I finished my first week back on Atkins. So far, so good. But the first week of a diet is always easy. Most people can get through 2 weeks with no problem. After that I think it gets a little harder. You want results and you want them fast.
I got lots of exercise this week. That oughta give me a boost. I do feel good. I didn't weigh myself before I started. Whatever I weighed the last time I went to the doctor will be my starting point. If my clothes fit better, if I have more energy and if I have fewer aches and pains then I'll know it's working.
We're going to Ken's tomorrow afternoon to play music. Then tomorrow night is open mike at the Folk Music Center. I'm going to do Tin Foil Hat again. I didn't have it memorized last time and I think I do it better now.
That's it. No drama right now. Things are blissfully normal.
9 comments:
Hey, have fun at CFMC, the Canaries are on their way; me and Zoe's are staying home.
Can't wait to see the dvd.
Ah then, you'll get to see how much it sucked. This was not the best open mike. There was this one girl who played guitar and sang a song about a vagabond boy and she was absolutely awesome. There were a few people who were pretty good. I was not one of them. Jim flubbed a little but not enough to hurt the performance. I did that all on my own.
The sound was really bad. The girl running it didn't really know what she was doing. She was getting on the job training, which isn't fair to the performers. Maybe their regular sound guy was abducted by aliens and she volunteered to step in, I dunno.
The Canaries were fun, though I don't think this was their best night. Doesn't matter. They're entertaining even when they screw up. One day Liam will leave his dad and uncle in the dust. Good set of pipes on that boy.
We went to dinner before the show. I had a salad that was huge! I think it had a whole chicken in it. I brought most of it home. So, I was a good Atkins girl today, even eating out.
LOL, B said it was pretty good, the Open Mike that is. He said they flubbed up and he shrugged his shoulders. Said Liam did Mr Tamborine Man solo (which I didn't know he was doing). Liam told me the audience was lukewarm to his performance.
B said you guys were good, didn't mention any flub ups.
Why do places serve salads that are made up of a whole head of lettuce and nearly a whole chicken? hahaha, giant salads are a pet peeve of mine. What a wierd pet peeve to have!
I guess when you pay eleven bucks for a salad you'd like it to be huge. But jeez, put it in a bigger bowl then! Bill got the same thing only half size. I'll have to remember to order the half size next time. Getting lots of chicken is good because I need that protein. Most of the time they don't give you enough.
I don't know about the rest of the audience but I enjoyed Liam's solo performance. He might have been a bit weak on the guitar but his singing was very good.
The sound was so bad it kind of threw me when I started singing. Also, after eating dinner my throat was a bit gummed up. I really should have warmed up during the break. I just wasn't 100% present for that performance. I don't like it when that happens, even if it's just a dinky open mike.
Overall, I thought it was a fun night, kinda long, but definitely more pleasant than the last one that I attended. Most folks chose tasty pieces, although a few did two songs in spite of the long lineup, and there seemed to be quite a few more very-poorly-tuned instruments than usual.
I thought Doni sounded fine, but then I always do. I thought I threw her at one point (I messed up a bit and then she messed up a bit), but she says not. Ah well, we only practiced just a tad; like the Canaries, we could definitely do better with more practice.
Liam sounds great! His voice is strong and deep and his delivery is stylish and unique. I think that any lukewarmness of the audience to his solo piece was probably due to his choice of a many-versed "folk" song (albeit a great one that most folks know) at a relaxed pace, late in the evening at the longest open-mic night there ever. Jerry the emcee joked that henceforth Dylan songs should count as three songs.
The canaries had a great vibe, a really nice instrumental sound (except the mikes were not placed or balanced well; the sound woman seemed inexperienced to me; she made tons of common beginners' errors), and I loved Liam's alternate melodic stylings of a Beatles classic. The biggest weakness in their performance that I noticed was just not having practiced enough, hence more chord and backup vocal confusion than anything.
The giant salad was at Heroes, whose unspoken motto must be something like "good meat, and lots of it!" I took half of my turkey croissant sandwich home; it was stacked 2 inches high with fine-tasting turkey.
The Paganini guitarist did an AC/DC song, which, thankfully, had only the one variation, He played during the first set. In the second set a kindred soul played another AC/DC song, and I saw that the Paganini player was quietly headbanging and singing along. Somebody should try to do a solo instrumental of "Highway to Hell" on autoharp and kazoo to that audience; they'd be assured of two fans, anyway, heh.
The best parts of the evening for me were definitely original songs sung quietly with guitar accompaniment. There were several of those. Doni already noted the best one.
amtbmkz - amount band makes; generally synonymous with "zilch".
Part of my pet peeve is not being able to get lettuce out of the bowl without it gooshing out over the side of the bowl cuz it's so full. The other part is while lettuce is a good food, it's really just a carrier for salad dressing (at least for me) and I don't need to have a bowl of salad dressing for dinner,
Yeah, Liam is self teaching himself guitar so is still quite the beginner. Pretty brave (or ballsy) to get up in front of an audience as a beginner. I wonder if he thinks himself as a singer or a musician of instruments primarily? I don't know. I think I'll have to ask him.
viilanfd: 7th generation lan project running millions over budget.
Jim, Yeah practicing makes a world of difference. Although I think B would say it's more viseral if it's not rehearsed. LOL.
What is a good viseral experience is when singers/musicians can take the flub and turn it into either a comedy moment or slide by it with most of the audience unaware of the flub. Bill and Liam didn't mention any flubs by the two of you so I think ya'll were successful in viseralness.
Have you guys ever noticed the more you pay for food the less you get? Go to Heroes and pay pretty moderate prices and get huge portions. Go to a place like Mario's here in town and get a teeny but decorativly enhanced small portions.
evxiycbs: Evicted Vichyssoise
Vivage,
Yes, I agree that over-rehearsing can take the visceralness (viscerality?) and spontaneity out of a performance; but I have also noticed (for myself at least) that once I get past worrying about the basics ("what chord comes next?" "Do I sing here?") that the opportunity for other levels of experience open up (like being able to directly relate to members of the audience or even other performers). So... it's a balance to be achieved.
I do like to be in the moment of now when I'm performing, and sharing with the audience and other performers. That's why I generally don't get stage fright. Whatever occurs just becomes part of the moment.
I thought that motor-home Matt did a very good job of performing Sunday night in spite of neither his guitar nor his voice actually being audible.
Examples of the inverse quantity/quality/price relationships in restaurants: Many "all you can eat" buffets give you practically infinite amounts of what they consider food; but I can't eat much, because the quality is abysmal. Then there's a restaurant in Sonoma County called John Ash (named for the famous owner/chef), located on a winery, where the food is quite unique, the quantities are quite small, and the prices are quite astronomical. Mostly I like something in between those extremes.
Ah, California Cuisine!
rodkowd - what Rod did to the audience when they started mooing his performance.
I think the audience is charmed by Liam. Any lukewarmimnity probably was due to the pace and the length.
I think my contribution was that the song wasn't yet secong nature to me, so I thought too hard on one chord change when I should have just let it flow.
As for rehearsal, I think we were all playing at the same time, but never quite together.
xidjm-the year in which Liam will surpass his father and uncle.
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