]]> http://www.alexnelsonmusic.com/2010/02/30a-songwriters-festival-video/feed/ 0 http://www.alexnelsonmusic.com/2010/01/30a-songwriters-festival-day-2/ http://www.alexnelsonmusic.com/2010/01/30a-songwriters-festival-day-2/#comments Sat, 16 Jan 2010 07:22:54 +0000 nelsone http://www.alexnelsonmusic.com/?p=622 So today is DAY 2 for me, but it’s officially day 1 of the festival.    Woke up super late due to a marathon of Psych after my last post.  Got to walk around Seaside (this is what they called the area I was staying in) and check out the little stores.  The coolest thing they had?  A cool looking two story building with a book store in the bottom and an independent record store up top.

It was called Central Square Records.  They already had someone playing upstairs as we were walking by.  Ed & Tom were super nice.  I was able to book an additional in-store for the next day at 4:30 following my show at Bud & Alleys which was just a short walk across the street.  At Central Square I’d be able to play a full set as the other performances I was scheduled for were ‘in the round’ style.  Tomorrow there will be a workshop with Shawn Mullins.  I think it’s at 1pm.  Oh boy. I’m gonna have to wake up early.

So after being the record store for a while we headed over to have some lunch before the party got started.  Walked over to where the party was taking place (Bud & Alleys) and the line stretched out pretty far so decided to get a burrito at the burrito bar.  Can you say delicious?   When they opened the door to start letting everyone in, we headed over to the artist entrance to check out the festivities. Many thanks to Adam for escorting us over to the entrance after I ran over to grab John Oates to let him know to come with.

The party was killer.  Packed.  After opening up everything with a song by a fellow member of the community (I can’t remember who, sorry), Susanna Hoffs and Mathew Sweet came out to perform songs from their new cover project.  We stayed for as long as we could and I would have stayed longer if possible, but it was time to go back to the room and start getting ready for my own show that night.   If I wasn’t so responsible I probably would have stayed until the end of their set.  HA!  I had to be dragged out.

After about an hour or so of practice it was off to Stinky’s Fish Camp for the first show.  It was really cold out.  Much colder than I’ve been used to in a long time.  This particular venue was a ways off so we had to drive there.  From the name, I was a bit weary of the place, but once there, it wasn’t what I thought it would be. Mental note:  stop assuming the worst.  it was actually a great venue and it was packed.   It was the name that threw me off.  It seemed half locals and half people attending the festival.   Either way, the audience was attentive and the talent amazing.  It had started to drizzle a little bit and I went outside for some air.  There was a side door open for us to have some space to stretch out as there was no room in the venue to do this.

Effron White

Another cool thing about the night (and later with the other venues) was that there were large paintings at each venue from artists that were hung behind the stages as backdrop.   This particular painting had a local musician on it who was rather popular in the area.  Unfortunately, I cannot recall his name.   I played with Effron White, Kailey Billings and Bob Corley.   I had seen Effron earlier in the day at Central Square.  Effron is from Arkansas.

Kailey is actually near where I’m from.  She is a student at UM.  She had a style that, to me seemed like a mix of

Kailey Billings

Jazz/pop.   really enjoyed it.

I was sandwiched between Kailey and Bob Corley.  Bob was great.  He gets you laughing and thinking about the things you don’t think about.  And that’s a big bucket, from not putting out a new TP roll to the strong arm of large corporations.

All in all, a successful night.  A special thanks to Kevin Boyle for the beer and kind words!

Bob Corley

Now I’m back in the room.  Getting ready for another marathon of Psych.  What?  I’ve got three seasons on DVD to get through?