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got a weekly gig


pogo97

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Things are looking up. Just finished two twenties-themed gigs that went very well. And my singing partner, Diane, scored a weekly gig from 7 to 9 every Thursday starting in October at one of the better restaurants in town. The manager heard us at (wait for it) a benefit last fall and really liked us and asked Di if we'd give it a try over the winter, which is a thin time for everyone in this tourist town.

I'll play piano and we'll both sing; we have very good chemistry and Di is an excellent musician. The only competition that night is an open mic right across the street but I suspect our clientele will be completely different--mature folks out for dinner vs less mature folks out for a raucus good time. 

We still have some work to do on our repertoire. We have lots of songs, but I want to limit it to pre-1945 and similar and Diane wants to expand into other stuff. Some of that "other stuff," like Louis Jordan and early R&B, is fine by me; my own songs are fine by me; some "other stuff" like Ann Murray is less so. In addition, I want our repertoire to be small enough that I can get off-book on all of it--my memory was never the best and it's not improving.

I am adamant about not sliding into the dog's breakfast approach to repertoire--I want people to say "Caf

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pogo97 wrote:

 

 I realize this runs against the norm in this forum but this town has (many) more than enough 70s/80s/whatever performers and I want us to be special.

 

 

 

 

Sure I guess it's against the norm in this forum  but I think it's friggin great! I'd go see you two or someone like you in a heartbeat! Congrats on your weekly and best of luck!

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pogo97 wrote:

 

Anybody know a blanket term for popular music before 1950? "Jazz" has come to mean something else and "Swing" doesn't cover, either. This youTube vid is pretty typical of what we do (sans budgie).

 

"Pre Rock & Roll" ?

"Pre-Elvis" ?

"Golden Age" ?

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RoadRanger wrote:

 

"Pre Rock & Roll" ?

 

"Pre-Elvis" ?

 

"Golden Age" ?

 

Hmmm. The first two won't fly--I prefer to spell out what we are, not what we aren't. "Golden Age," maybe. Golden age of what, though?

At the moment, I'm going with "Songs of the Jazz Age." Another part of me likes "Geezer music from beyond the grave."

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Not quite sure what to call it other than what it is...very good, quality music. 

Fine playing, btw. And her voice is excellent. The number of people who think they can sing is endless, lol. Even people who do it for a living. Many of them are just plain poor singers. It's so refreshing to listen to someone who actually can sing so well. Thanks for the vid. 

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  • 2 months later...
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Update on the weekly gig.

We've played twice to a decent audience who really enjoyed us. My family, including a cousin and sister, came the first week. Diane is part of a clique of women-of-a-certain-age who go out prowling the restaurants every Thursday. They came both weeks and I hear that they'll come every Thursday at least until Christmas. This is excellent!

The point of hiring us is to try to draw clients for a meal on what's usually a dismal day in a dismal season. So we really need to draw people in -- even once -- for this to become a habit for them. That one's a bit of a puzzle. Diane's in charge of promotion, thank heaven.

We've played well. We're very showy and little kitchy. There's a lot of ebb and flow and contrast in our performances. We have fun and laugh a lot. And--this is very gratifying--the women especially love my own songs. Sing along with them and everything!

This week we weren't as good as the week before. I think we took on a few too many new songs (for Halloween) and it weakened our focus. I also had trouble reading my charts--light. Lessons learned.

This week Di is performing in Toronto at the Musideum, and is otherwise out of town and can't rehearse, so we'll revert to sets of tried-and-true material. I'm delighted with that. If we have a weakness (and we do) it's trying to learn too many songs too quickly. A week with only a couple of new songs (for Remembrance Day) is a relief for me.

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