Saturday, July 16, 2011
Java Monkey
Decatur, GA
Being back at the Java Monkey again was a great time. The crowd was a lil smaller than the last few shows but once again, they proved to be an awesome audience. Everyone seemed to be really into the set but it took me about 3 songs to really find my groove. There’s something about that venue that makes it hard for me to find my groove right away. Maybe it’s because I’ve become so accustomed to having monitors at shows that allow me to hear myself better and there they do not have them. Even though I didn’t really find my groove right away, I did feel connected with everyone. I’m finding that the longer I do this the better I’m getting at working hard to connect with the audience. It’s really something special when you’re telling a story and you look around and see everyone attentively watching you, laughing and smiling. That’s what I consider “making it.”
The set was a lot of fun. I pulled out the old Back Porch Prophets’ classic “Woman of the Mountain” for the first time in many years which was an absolutely blast. The Michael Nesmith classic “Different Drum” was also a lot of fun to play and seemed to get some smiles and debuting “I Listen To NPR” was a lot of fun and definitely got some laughs. I really dig writing funny songs as I feel like they really break up the serious mood of the sets a lot of times. This particular song did get a few long faces as I know that people are pretty passionate about NPR but in the end, everyone got the joke and played along. The real highlight of the entire night though came after the set was over. After the set I went down and sat with my friends in the audience and my friend Ellen says to me, “I know you’re done but you didn’t play my favorite song. Would you play “Rest Stop For The Lonely?” and everyone started chanting “Encore!” I got up there and played my encore request and you couldn’t kick the smile off of my face if you tried.
Once again, it was a pretty magical night for me. When I look back and reflect on my shows it always makes me smile and happy to do what I do. This is why I do it. I don’t do it for money and I don’t do it for fame. I do it because I love it and because it’s my life blood. Thank you all for all of your love and undying support! You all are the ones that make it so much fun for me.
