Last night we stopped in on an open mic at Live on North hosted by Blonde on Blonde‘s Chrissy and Jessica. BOB (I feel like shortening it) played some acoustic duets including a Bob Dylan and a Pink Floyd cover. I dug their vocal harmonies and their style of pickin’. Chrissy works with a friend of mine and this was the first time I met her in person. She’s really nice and hopefully we’ll play a full out show with her in the future.
The Buskers were there too and played a few blues originals. I met Ricky (guitar/vocals) and Dave (bass). They had a bunch of really cool blues-rock songs – pretty close to the Black Keys. Ricky was nice enough to let Dave K. use his guitar for a couple songs. I hope we end up playing with them again too.
Peter Carlson of Monday Saga fame also came out to show his support. I guess he sometimes plays with Blonde on Blonde when needed. He didn’t play anything last night but perhaps we’ll jam with him sometime off stage.
As for me, I played 3 acoustic songs by myself at the beginning of the night (Two Headed Boy by Neutral Milk Hotel, Plush by Stone Temple Pilots, and Needle and the Damage Done by Neil Young). Chris and I then played 2 songs as a duet – he brought his mandolin – The Mountain is Going Away by Take Solace (hey that’s us!), and Dancing in the Moonlight by Thin Lizzy. After those Dave K joined us for a couple more songs – It took a little bit to remember what songs we had with 2 acoustic guitars and a mandolin but we eventually figured it out – Dark and True by the Gourds, our It’s Your Own Damn Fault, and Westfall by Okkervil River.
I think the set went pretty well since a guy tried to buy me a shot at the end of the night. You know you’ve done well when someone tries to buy you a drink! Thank you anonymous dude! Sorry, I couldn’t take it. Laura and I were in Chicago for the weekend and did A LOT of walking so we were pretty exhausted. It was a great end to a great weekend.
