12/5 – Enclave Coffee House

This is not just your average every day coffee house…according to their sign, it’s also a video rental. However, I can’t remember seeing any video section and/or anyone returning or leaving with a video.

Ooooh, I know ~ it must be the video that some girl was making on her little camcorder thing. She was recording us for a bit, then went over to some guy who was sketching (my take on that to follow) and was shooting him while he was doing his sketch thing. But, not shooting with a gun. There were signs posted that firearms were not allowed… Anyway, that’s gotta be it. Okay, that mystery is solved. I can sleep tonight.

I did a little survey (asked Jake) and it’s unanimous that being sketched is much worse than being photographed. With a picture it’s like yankin’ off a band aid; quick and almost painless. But, with being sketched it’s kind of like a slow, painful death. And I felt bad if I moved. I certainly didn’t want him to have to start over.

Oddly enough, they had a stage. I’m talkin’ a real stage with outlets and room to move about the cabin. It was a small cabin, but my point is that some of the official-like bars we’ve played in just moved a table over and smashed us into a corner that was as far away from an outlet as you could get without going to the next county.

Being up there was like being stuck in the back seat of the car on a family trip and not being able to reach the heater which was on full blast. We could see the source of the heat, but couldn’t reach it and even if we could have reached it, just like in the car on a family trip we would have caught all kinds of grief had we tried to adjust anything in the driver’s domain. I still have an aversion to adjusting the controls in someone else’s car, but enough about that. Let’s get back to the gig, shall we?

I took another survey (asked Jake again) and determined that despite our roasting, this was actually one of the most fun gigs we’ve had. And We sold another CD! Thank you, John. Plus, we got some tips (money tips, not stock market tips).

It started out with being a mixture of people, most pretty young-ish, but with a smattering of “older” people and everyone seemed like pretty normal blue collar types.

But then….

There was the guy wearing fish net gloves with the fingers cut out who mysteriously produced a bridge (as in teeth) while talking with us and nonchalantly put it back in his mouth without missing a beat in the conversation.

Some bikers came in (not that there’s anything wrong with that) and one of the women had long hair down to her hips, but remember in the 80’s or 90’s when people went from long hair to short hair and kept one strand of the long hair and braided cords or ribbon into it? Well, this woman apparently did that and then let her hair grow out again, but kept the braided piece too. That braided piece of hair was down to her ankle. I am not kidding. I kept wondering how she managed to not catch it in anything or trip over it or choke on it in her sleep. Then I pictured her riding on the bike with the wind blowing that part of her hair straight back and how distracting that would be for the person in the car behind them, but then I decided it might be a good idea to pay attention to what ever song we were doing at the time.

While Mudcat was singing his version of I’ll Be Watching You (I’ll be stalking you), one guy caught it and started laughing. Then his buddies came in, so he ran up to tell them about it like he was a 7th grade girl telling her friends that the cutest boy in the whole school just talked to her. So, they all turned around to watch and listen and when Mudcat got to the second time around he switched it back to “watching you”. This guy’s friends all turned around to tell the guy what an idiot he was and then they all walked away and left him there. It was pretty amusing.

But then….

There was this chick that clearly wanted to be a boy (and was quite close to pulling it off too) who was hanging out with some friends in the back of the room. One of those boys clearly wanted to be something, but I’m not sure what that something was. It was kind of like looking at the half man/half woman at the circus. At first I thought his head was completely shaved and that some girl with shoulder length jet black hair was sitting really close to him and I wondered how that wouldn’t become annoying after a couple of hours. Turns out it was all him. The black hair was sprouting out of one part of the shaved head and it kind of looked like the hair on those dolls where you pull on it to make it grow.

The girl who was working there joined them and took off her shirt (don’t get excited, she had a camisole underneath) and then chick-boy gave her a massage.

Oh yeah, Jake’s Nirvana song was a big, big hit with chick-boy and friends. Mudcat and I liked it too!

But then….

One of the boys carried what looked like a dog dish over to the microwave and moments later he took the dog dish out of the microwave and carried it with him while he went outside with his friends. As he passed by, it looked like chicken soup in the bowl. So, apparently the friends went out to smoke and he decided that dining outdoors during a blizzard would be a really fun thing to do. Or maybe he just likes to eat in the smoking section.

