(no subject)

Sitting by a duck pond in Golden Gate Park, I broke a worrisome week of, well, not writer's block, but not writing--distracted by other things. For an hour or so, I alternated between writing down lines in my notepad and reading the final chapter of a book (Nickel and Dimed, but don't worry--I didn't write any songs about poverty), and occasionally looking up at mallards or passersby. I got three verses out of the session--for three different songs, including a new one which leaves me with one more unfinished song than before.

After a while I went back to the car to pick up my guitar and try them out, but , in the middle of this mid-July afternoon, it was, I decided, somehow too cold to play. San Francisco is weird.

open mike report

The Canvas Gallery, 2003-07-09

A lot of coffeehouses have art for sale up on the walls. The Canvas is more like a real art gallery with a cafe inside. The cafe's pretty good, too.

Some regulars gave me a friendly orientation and I got a reasonably early slot. (The key: Get there early, and don't be shy about pointing it out. But if you get a bad slot, you can turn it into a better slot next week.) I played immediately after a "feature" (like a half-hour slot) by a full band with drums and bass and multiple singers, so of course I played two of my quieter songs. The contrast worked for a few people, which I guess is enough.

Afterwards I had an interesting conversation with a guy named Mike, who has done a lot of work on film soundtracks, and is now "between jobs", starting a record label and formulating some ideas about, if I understood right, web presences for local music scenes. Pretty cool stuff.

There were a lot of talented musicians at the open mike, but my favorite was a late-night set by the Vicarious, a teenage punk band whose members include, by his own assessment, "the worst bassist in the world." They:

• brought their own crew of shouting fans
• chased about half of the remaining audience out the door
• inspired a sort of mosh pit on the couch

Not normally my thing, but a ten-minute set of energetic rock music was just what I needed at that point.

Mostly Dave is a good name for a band, but a bad name for a band that mostly does Dave Matthews songs, plus a few originals. My objection is primarily on practical grounds: What if they change their direction and start writing more original music? Will they have to call themselves "About Half Dave," and later "Some Dave But Mostly Not"? It'll just confuse the fans.