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Second time is the charm.  :)

Last night was my second open mic at the iconic Caffe Lena in Saratoga Springs.  It was largely the same crowd of seasoned and extremely talented blues musicians as last month and I was tremendously better prepared for the scene.  And I didn't let the intimidation factor get to me like last time. You know, the guys who can play more notes than I can hear, the sideways glances that say, "he brought guitar again,"  and the pictures of Bob Dylan on the stage over my shoulder.  This month, I took the stage as a student who had practiced with focused intent for the prior month and put on a show instead of thinking I could just show up and play a couple songs I fool around with in the basement.  What a difference.

My first song was Hungry Blues on my Sawzall box dobro.  The lyrics were given to me by Ron "Oily" Sprague and I did a speaking version of the song.  I set the crowd up for a few laughs before starting.  I got a few laughs where I wanted them and good round of applause afterward.  It is a great, funny song.  I was prepared with my lyrics sheet in case I choked, but didn't need it.

My second song, I pulled out my garbage guitar and played "Baby Please Don't Go" with a bourbon bottle.  The whole thing.  It sounds intentionally pretty bad, as if I'm a sad, miserable drunk lamenting the loss of his woman.  I've changed the end of the song to suit.  It is a little funny-sad.  

I had enough self-depreciating comments and humorous quips mix in that I felt like I had the crowd on an upnote, especially those who saw my first performance last month, which was an unqualified mess.  They are set up.

I wanted to tear them down.  I did my version of "Goin' Down Slow" which is a perfect song about my experience before, during and after having cancer at 29 years old.  I spent all day in a local public school working with different teachers including an awesome group of students with autism and an 11th Grade English class.  The English students were reading from "Death of a Salesman" and I picked up a new line to add to the song since it fit perfect.

You know, when you break a deposit bottle, you can't get your nickel back.

I had my eyes closed the whole time and I wish I could have seen the crowd.  I almost cried when I got the round of applause and cheers at the end.  I felt like I did what I wanted to do.

If you are interested, pics of the Sawzall box dobro, garbage guitar and videos of all three songs are here on my page, although none are from last night - only previous versions.  I'm going to have to get someone to do video for me in the future.

Other highlights from last night:

I thought I'd be the only one on stage with heavy metal, but a local musician brought his tuba and a former opera singer to do two great songs.  The vocals were incredible and the tuba was perfectly matched.  I loved it.  This woman can sing.  Incredible.  Absolutely incredible.  It felt really great when she saw me after my set and offered her honest compliments.

I also met fellow (new) CBN member Ronald Whitford last night and he brought his CB Ukulele.  I was pretty amped up after my set so I wasn't giving him the attention I wanted for his three songs, but what I heard was excellent.  It felt great to have a fellow CBN member there last night.

Price of admission was $5.  Value for your money right there.

I get over to the UK on business 2 or 3 times a year, but I've never taken my guitars with me until this trip.  I'm glad I made the decision to do so this time as it was one of my best trips out of many.

I arrived at Heathrow fairly early Saturday morning since a heavy tailwind reduced the flight time to just over 5 hours.  That left little time for any sleep.  I made my way by train up to St. Neots, near Cambridge and then on to the house in Kimbolton where I was staying.  Dropped the bags and headed into Cambridge in order to see StumbleCol on stage at the Portland Arms.  Despite parking about 3 miles from the pub, I arrived just after they started playing their 45 minute set.  The crowd was sparse early in the afternoon, but the guys put on a great show.  I chatted with the guys after their set and my brain was turning into jet lag mush with each passing minute.  I decided to leave while they were loading out since I had a 40 minute drive back to the house.

Col gave me one of the band CDs and I listened to it all week.  "Work Song" is one of my favorites along with "Stink Eye."

Ate something I don't remember at the Cambridge Services on A14 and parked safely at the house (surprise!).  Crashed in the bed and didn't move until 9:00 the next morning.  Feeling great I had some toast and headed into Cambridge again with my guitars.  It was a beautiful day and everyone was in the city for picnics on the green and shopping.  Here's my wheels for the week and my gear for a day out.

I got a real coffee since the house only has instant and wandered around the city looking for any familiar faces among the buskers at each street corner.  There were a lot of great performers out on about every corner and I left my share of tips scattered around, but didn't play at all.  I got a pasty for lunch and decided to head out to Jesus Green to sit by the River Cam.  It is one of my favorite spots in the city.

I got out a guitar and decided to play a bit, just for myself.  Soon after, a local artist and musician, Banjo Nick turned up and wanted to check out my guitars.  He had a banjo and uke with him and we swapped for a few minutes.  I have never played a real banjo and it was a lot of fun.  I think with 15 or 20 more minutes I could have really done something  with it.  Nick asked me "Do you know Belinda?"  Who would think that two strangers could meet up from 3,500 miles apart and know of the same person by first name only?  Another tick in the box for "small world."

Nick asked if I sang any tunes.  I reluctantly offered that I did have one song, but I had never sang in front of anything other than a camera.  He suggested I should just sing to the Cam and if it was really bad the worst that would happen is the water would roil violently and that would be a good show to watch.  So I played out 16 Tons to a level that satisfied me then went over the chord progression so Nick could play along on the banjo.  It was a great time.

He went on his way to collect tips in town and I was about ready to call it a day.  Col from StumbleCol rang my phone just then and invited me over to his place to hang out a bit.  Since I had a 6PM dinner meeting with my colleagues it was going to be a short visit, but I drove across town to meet up.

Col had our picture taken together with my guitars after we swapped some design ideas and discussed how we go about our crazy obsession with box guitars.

I continued playing after work during the week.  I had some time to kill at Paddington Station before taking the Heathrow Express to the airport so I pulled out a guitar an played a bit.  The station noise is way too loud for anyone to hear, but a woman stopped to take my picture and mentioned her boyfriend builds cigar box guitars.  So I guess I'm about to be famous at least in one household.

It is great that we have this website as a hub of sharing and communications related to CBGs.  I've met some great people from here and will continue to cart my guitars around with me when I travel.