We had a great time tonight at Crozet Mudhouse! The venue was perfect for what we do, and the hot chocolate was delicious. It’s always exciting, too, when people are actually paying attention to us and we get to ramble on about the Carter Family, random murders by men named Willy, and Gram Parsons. I also learned two important facts – 1. Sharing a microphone with Matt is a) tricky because he is so darn tall, and b) really helpful on the harmony front; and 2. Standing up makes singing so much easier. Go figure! Next up – C’Ville Coffee on October 28.
Corn Hog Redux
I haven’t reported in some time, and the Corn Hog Association has undergone some major changes in the past year or so. We have been joined now by Forrest Burtnette and are able to add a lot of the guitar solos we didn’t have in the past. We played one last time at the Java Depot for its farewell party - a sad day for everyone who loved the atmosphere and yummy food and drinks there.
And we have a couple of new gigs coming up – the first on September 18 at the Crozet Mudhouse. We’re busily finalizing the setlist and hope to see all our fans there!
Our Biggest Fan
We had our second performance at the Java Depot last night, and it went really well. There was quite a crowd there, including lots of coworkers, and everyone seemed to have a good time. There was an older gentleman there who seemed to really enjoy our music and came up and talked to us at length afterward. He requested Wildwood Flower, and luckily it was already on our setlist so we were able to play it for him. Apparently he can yodel! Oh, and we finally managed to drum up some stage patter, which was good – we’ve been attempting it for a long time, but as Matt said, it’s hard to banter successfully when no one is listening. And last night everyone was listening, it seemed. Yay! October should be fun.
Opening Night
I think our debut gig at the Java Depot went very well! We were a little late getting started since we had set up and then run over to Devil’s Backbone Brewery for a bite to eat. But still, we played for about two hours (not even all of our planned setlist) and had a nicely positive reaction. Even from the people who aren’t related to us!
Now Nancy has kindly told us that we are welcome to play there on a regular basis if we’d like, so we’re going to try to make it a monthly thing. We’re thinking we will plan for the last Friday of each month and call it “Final Fridays,” in honor of our grim and morbid subject matter…
Java Depot
Goodness, it’s been a long time since we’ve had anything to report. We’ve been practicing diligently, though, and it’s paying off now. We have a gig! Woohoo! Longtime Band Fan Nancy Kern is opening a coffee shop in Nellysford and has asked us to play at the Soft Opening this Friday. So we’re dusting off our setlist and getting ready. It should be a lot of fun!
Baja Recap
We survived our debut at Baja Bean! We got started a little late since we had some trouble getting our sound system up and running. We also had to get Cheryl’s help in getting our balance right (and Chris was still pretty quiet), but all in all things went well. Thankfully lots of Chris’s cronies were there to cheer us on, and not too many strangers (they all mysteriously disappeared before we began playing). Chris’s bass strap came suddenly unfastened in the middle of Long Black Veil, so one of our “roadies” came to our rescue and fixed things. We played until 11 and had a great time–hopefully our listeners enjoyed themselves!
Corn Hog Debut at Baja
Tomorrow night the CHA will have our big debut at Baja Bean Norte. This should be pretty exciting as we haven’t been the main act and amplified anywhere to date. Unfortunately, our new monitor won’t have arrived yet, so we’ll have to make do with our regular speakers and hopefully will be able to hear ourselves well enough!