11/8 – Hammers Barn & Grille

No, I didn’t mean Bar & Grille…it looks like a big old barn up on top of a big old hill.

There were a couple of boys playing the bowling machine when we were setting up right next to it and it sort of felt like we were part of a giant pin ball machine, because of the bells and ching-ching sounds coming from the bowling machine. At least the boys were nice enough to step away from the machine and belly up to the bar during the gig.

Jake made his solo singing debut!!!! Great job, by the way. And you know what this means, don’t you? Oh, let me tell you ~ MORE Jake songs. Hey, don’t yell at me, you started it.

Betty and Bernie were there as our support group. Okay, let me rephrase that ‘cause that just sounds like we’re in rehab. Betty and Bernie were there to cheer us on! And Betty is our new unofficial videographer. Well, I guess it’s official now.

Oh, and the latest episode of “what Lola hears” went like this during our break ~
Betty: would you guys like a drink?
Mudcat: I think I’ll have a Killian’s, myself
What Lola heard: I think I’ll have to kill myself
I really didn’t think the 1st set was that bad…

One of the boys at the bar was trying to be a wisenheimer and yelled out “dueling banjos” in response to Mudcat asking if there were any requests. Poor dumb thing had no idea that Jake and Mudcat knew the song. They just switched their handy dandy super high tech guitars to banjo mode and started dueling. I swear I heard someone squealing like a pig off in the distance. I didn’t.

Oh, and on the way home we saw a coyote. He ran across the street right in front of our very own eyes. Pretty sure it wasn’t just your standard run of the mill coyote…I’m thinkin’ it was Wyle E. Coyote ~ Super Genius.

11/1 – 3rd Base

CONGRATULATIONS, TRUDY AND RICK ON YOUR NEW PLACE!

It was kinda like a family reunion of sorts ~ Joani and her crew, Connie and the Woody’s gang, Little Pat, Shannon, and Rick. I apologize if I’ve left any one out.

The new Bose system worked great! Can’t wait to see Jake’s reaction at the next gig.

Our first guest “singer” of the night was Maureen. She did, however provide us with a public service announcement to turn our clocks back. She reminded us quite a lot, as a matter of fact.

Rick came up and sang (for real) “Amy” with us, but we changed it to “Trudy”. He’s a nice boy.

And I really like our new version of “rock me”…very sexy.

10/18 – Scoreboards

We started out with some technical difficulties, but quickly recovered. And we had way more room than the last time we were there…a booth and the gumball / treats machines were moved out of the corner. It was almost spacious, but not really.

Joani and Dan were there, but left early on because they sprouted horns. I learned that through a quick game of charades, which greatly amused the guys at the table in front of us.

Mudcat did some “new” songs and revisited some others that were oh so too much fun. I especially liked Rock Me.

Jerry (the guy, not the cow) came up and sang with us during Amy.

Oh, and you know how I love to hear snippets of conversations during the gigs…here’s a keeper ~ “he’s the reason why our dog only has one ball”. Pretty sure she was not talking about the bouncing, foot or base kind.

10/17 – Brewsters

This used to be an Arabica. It had pretty much the same set up as an Arabica, with the addition of a bar at one end. A coffee house with adult beverages ~ it’s the best of both worlds.

Our new friend, Bill was making a dull job fun by singing and dancing to and from his cleaning locations using the broom as a microphone and/or dance partner. He said that he liked us because we didn’t bring in a bunch of “really old, nursing home people” who got too drunk and made a mess that he had to clean up. He also said that I sound like Alanis Morissette. Never thought that or been told that before, but I took it as a compliment.

Our other new friend, Jerome did the usual request then leave thing, but he came back.

We discovered where Jake hails from ~ I-Dee-I-Dee’O, which is just south of South Belfast.

Bernie and Betty were there and during one song Bernie had happy fingers rather than happy feet, doing the best chorus line kicks ever. Hey…if the Rockets ever branch out to finger puppets, he’ll never have to look for work again!

9/27 – The Brew Kettle

We ended up doing just one long set as the gig, since we had to wait for the people in the front booths to clear out so that Albert could convert that space into our stage.

