Darren's Gig Blog

Yow, what a month. I drove out to Anaheim, CA with Scott Bryan to attend the NAMM show. We gigged in Fayetteville, AR and Long Beach, CA while we were out.

The Fayetteville gig was on a Monday, so it was attended mostly by friends that I guilted into coming out to the show. I wasn't really firing on all cylinders, plus my volume and tone were all over the place. Scottie sounded wonderful per usual. I ended up cutting the set in half to let the weary meander back to their regularly scheduled Mondays. It was good to see my friends, though. The amount of time between visits gets longer and longer these days, and this is not a good thing. Thanks to Arsaga's for having us out and huge thanks to all my friends. Dague, McCumber, Billy, Josh (thanks for putting up with the dinner pep talk...at which I made the same points as last time), and Chris & Amy (thanks for letting us crash on your couches!).

We made it to California two days later. I could go on and on about the drive as it was my favorite part, but I'll keep it down to a few points. I saw my first wild Bald Eagle as Scott and I were crossing into Oklahoma. We ended up seeing four more in New Mexico and Arizona. Each time we saw one, I was awestruck. Funny how I get awestruck at seeing eagles, but upon seeing famous people at NAMM I'm still left wanting. We saw tons of falcons, hawks, coyotes, deer, ducks, geese, raccoons, crows, buzzards, pronghorns, etc. It was a good drive. Hanging with Scottie was fun, too. He is a repository of fun stories and not so factual facts. Good times. Oh yeah, we also had time to go to Sedona, Arizona. What a beautiful place. The town itself was not to my taste but the land was phenomenal. If I still wrote home, I'd write home about this place. I'll have to go back with Cindy sometime.

We made it to Anaheim later that night and hung out with Adam Tanner aka Zen Beer. NAMM the next day was loud and obnoxious. Scottie and I didn't really get to play the Westone booth as planned, so I did a bit of wandering. I didn't see too many gear products that inspired me, but then again too much noise, florescent lighting, recycled air, lack of sleep and non-deep chit chat make Darren a grumpy gus. Perhaps the lack of inspiration was on my part. The good part about NAMM was I got to see some friends and hear a few musicians I never get the chance to hear these days. It was fun to hang with C3, Dan, Stew Mckinsey, and Jay Terrien, and say hello to others. I got to hear Michael Manring and Steve Bailey, too.

The Long Beach gig was cool. I love Viento y Agua coffeehouse. There's always neat art on the walls, good tunes, vegetarian food and good coffee. I wish these types of places were everywhere! Anyway, I shared the gig with C3 and Zen Beer. C3 sang on a song! It was coolio. I was playing a little better, but still not hitting the mark. I completely wiped out on the last tune as I tuned my bass wrong or something and just couldn't recover. Scottie rocked the house of course. The crowd was great and very responsive. I just flat out had a good time. Thanks Viento y Agua! Later that evening we all went out and had gianormous sized beers, just kicked back, and played scuttleboard...making up the rules since none of us knew them.

Last gig of the month, I was by myself in Johnson City, TN at The Acoustic Coffeehouse. Once again, I'm not a big fan of the town, but the land there is gorgeous! I was sick as heck. While I can still be sick and play bass just fine, I'm not experienced enough as a singer to pull off vocal stuff whilest under the weather. My ears were stuffed up with the altitude and congestion. My throat was sore and I had no breath control. The best part was that the show was also broadcast! Heh. Thanks to all the folks who put up with it. Hopefully I'll be more entertaining next time.

Well, I have some Cinetrope gigs coming up. Those should be fun. I'll try to get some more solo stuff happening, but it's getting harder and harder for me. There are less outlets for this sort of thing and I'm losing steam trying to create them. I may just be getting cynical, but as I go across the country, I see art dying. In more and more people, I don't see that fire in the eyes. Maybe it's because my own eyes have grown cloudy and tired. While I warm boot and try to find the positive side of what I'm seeing (which I'm at a complete lose as to what that is), I beg you to go feed the artist in you today. Go hear live music, go make a clay jar, take your kid to a gallery, or write a poem. Don't let us lose this. Please. Be Atreyu against the Nothing. Don't give up. Don't give in.

On a positive note, Cumulo, has been selected for Bass Musician Magazine's Worldwide CD Review for February. What's groovie about that is that you the listener can review the CD. You have to be a member of the online community to do so, but it's free...and fun especially if you're a bassist. Check it out at http://bass-musician-mag.com/groups/forum/posts/id_184/
I'll be posting some behind the scenes stuff and song stories to that forum very soon, so even if you don't post a review, please check it out.

Feed your artist. Take care.