Eddie’s Attic (Atlanta, GA)
with Pat Walsh and weaklazyliar
Sometimes I think I should type up these show reports immediately after a show, but I never do. Invariably I feel like I’ve lost the mood of the thing by the time I talk about it.
My sincere gratitude to everyone who made it out. It really was a sort of Christmas party/present to myself, to basically have all of you in one place.
Pat Walsh opened up the show with Dave Condra and Tim Porterfield. They are getting even tighter, particularly on the harmonies. I had intended to maybe sing of 3 or 4 of their songs, but after they sound-checked I decided against it because I didn’t want to force one of them to not be able to sing. I did sing the lead vocal on one song, and song I had learned from pat a while ago intending to cover it at some point. Funny that when I did it was on stage with them.
Then I came up and did a song solo, and then Tim and Dave came up and backed me on “1985 by the Get-Go’s.” With no rehearsal, mind you, just having listened to my CD. Needless to say, they’re very good. Gerlinda came back up, along with Greg from Chain Poets, to sing with us on the Beatles’ “Something.” Then weaklazyliar came up to play “Guy Fawkes Day” with me, with Gerlinda singing. Then I sang back up for them on “Waiting for the 8:05.”
From that brief description you can see how the night progressed, and what the point was. Weaklazyliar and I played for about 2 hours, switching off, backing each other, doing covers. No real delineation between one act or the other. Without just describing the show from start to finish, I’ll just add that we did a cover of U2’s “Bad,” which ended with me handing a small white flag (about 6 inches square) to the audience and going on a Bono tirade. I thought it was funny, hopefully everyone else did, too. Also, Robi hopped up by request to sing “Heatmiser/Snowmiser” with me.
I was actually disappointed when the night was through. I’ve seen Gerlinda’s description of the evening already, and she’s right when she says the crowd seemed a bit subdued. I think I was disappointed because I was pinning my hopes on the show to be the thing that turned this holiday around. It’s been a very weird one for me this year, and for so many other people I know. I think I had an unrealistic hope that this show would somehow rise above that, and we’d all come together in one of those moments that only happen when they’ve been scripted for PAX TV.
This did not happen.
But, in retrospect, it was foolish to think it would. Gerlinda said, “It’s like, we’re all a little quieter; we’re all a little nicer; we’re all a little more tentative.” And that clearly seems to be the case. And so my disappointment has changed to merely gratitude, that people would allow us the chance to play some role in their lives, to make the attempt to let them forget other things. It’s a frustrating career choice a lot of the time, and it can lead you to forget what an amazing thing it is to be up in front of people who are there to hear you, and the weird, cliched sounding thing that happens when you do it.
I can never express enough how much I appreciate the support you’ve given me, and I hope I am offering something of equal value to you in return. Thank you, and happy holidays to everybody.