Albert was not our uncle, he was our sound guy. Well, he’s not our sound guy – he came with the place. He was a nice boy.

Jake’s crew was there; Betty, Bernie, Grandma, the neighbors, some friends from school and some of my clan were there as well; Joani, Peg, Jeremy, Mary. And Billy Sullivan his own self was there (pretty sure that was just a coinkie dink). Does this mean we have a following? Just so they don’t start handing out pamphlets at the airport…uh, oh – keep an eye on Bernie.

And Peanuts stopped by, but he must have just missed us. He’s a nice boy, too. I’m sure we’ll see him again. I’m not scared.

The good thing is that the place was pretty full when we got there and the even better thing is that it didn’t empty out once we started playing. Guess it’s true…we’re really not as annoying as you might think.

Jake did a super duper fun version of “stray cat strut” with Mudcat adding in some scat at the end. I liked it most much!

9/20 – C-Town

Okay, maybe somebody out there can answer this question for me…why is it called C-Town if it’s in Broadview Hts? Shouldn't it be called B-Town? And it’s not just the bar. There’s C-Town Pizza and the C-Town quicki-mart (would you like a spoon straw for your Slurpee?).

Oh, but that’s not the only question I had. Read on, if you dare.

Why is it called a clam bake when the clams are not baked? And the answer is: Originally and/or traditionally, the items of a clam bake were stacked in layers of soaked seaweed and baked over glowing hot rocks in the sand. I’m thinkin’ that technically that’s not a clam bake either, since the wet seaweed would steam the stuff. Hey, what do I know?

But wait, there's more – unbeknown to me, we were picking up radio signals through Mudcat’s guitar. The chatter could be heard quite clearly through the ear buds, but not as easily just from the amp. When the first bits of chatter came through, I asked Jake (who was not wearing ear buds) if he could hear that. He did the concentrate on listening thing and then said no, so naturally I started to wonder if I’d finally taken that step through the looking glass and/or if I’d be able to find my way back. Sure would have made singing White Rabbit more interesting...not really, but it did make me wonder, because the voices in my head were doing the "turn or burn" speech. So, I asked Mud if he could hear the voices in my head. I wanted him to ask me if the voices in my head were telling me to repent like the voices in his head were telling him. When he answered that he could hear religious stuff too, it made me feel much better. Hearing the chit chat in between songs was amusingly annoying or annoyingly amusing, it sort of switched back and forth.

Oh yeah, they had a Big Buck hunting game there, but this one must have been the deluxe model, because it was also a safari game (see first post for Den Too for previous sighting of a Big Buck game). There was a patchwork of animal print on the base of this game and one of the prints was zebra. Oh guess what I was wearing...that’s right...zebra print. And let’s not forget about my rug (not that rug, ya big perv) that’s leopard and tiger. I was oh so too very afraid that the boys who were "hunting" would notice and turn the guns on me. They didn’t.

There was a crew at the end of the bar who were very happy with the songs we did. I was shocked and amazed to see them swaying with their arms up and singing along to I’m Leavin’ On A Jet Plane. One guy even did the lighter thing.

They danced for some of the songs and one guy did this weird dance thing with his sandal. I guess it was his version of dancing with a broom. Maybe he thought he was Fred Astaire. He wasn’t.

Pete and Linda ventured out to show their support. Thanks!

But, my favorite part of the evening was when people at the bar literally stopped in the middle of their conversation to turn around and watch Jake play. Yeah, he’s that good. And it happened a few times during the course of the gig. I don’t know if he noticed, but Mudcat and I both did. Way to go, Jamaica Jake!

9/6 – Scoreboard’s

It was pretty quiet for a Saturday night, but there were a couple of guys there who were feeling no pain and they decided that it would be a really good idea to come up and sing “Amy” with us.

One of the guys bought us a barley soda (well, we each got one. It’s not like he just bought us one and we had to share).

Mudcat has a new fan (and deservedly so). She’s a cute little girl who was there with her parents. When I walked by their table while doing a sound check, she looked up at her mom and said with great enthusiasm, “he’s a really good singer”.

