for that moment, though.
Probably biggest personal highlight was during Tailgate To The Beach. Before we played it, some guys were asking for a George Jones song - for obvious reasons. I told them, "No, I am not going to play a half-assed version of a classic Jones song just because he has died, it would be tacky." They accepted that answer. Then, I explained what Tailgate To The Beach was about and we played the song. Now for the highlight... around the 2nd verse, I look over and a girl is starting to tear up. I make eye contact, then continue around the room as I do. When I come back to her, tears all over the place. It was wild to see a song I had written move someone to tears. At the end of the song, her whole group of friends stood up and applauded. Then, several of them went over and I saw them buying CD's. I was very flattered.
So, that was a Saturday night in the metropolis of Keller. I hear we have driven "Party Marti" into retirement. Mission accomplished. Below are some pics I stole from Amy Ludwig on Facebook... thanks, Amy (thanks for the chocolate cake, too)!
Next couple of shows are expected to be super fun... so, stayed tuned. Until then, stay gold... RH
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| Cisco and I - Judging from the lack of guitar on me, probably during Sangria Wine. |
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| Pretty sure this was during Margaritaville... |
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