Bearno’s Rocked!
The open mic at Bearno’s on Sunday was a blast. The food was great, the crowd was awesome, and the music was incredible!
Things were supposed to get started around 7 PM but for a couple of reasons, things were a little late getting started. The first band up were The Cigarittes— these guys had the look down and were playing some awesome tunes… Van Halen, Poison, the Stones, the Doors. Incredible musicians, and they’re all so young! Totally not sure about the name, though.
Spare Parts were up next and we got set up really quickly, which was impressive to me, since we had a keyboard, two amps and two sets of guitar effects, and six people to get in place and ready to go. I was really pleased with the sound and I could hear what everyone was playing pretty well from on the stage. The real trick, of course, is what it sounds like in the audience– you have to hope for the best, but you never really know. Luckily, Larry (who runs the open mic for Bearno’s) was giving me updates on where the sound was at, and I was able to tweak the sound levels at the mixing board as I sang.
We did six songs– “Some Kind of Wonderful”, “Gimme Three Steps”, “Cumbersome”, “Keep Your Hands to Yourself”, “Honky Tonk Women”, and “Pride and Joy”– and we all had a blast. We had to restart one song because of a technical issue, but we recovered from it gracefully. The crowd seemed to enjoy the music, and we enjoyed playing even more. The biggest deal to me, however, was the fact that we had gotten together to practice exactly one time before that performance. We had literally just met each other for the first time Friday afternoon, but we all knew our parts and it came together really well.
When we were done, a band called Duet Upright (sorry, can’t find a link) took the stage. They had a stripped down and intimate feel, and their harmonies were very tight. I heard them do the better part of “Halleluah” by Leonard Cohen and it was breathtaking, but I had to get the rest of my family home. The next time out, I hope I get to hear more of their performance.
Thanks to everyone who came out to see us, and to all of the new folks we met there!