Saturday, September 24, 2005
Gig Jounral
Last night the band returned to Little Pleasures, a coffee shop in Hillsboro, Kansas. It is Marisa's place, an oasis in an otherwise sleepy little rural town. She came from Hawaii to Kansas, and the coffee shop is the result. It's very upscale for the locale; it would easily fit perfectly into the landscape of a city many times Hillsboro's size. And it is a bright, airy kind of place, with cool concrete floors, gleaming tile and metal appointments; in the very back, beyond the café seating, there are some book shelves, games and a big sofa. Marisa has a wide range of hot and cold drinks, most with a Hawaiian origin or reference. The baked goods are superb, and she makes a white chilli that is most suitable for the post-gig repast.
It was Big Game night in town, meaning everybody was at the high school for the football game, meaning nobody was at the coffee shop when we started. Marisa and her staff were there of course, and she bought some t-shirts to dress 'em all up properly. There was a single, lone official fan, also in uniform, who hung in there from beginning to end, with only a single pause to get her brother. Oddly, Little Pleasures shares the main entry with the adjacent Christian booksellers, and there must have been some sort of ladies' evening there. We drew in a few of the shoppers, most notably two older women (mother & daughter) who were way into us. I was even able to brush off the sideways insult the daughter dealt me, the vibe was so friendly.
In time, more and more arrived, including familiar faces and a big segment of the high school crowd after the game. There was also a group of students from Tabor, the private college in town. It is a Christian school. See the trend? It's a very conservative little Mennonite town in central Kansas, which makes the coffee shop, and their reception of us, all the more remarkable and unspeakably cool. On the downside, it confrims my horrified suspicion the 5 Man Trio is mostly harmless, but on the upside it confirms that we can appeal to anybody.
I did miss the traveling group of Swedes who were up and down the main street as we were loading in. They seemed interested in coming in, but Marisa wasn't open yet, and then they never returned. Hope we didn't miss our crack at a coffee shop gig in Stockholm!
Many first-timers for us at Little Pleasures; you can tell them by the unbelieving stare. It always takes people a few tunes to figure out where all the sound is coming from. There were a lot of young lads in the crowd who must have been drummers in the middle school and high school bands. They studied my rig intently, and watched my every move, and a few played along. This is of course very gratifying in the egotistical sense, but it also brings a deeper dimension to any performnance. I like the fact that I get to teach a bit, while I entertain.
The sound is always good in Little Pleasures, very full and bright. The concrete floor and high ceiling make me sound good, even when I don't play well. Last night, I approached 'flow,' that state of seemless, beyond-the-self performance (I believe psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi first used the word to describe this state). It is something that I have experienced numerous time, a transcendental experience of playing beyond the limits of my body and talent. Of course, whenever I try to make this happen, my playing suffers and the groove dies. It is hard to define the circumstances that make flow possible for me, but I am sure that setting and audience are two significant factors. Interaction with band mates is critical, natrually. Last night we played some things that we had not playing in a long while, and took some chances with new material. I wonder if these musical acts contribute to that state of flow? I'm not as well read on Shopenhauer as I should be, but it is my understanding that he speaks to the ecstacy of music, and I would equate that with the experience that I'm trying to describe. Perhaps just like the attaining of this state, a conscious effort to describe it defeats it.
It was Big Game night in town, meaning everybody was at the high school for the football game, meaning nobody was at the coffee shop when we started. Marisa and her staff were there of course, and she bought some t-shirts to dress 'em all up properly. There was a single, lone official fan, also in uniform, who hung in there from beginning to end, with only a single pause to get her brother. Oddly, Little Pleasures shares the main entry with the adjacent Christian booksellers, and there must have been some sort of ladies' evening there. We drew in a few of the shoppers, most notably two older women (mother & daughter) who were way into us. I was even able to brush off the sideways insult the daughter dealt me, the vibe was so friendly.In time, more and more arrived, including familiar faces and a big segment of the high school crowd after the game. There was also a group of students from Tabor, the private college in town. It is a Christian school. See the trend? It's a very conservative little Mennonite town in central Kansas, which makes the coffee shop, and their reception of us, all the more remarkable and unspeakably cool. On the downside, it confrims my horrified suspicion the 5 Man Trio is mostly harmless, but on the upside it confirms that we can appeal to anybody.
I did miss the traveling group of Swedes who were up and down the main street as we were loading in. They seemed interested in coming in, but Marisa wasn't open yet, and then they never returned. Hope we didn't miss our crack at a coffee shop gig in Stockholm!
Many first-timers for us at Little Pleasures; you can tell them by the unbelieving stare. It always takes people a few tunes to figure out where all the sound is coming from. There were a lot of young lads in the crowd who must have been drummers in the middle school and high school bands. They studied my rig intently, and watched my every move, and a few played along. This is of course very gratifying in the egotistical sense, but it also brings a deeper dimension to any performnance. I like the fact that I get to teach a bit, while I entertain.
The sound is always good in Little Pleasures, very full and bright. The concrete floor and high ceiling make me sound good, even when I don't play well. Last night, I approached 'flow,' that state of seemless, beyond-the-self performance (I believe psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi first used the word to describe this state). It is something that I have experienced numerous time, a transcendental experience of playing beyond the limits of my body and talent. Of course, whenever I try to make this happen, my playing suffers and the groove dies. It is hard to define the circumstances that make flow possible for me, but I am sure that setting and audience are two significant factors. Interaction with band mates is critical, natrually. Last night we played some things that we had not playing in a long while, and took some chances with new material. I wonder if these musical acts contribute to that state of flow? I'm not as well read on Shopenhauer as I should be, but it is my understanding that he speaks to the ecstacy of music, and I would equate that with the experience that I'm trying to describe. Perhaps just like the attaining of this state, a conscious effort to describe it defeats it.
