The Daily News
1 Just got back from the Open Mic performance at our Theater, had a late dinner and sat down to the good ol' DN.
2 I had lost sleep worrying about the gig, because I underestimated the brilliant young people who came up with the idea.
3 I was nervous, as I wasn't sure of how tech would go. I loaded up the Altima with amps, booms, guitar stands, power cords, and five working mics. It was right out of a Cheech and Chong movie. I was afraid I'd get pulled over and arrested for fencing old amps.
4 The bottom line: the evening became magical, and it completely rocked. My amps and things had nothing to do with it.
5 If I may stand up for these amazing kids, I must give them the props.
6 They were from guitar classes, band classes, choir classes, English classes, and even students who have played Carnegie.
7 It didn't take long to see that we were bathed in pure brilliance.
8 To me it was poetry.
9 I had them to a cue-to-cue early in the afternoon and became instantly alarmed. Music stand fell over, people tripped over mic cords, light from the loading dock made it impossible to do any real design, and participants didn't show up.
10 The common denominator was that everybody in charge stayed remarkably calm, including myself and our awesome guitar teacher Matt Hall.
11 He managed to get all the mics working, and even used one of mine, ironically the one from Radio Shack!
12
13 Hey, it was a great mic.
14
15 Every person who ever played in a rock band just belly laughed.
16 The fun thing was that the cue-to-cue morphed right into the Show, and I wanted to kick myself for not having coffee bubbling in the lobby.
17 It had a hip, sunglasses-coffee house feel that swirled with poetry, hip-hop, a-capella, goofiness, and a hipness I haven't seen up there.
18 And it wasn't uppity. Performers showed nervousness, but the audience whistled and supported.
19 One girl came out and announced she had never performed on stage before and proceeded to play her guitar and sing beautifully. She missed one chord and got a couple of catcalls of support, regained and finished with confidence. The hoots and hollers didn't seem out of place.
20 I stayed low key and the students ran virtually everything, but in the end they thanked both me and Matt.
21 I smiled.
22 I spent two days stressing but knew that the students who ran the thing were completely on it. They had the International Thespian Society tech people run the booth and Band students do the set changes.
23 The whole thing worked, and it became magical and hip.
24
25 I'm not catching it here, but I'm exhausted from the entire thing, and it was great to be a large part of a Show once again.
26 Okay, that's about all I got for this morning.
27
28 All I got works for me.
29 Hope you have a GREAT day.
30 I gottago. I still have lots of fires going.
31 See you again.
32 Peace.
10 The common denominator was that everybody in charge stayed remarkably calm, including myself and our awesome guitar teacher Matt Hall.
11 He managed to get all the mics working, and even used one of mine, ironically the one from Radio Shack!
12
13 Hey, it was a great mic.
14
15 Every person who ever played in a rock band just belly laughed.
16 The fun thing was that the cue-to-cue morphed right into the Show, and I wanted to kick myself for not having coffee bubbling in the lobby.
17 It had a hip, sunglasses-coffee house feel that swirled with poetry, hip-hop, a-capella, goofiness, and a hipness I haven't seen up there.
18 And it wasn't uppity. Performers showed nervousness, but the audience whistled and supported.
19 One girl came out and announced she had never performed on stage before and proceeded to play her guitar and sing beautifully. She missed one chord and got a couple of catcalls of support, regained and finished with confidence. The hoots and hollers didn't seem out of place.
20 I stayed low key and the students ran virtually everything, but in the end they thanked both me and Matt.
21 I smiled.
22 I spent two days stressing but knew that the students who ran the thing were completely on it. They had the International Thespian Society tech people run the booth and Band students do the set changes.
23 The whole thing worked, and it became magical and hip.
24
25 I'm not catching it here, but I'm exhausted from the entire thing, and it was great to be a large part of a Show once again.
26 Okay, that's about all I got for this morning.
27
28 All I got works for me.
29 Hope you have a GREAT day.
30 I gottago. I still have lots of fires going.
31 See you again.
32 Peace.
~H~
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