Fifth Sunday of the month means it’s Vintage Open Mike. It’s a loose definition but used to encourage some the old folks who don’t come out regularly for open mikes to step up. It seems to work, even though there are new folks signing up.
I started by inviting my friend Ed McKendry to sit in on guitar. He’s another friend who can listen and play along spontaneously. Little Feat’s Sailin’ Shoes is a good number for that as is It’ll Be Me. A wrinkle tossed in was a fellow sitting up front who offered to play harp on some stuff and I gleaned enough from our common history that he would be fine. I liked the fact that he could play from his seat in the audience – no mike needed – and add a different sonic dimension to the situation. I’ve done this before by planting a friend in the audience to play a lead from off stage. Ron Anthony would often do a blues guitar lead. It simply breaks the plane of the stage/audience barrier and is good theater seldom used in folk music other than singalongs.
The evening was filled with good performances, even with relatively newbies. I’m glad I can set the bar high with my first set. I finished with Barrelhouse. A good night in the community.