The Debut of MikeLewisMusic

Well, I did it. I had my first gig as a solo artist. Last night I joined my good buddy (and former bandmate) Ed De Caro for a show at our usual haunt, The Metaphor Cafe in Escondido. It had been my first appearance onstage since October of 2004 (playing bass for With Intent) and my first solo guitar appearance since 1988 (I played (horribly) at an open-mic at the old Spirit (now Brick-by-Brick) nightclub).

I had been practicing pretty religiously every night. My guitar playing has improved immensely in the past 5 months or so that I have been focusing strictly on guitar. My voice, though still needing work, is not betraying me too often it seems. Playing solo on acoustic guitar, I feel I become one with the music, thus making it easier for me to sing. Playing the bass and trying to sing along with a loud noisy band was too distracting. Doing the solo-acoustic thing seems much more natural and comfortable for me.

So anyway, I arrived a little late at the Metaphor. We both agreed that we each play two 30 minute sets, for a total of approximately 2 hours or so. Ed started out with the opening set (since I arrived after 7pm due to work logistics). As I came in, I could hear Ed's rich voice and pretty harmonica adorning Neil Young's "Heart of Gold". As I trudged in admiring Ed's work, I wondered how I was going to be able to follow that. Ed played very well.

Ed played until about 7:40 pm or so, then it was my turn. Since I arrived late, I had to set up. I took my trusty Gibson Hummingbird, placed the soundhole pickup in, and plugged into the Metaphor's direct box to the board. I strummed, but the soundman could not get a sound. I examined the direct box, and to my surprise it was a passive box, which means that it was not powered (in other words, plugged into a wall) so it did not have enough juice to push the sound from my passive pickup. I had an active direct box, but time was ticking away, so we just grabbed Ed's vocal mic and mic'd the Hummingbird. Luckily there was no feedback, and off I went.

I had a setlist of my originals, but no real game plan except my opening and closing numbers. I opened with my theme song "MikeLewisMusic", which segued directly into "Hawks and Doves". My closing tune, as planned, was "Headin' North" which segued into the reprise of "MikeLewisMusic" - both opener and closer worked nicely together. I pulled both off with nary a hitch, and I found myself surprisingly relaxed and even comfortable. While preparing for this gig, I found that all of my originals (about 17 of them) put together was about one hour and a few minutes. But, I did not account for the fact that I would be so chatty during the gig. I found myself actually introducing each tune with a story behind it. Wow, I was surprising myself.

I also liked the fact that I could keep my voice relatively low - this helped me with my pitch control and also with dynamics. Singing in a band, I often had to strain and even sometimes scream to be heard, but not last night. It was a pleasure to be able to treat my voice as an instrument and not a horn for once. Now I'm not even close to being a good singer, but I felt I served myself well.

One thing I got out of the gig was affirmation that this was my musical destiny. I always fancied myself as a writer first and foremost, with my main outlet being songwriting. Focusing on the bass all these years seemed to sidetrack this though, as it was my preference to sing my own songs. Feeling inadequate as a guitarist made me suppress my songwriting desires. As I've written in previous blogs, the circumstances that forced me to quit bands turned out to be a huge blessing, and last night reaffirmed this for me.

My guitar playing, though not where I want it to be, was acceptable, and I think I have the potential to put my own stamp on what I do. I have been playing pretty much in Open E tuning, and I've been developing little licks, tricks, and whatnot to enhance my sound. My only bane has been sore fingers. Now that the gig is under my belt, I'm going to take a few days off from playing just to heal (really, I am!).

The Gibson Hummingbird sounded and played beautifully. It looked good too. I love that guitar.

Thanks to Ed for letting me play last night. Our plan to do two 30-minute sets each kind of got thrown out, I think we both kind of got caught up in the moment and played a little longer on each set then anticipated. We ended the show after my set. Ed is a great guy and a great friend, and although I can't play in a band with him, this is the next best thing, which is continuing to share a musical experience with him.