The gig was going great until…I think I may have coughed up a hairball. Of course it was right in the middle of a song. Not just a song, but in the middle of “Bobby McGee”. Oh well, I weathered through it and life goes on.

Other than that, it was a pretty low key gig. Fun, but low key.

9/5 – Rider’s 1812 Inn

This is a bed & breakfast place. Very quaint. I almost expected to see Dick, Joanna, George, and Stephanie…

It was a rainy night, but not in Georgia. Although, it could have been. I just don’t know.

We had a wee bit of technical difficulty early on, but Mudcat fixed us right up and we went on to do the gig technologically sound.

Well, now we can add paper airplane to the list of items that have been thrown in our general direction during a gig. Once again, glad it wasn’t tomatoes…or boots, like last time.

Carol is our new best friend. She bought a CD! That’s only part of the reason she’s our new best friend. She also bought my soup (which was dee-lish) in lieu of buying me a drink, since I was drinking water. Yeah, I was pretty shocked at my choice of a beverage item too. I must have panicked. Okay, the real reason that Carol is our new best friend is because she really liked us and she was very supportive all night. Did I mention that she bought a CD?

8/30 – Tony’s Tribe cook out

This was a private party, back yard cook out, pot luck type event. Tons of food. Someone even brought home made macaroni and cheese. You know how I love m&c, but I don’t love it enough to eat it cold, which it was when we took our break. Shoulda nagged Mud all through the first set about stopping to eat so it could be like old times…nah.

There was college football on the big screen and an interesting version of a golf tournament going on, not to mention the great play area for the kids (although, most of the kids decided that it would be way more fun to play with the extra microphone than it would be to play in the inflatable castle. Especially Mike. He was Jake’s favorite kid there).

Joe, one of the kids there, sat in on a couple of songs with us, playing Jake’s guitar. He was pretty good.

But, Sidney was our little rock star. She started out all shy with the microphone while sitting in the chairs that were lined up so the kids could feel like they were at a concert, then she scootched up to sitting on the ground in front of us facing the rows of chairs. That progressed to standing next to me, which quickly turned into sharing my rug (which worked out, since I finally found someone shorter than me). She kept looking up at us while she sang back up. Wasn’t quite sure if the look was for her cue to come in or wondering why we weren’t singing when she thought we should be. Then she progressed to her very own mic stand. Apparently, she liked singing more than she liked playing the maracas, because she gave those back to me pretty early on. She was very polite and said thank you to us before she left.

There was a pooch that could have used a doggie downer, but fortunately we all stayed upright and the equipment stayed in tact.

It seemed like everyone had a great time. We ended up doing 2 encores (and I’m not talkin’ TV dinners).

Thanks, Tony! Hope to see you next year.

8/23 – The Brew Keeper

Many mojo thanks to Betty and Bernie for your support and for bringing your friends, neighbors, countryman. But most of all, thanks for mojo-izing Chase (who I will be calling Jake until further notice).

One thing they have at the Brew Keeper that I never noticed before is a baby monitor type devise that let’s them hear when the front door is open. It plays an annoying electronic version of “be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home”. It was on the ledge right next to us, which was fine until it started playing. I thought that Mudcat had some new thing set up with the equipment. He didn’t. And I quickly found a new home for the monitor. No, I didn’t throw it away…geesh.

Our new friend, Joe requested a couple of songs; “Bobby McGee” and “Amy”. Then he went outside. So, we waited for him to get thirsty again and to resurface, which he did. Then I sang “Bobby McGee”. He went into the brew room at the beginning of the song and came back out right as we were finishing. We followed with “Amy” and he decided that he should take his beer and leave in the middle of that song. Perhaps he was afraid his beer was aging too quickly…

Mudcat and Jake did their very own private Idaho (I mean private Oshkosh) version of “I shot the sheriff”. Most entertaining indeed.

Bernie requested Betty’s favorite song, so Jake sang that. It’s a wholesome family song.

Aside from that, a good time was had by all.

8/16 – Larchmania

WHAT FUN!!!

This was a private block party - their 2nd annual. This year it was actually more like a street party than a block party. Unless you went to one block and partied, and then went to the next block. It could be a progressive block party. Is that what it would be if Progressive insurance merged with H&R Block and had a celebration? Maybe not.

