Linda (the missus) and I stepped down from our church worship team at the end of Feb and started going out to parks and street corners playing. We have a set made up of mostly gospel blues and some more contemporary stuff. I am playing guitar and harmonica and lead vocals Linda on harmony and a little ukulele on about three songs.
A couple of weeks ago we were asked to play at a YMCA day camp last Saturday. They asked us to fill one hour with anything we wanted. The gospel stuff was OK with it being a YMCA event. We have an hour long set that we have been doing.
People Get Ready
Wayfaring Stranger
I believe I'll Go Back Home
I Heard The Angels Singing
Jesus On The Mainline
John The Revelator
Since I Laid My Burden Down
Plastic Jesus
Spirit In The Sky
Hold Us Together
Washed By The Water
Thankful
Lonesome Valley
Swing Low Sweet Chariot
Amazing Grace
Seems like I'm missing one. Each song has a scripture that explains it, paraphrased not King James. We substituted Man Gave Names To All The Animals for Plastic Jesus since it would be mostly a childrens group and played that along with I Believe and Spirit in The Sky on the ukuleles.
We ended up doing two hours due to other performers bowing out. We just watched the crowd and when a new group was around we would pull out the ukes and go through those three again. We didn't hear any complaints, got several compliments and had 40 to 50 folks listen throughout the set. That is a high water mark for us, outside of a church setting at least.
The real significance to me is that Saturday was the 32 anniverary of the day that I lost my arm. I never dreamed 32 years ago that I would be sitting there playing guitar and harp, singing, along with my wife, in public and note getting laughed at. They also ferried us from the parking lot to the campground in a restored military truck the same as the one that I was riding 32 years ago, I got a little parinoid when I saw it but it turned out OK this time.
We will be in the Crossroads Art District in KC Mo friday May 4th starting about 6:30 or so doing our regular set and maybe moving around a couple of times. We will see how we are received by the big city crowd.
Jack
Wow way to go Jack sounds like it was a good day.
"It's all about stickin it to the man!"
It's a long way to the top if you want to rock n roll!
Soundsl like a good time Jack! I always wondered what it would be like to do the street musician thing. The closest I ever came was when I drew an audience playing on the little patio of our Florida hotel room at the ocean.
"Work hard, rock hard, eat hard, sleep hard,
grow big, wear glasses if you need 'em."
-- The Webb Wilder Credo --
Thanks guys.
TR I find it really liberating to play on the street. We don't set a time that we have to be somewhere or where we have to be. Other than this Friday, that was our target when we said lets get out there and get going and plan on the first friday in May at this location. The band thing gets so frustrating because everyones priorities are different. Just look at Cnev's Same old Same old thread. I have all the songs memorized, I take one gig bag with guitar (extra strings), capos, picks, harps and rack. The missus brings our stools and her ukulele. We can walk around like that till we find an inviting spot. People will always stop, maybe not many and they might not stay but they acknowledge our existance at least.
Compare that to yesterday. We subbed for the worship leader who was out of town. Rehersal on Wednesday, a 30 mile drive for us. Drummer can't make it. We don't know if he will be there Sunday or not. He was and I had about five minutes to explain the set and where and how I wanted it to go. Then you deal with the set. Do we do songs that the congregation likes to hear us do? Maybe something new? Not with one rehersal no. There is a reason for the worship set and it isn't for me to show off my playing skills so the order and tempo of the songs need to fit in their proper spots and there is always the posibility of interruption for other reasons. Then there is the sound system. Is everything set right? Why aren't the monitors working? And of course the powerpoint for lyrics isn't playing right either. And thats just rehersal.
Then double that because we played with another group on Sunday night at a different church. That meant rehersing on Saturday night.
By the time we got home last night we were both convinced that the two of us, alone, was the way to go. We will avoid scheduling gigs and just try to get out once a week. Well after this weekend and the 19th when we are scheduled to play at a church picnic in North Topeka :-)
Jack
Jack, that's an awesome set list you have. I recognize many of the songs. Ry Cooder played a few.
it is so cool that you and your wife play together. you play slide on a lap steel or guitar 'lap style' ?
randy
Randy I play the guitar on my lap. It's the only way I can reach the strings :-) . I play the basic chords with some modifications. Noteboat (Tom) helped me work out the barre F and I have been working to use the full barre when I can. I still use the little F quite a bit because I like the sound with the blues stuff.
A lot of those songs are known to most people. They might not know who has recorded them but they are familiar.
Thanks for checking in.
Jack
thanks for the info. ya, those F chords.
