I played at the Strega Cafe in St. Catharine's this weekend, and it was very enjoyable; despite the fact that both my parents and in-laws were in the crowd which made me more nervous than usual. I mean, I've gotten used to ignoring the pleas of my parents - "why don't you apply to law school", "maybe you should keep that job for a little bit longer" - but I have no such experience when it comes to my in-laws. I mean here I am, a guy who has come in, whisked their daughter away from her comfortable living in Ottawa to be a "musician", and here was their chance to listen to the music with which I hope to provide us with a little bit of a living. They know I'm not a deadbeat, and that I work where I can and try fairly hard at pretty much anything I do, but it was still enough to create a few nerves on the night.
Aside from some more practice which is always necessary, I have also decided that I need to start using my guitar amp live. The tone of my guitar straight through a PA is not quite what I want, and it will give me a bit more control in terms of shaping my sound and making sure the volumes between the instruments are accurate. I also think I need to pick up a powered speaker, so that I can practice with using a 'P.A.' type of setup at home so that I'm used to the sound of my voice through a microphone/speaker combination.
I guess there's always things that could be done better, but I was quite happy with how I ended the set, and everybody that came out seemed to have a good time. It was fun, and I look forward to playing the Strega Cafe again sometime in the near future.
Comments