All the neighbors were being neighborly and the little kids were riding their bikes and/or having water balloon fights, couples were walking hand in hand down the sidewalk. It was all oh so too very picturesque, so I called it our Mayberry gig.

But that name changed when the 2 girls who were feeling no pain from their barley sodas started dancing in the street. They were nice drunks and they were having fun. Isn’t that what it’s all about? Oh no, wait that’s the hokey pokey.

Chase made his gig debut! Welcome. He did a great job and I believe he had fun as well. What a concept…

He and I were dessert judges during our break. We both took that job quite seriously. As Chase put it, “butter and cake…my 2 favorite foods”. He’s wise beyond his years. And yes, we were called Paula and Simon.

I got my very first autograph request, even though it was from a pre-schooler. He asked me for my “autograft” and lifted up his shirt for me to sign his back. I was pretty sure that his mom would not appreciate my writing on her son, so after some discussion, he and I decided that his bike helmet would be a much better place for me to sign. So, I did.

We were invited back for next year, so I that’s a way good thing. We’re looking forward to it!

8/1 – Solon Freeway Lounge

William and his crew were there at the beginning and for a while we thought they might be it for the duration, but eventually more people started to filter in and we ended up with a nice group.

It was just border line too hot, but there was a big old fan right above the bar that William was nice enough to turn toward us.

I got another gig wound to add to my list. This time it’s my big toe, but don’t worry me…I’ll be alright. Let me just say that a 75-ish lb Behringer will win over a big toe every time.

Other than that, I got nothin’.

7/26 – The Crow’s Nest

Merry Christmas!

No, we didn’t sing any Christmas carols, although we did get a request for some.

What a grand time we had! Everyone at the bar was so much fun, especially Mario and Michelle. They were there for the duration.

Mario came up and sang with us and Michelle alternated between being mortified and swooning like he was a big rock star. Very interesting to watch.

Another boy came up to sing too, but I don’t know his name.

What I do know is that a good time was had by all!

And we had our own private Idaho nature channel goin’ on during the drive ~ got to see another heron on the way out there. Then on the way back, Bambi was at the side of the road looking ready to spring into Frogger action at any moment. Thankfully, that didn’t happen. At least not to us…

7/19 – Brew Keeper

They have an actual “stage” now. Much better than rearranging the tables and jamming into a corner.

Much to my surprise, Dede was there with some friends. What a nice treat it was to see her and to meet her friends. They stayed for most of the gig, but ended up going outside on the patio so the boys could smoke cigars.

Beverly and Julie were there for a wee bit, too.

And our Bobby McGee guy was there long after he said he had to leave, but that’s okay - he’s a great supporter. Wonder if he’s athletic…get it?

Other than that, it was a pretty quiet night...really quiet for some.

7/5 - Brutus' Sports Bar

This was the place that I did my very first gig 2 whole years ago. Re-mark-able...

It was also the gig that I discovered what a manipulative little bitch looks like when he grows up. And it's not pretty.

According to that manipulative little bitch, we played under a cloak of darkness and we were not allowed to have any fun. Oh yeah, and bass was "verboten".

I'm tellin' ya, singing the words "I'll probably feel a whole lot better when you're gone" took on an entirely new meaning.

The great thing about this gig was that it was part of Independence Day weekend and that was to be taken literally. Yeah, Mudcat!

7/5 - Tyler's 16th birthday party

CONGRATULATIONS, MUDCAT ON YOUR 400th GIG!!!!

This party was WAY out in the country. It was as far east of BFE as you can get.

Today's sign was "no spaghetti". Kinda like "no soup for you", but different.

They had a dog who looked like Petie from the Little Rascals. Oddly enough, the dog's name was Petie. Go figure. There were about 850 other dogs there too. They all were very nice to the humans and they played nicely together as well. Although, one of the dogs was "playing" a little too nicely and I'm pretty sure he was gay (not that there's anything wrong with that).

We set up shop next to the port-o-potties (yeah) and the company's name on the sign on the door was BJ's... makes ya wonder, doesn't it? Well, it made me wonder.

