Day 5, Gig 1

In my set-up I use both a bass amp and blues guitar amp to get the sound I want. To save on weight and space in he car, I left my bass amp in LA so it was necessary to find one to use here in Rochester.

With time so short--a cascade effect of our rental car debacle that had us leaving a day late--I ended up simply buying an amp literally on my way to the gig at the record archive.

I was feeling a little jittery since I was using an brand new amp that I had never even tried out in the store and several aspects of my setup had not been properly worked through.

Then Jim Schreck took the stage.

Jim Schreck is one of my favorite people on Planet Earth, but lets forget about that for a moment and talk about the fact that he is the also most amazing musician I have ever known, bar known, period, end of sentence, Bob's-your-uncle and that's all she wrote.

Listening to him play set me in a wonderful mood and ready to take the stage.

I had to fiddle with a few technical details before I got started but I didn't let that stop me from having a good time.

I took to the stage and started playing. I felt like my sound was completely wrong but I knew I was the only one bothered by it so I decided not to be; I simply had fun.

It was great to see so many friends in the audience. As I suspected, it was as much a reunion as a performance. Even a cousin I haven't seen for years was visiting my parents and came to the show with his wife. I saw dear, dear friends I hadn't seen in five, fifteen... Twenty years!

I also got to meet a few people I had never met in person before.

For a first performance it went pretty well. I had some hiccups but it served as a good dress rehearsal and learning experience for next Friday's show, which will be with a full band (in this case, that's three). It's been a long journey taking the three or four steps from upstage next to the drummer where I have been residing and playing all these years, to front and center.

I took a huge step tonight.

 Joined onstage by my good friend Jim Schreck

 Leathman, is there anything it can't do?

If you want to purchase one of my disks in Rochester and you aren't going to see me, they are now available at the Record Archive in Rochester. If you haven't been I highly recommend checking it out. It's one of the coolest record stores in the Northeast...  and vinyl? "fahgetaboutit!

At one point during my show, I looked out in the audience and saw the owner of the store, the guy who does all the crazy 'Record Archive' commercials. Even though it was a rather serious moment in my song, all I could think was: "Hey, it's the dude from the Record Archive commercials, and he seems to be digging what he's hearing, or at least not walking up and unplugging me.

We decided to to have a full band rehearsal the same evening. It was the first band rehearsal with me being the singer.

Surreal!

By the time I got home I was quite tired. Tomorrow, I am going to simply rest... sweet, sweet rest.