When we sang our version of "happy birthday" to Tyler, he was one step ahead of us doing his cartwheels. It was when he did the forward somersault that the trouble started...and then he was thrown into the pool by his friends, but as hot I it was I don't think that was a bad thing. The dogs were even jumping in there to do a few laps to cool off every couple minutes.

If we could combine the main and side dish items from this party with the desserts from the 4th party, that would be a way good buffet. These people knew how to make mac salad. I'm all about the food.

7/4 ~ Meadows Neighborhood Fireworks

On the way to this gig we saw a most interesting and questionably worded sign ~ Eggs and Kittens. We also saw a crane (the water type not the lifting type) and the ever listing Nessie.

This was a private idaho party for the 4th and everyone was so very nice. Tons of kids, very family oriented. Well, family oriented with adult beverages.

Our biggest support group was the kids. They set up camp about 3 feet away from us. Madison had her pink Hannah Montana guitar, complete with a mat and a microphone ("hey, good lookin' ~ we'll be back to pick you up later").

The food was a catered pig roast and tons of side dish items (although Joani's mac salad wins hands down) and gobs of great dessert items.

One little boy quickly became my favorite munchkin, because his plate had 1 of each kind of dessert item. That was it. And he was all by his own self right in front of us jammin' away while he put on his sugar buzz. His dad brought over a hot dog for him and he took an obligatory bite of it only because his dad held it for him and practically forced it on him. I so wanted to tell his dad that if he put frosting on it the kid might eat it. Maybe that's why I don't have kids...

When we were packing up, Madison's friend came up to me and asked me if I was excited about the fireworks. I told her that yes, yes I was (because I really was). Although, I'm pretty sure it was for different reasons. Her thing was that she got to stay up WAY past her bedtime, which is 8:00. My bedtime is 8:00 only if I'm butt ass tired from too much play time.

6/27 – Solon Freeway Lounge

Oh guess what, it rained. Gosh, what a shock. Kinda like our own version of the Farmers’ Almanac. But, everyone adapted again by cozying in under the awning.

We had another “priceless” moment. This guy was sitting at a table with a group of friends, having a nice conversation and a split second later he was flat on his back on the floor, but still sitting in his chair. Turns out that one of the legs snapped off. It was a heavy duty plastic chair, but apparently not heavy duty enough. He was given a heavy duty metal one as a replacement. The best thing about all that was that he didn’t spill his beer. It ended up being a bottle full of Corona foam, but no spillage. Now that’s a professional.

Our new friend is William. He was most happy with the songs we did, but I felt like Bobby and McGee were having a tug of war with me in the middle. Not so pleasant, but I persevered. Don’t worry about me…I’ll be alright…

6/21 – The Swiss Chalet

It’s like déjà vu all over again…

We were able to leave everything set up from the night before, so that was a wonderful treat. However, it rained quite a bit during the night and their roof leaked. Guess where it leaked. That would be correct. Fortunately, there was no damage to any of the equipment other than it being a bit soggy.

And speaking of the whole déjà vu thing, there was another bachelorette party and what do you think was the name of the bride-to-be? Think back…not that far back…Angie. Now what are the odds of that? Okay, all you mad scientists can stop trying to calculate the odds, it was a rhetorical question. And rhetorical is going to be my big word for the day. Not that it’s that big, but it just sounds good.

We had lots of dancers again, who remarkably found ways to fast dance to slow Beatles songs…over and over and over…

For our viewing pleasure this time, we got to see some guy ooze off his bar stool and crumble onto the floor, wedging himself between the bar and the stools. Not that we took pleasure in seeing someone in that state, but it was pretty amusing. It happened during one of Anno's songs and in the middle of it she did the "priceless" thing. I can't believe she didn't bust up laughing. And it took a while for his friends to notice that he was one with the floor. What’s even more bazaar to me is that he was out on the dance floor not 5 minutes before that and appeared to be just fine.

Pete, Linda, Paul, and Little B. came out to show their support (of us, not the guy on the floor).

We played Clue again, but it wasn't as much fun this time.

And we acquired a new best friend. Thankfully, this guy showed up near the end. He was quite a Chatty Cathy. He was also quite drunk and we got to see him hurling on the sidewalk after the gig. Let's say it was the alcohol and not us.