Worst season for bicycle guitaring? Fall!

Jest kidding. Actually Fall frequently has good weather for playing guitar while riding a bicycle. The title of this post is a bad pun. Here's another. In a songwriter's forum on the internet a few years back Mike McLaughlin quipped "What's the hardest thing about playing guitar on a bike? The pavement!" To which I replied: "Ouch, Mike. My asphalt to the ground!"

For a while recently I was posting every week about what songs I played at various public places. Even posting every week wasn't enough to describe all the places I've been playing the past seven weeks. For about six or seven weeks I have been participating every Tuesday in the open mike night at Charley's BBQ followed by the Jersey Lilly bar later that night. I haven't played the coffee shops or bookstores as much the past couple weeks as I had a few weeks further back, but I have gone to the city park more often and many people have seen me there.

I am saddened by the recent tragedy at the Reno National Championship Air Races. Last Friday one of the most awesome Unlimited racers ever built apparently suffered a mechanical failure and nose dived into the ground at high speed near VIP box seating on the tarmac. The Galloping Ghost was going nearly five hundred miles an hour just before the accident. It shattered into a million tiny pieces and a big cloud of dust. At least ten people are dead and fifty more injured (my numbers might be off a bit).

While this is a tragedy, I hope it does not lead to the end of Air Racing as we know it. Yes, the crowd fatalities are unfortunate, but that is the risk one takes when going to such an event. Also, these are the first spectator casualties in the forty-six year history of the event. A mechanical failure of a plane going five hundred miles an hour a hundred feet above the ground could result in the plane going anywhere. Odds are it would go down in the desert, but not this time. I offer my condolences and best wishes for the victims of this tragedy, including the friends and family of Jimmy Leeward, the pilot of the doomed Mustang.

Rocking the Jersey Lilly

At five p.m. I started the evening at the open mike night of Charley's BBQ, as I have the past few Tuesday nights. I was first on the list because I got there early, and after the house band played a while I performed Freedom and Logger Rhythm. Later I got another turn and performed Early Morning Hours. I asked for adjustment to the sound for the last song (some distortion, less bass), and it went better than the first two, but all were good.

Afterwards I went to the Jersey Lilly for their open mike night that starts at nine p.m. I got there shortly after eight, and rode around a bit in their parking lot playing guitar on my bicycle before going inside. Again I was first on the list. I started with Legalize. A drummer joined me for that song, then I asked him to let me perform solo and he did. I played Logger Rhythm and Early Morning Hours here too, and Dust in the Wind by Kansas.

Then I got some distortion and played Long Hair (another of my originals) and closed with Sweet Emotion by Aerosmith. This was one of the best public performances of my life so far, and it was very well received.

Played two places tonight

I've been playing public places several times a week the past few weeks, including a metaphysical bookstore, a coffee shop, and a bar, besides also playing for other groups of people at various locations.

Tonight from five to eight p.m. I was at Charley's BBQ again for the third week in a row (last week I played Red Baron and Prayer). My first turn at Charley's tonight I played Hot Young Blonde, Running Out of Time and the Beatles song Help! After everyone else got their turn at the open microphone night, I got another turn just before they shut down. I played Oh! Jennifer! and What Can I Say? All these songs except for the Beatles song Help! are from my new (but as yet unrecorded) album When you ride over sharps, you get flats!

Then I went to a cocktail lounge downtown and got a contact number for the man who arranges entertainment there. I will call him tomorrow. Then I went to the Jersey Lilly, a bar that also has open jam sessions on Tuesday nights starting at nine p.m. The house band played a set, then I had a turn. I played my original song Red Baron, Help! by the Beatles, and Behind Blue Eyes by The Who (actually what I play is closer to Pete Townshend's acoustic version).

Charley's BBQ open mike night

I played two songs earlier tonight at Charley's BBQ on West Harvard Avenue. The first was one of mine, Early Morning Hours. Then I played the Beatles song Help! Both were well-received. A little later I rode and played in the parking lot next door while some people watched from the windows.

Last month I noticed a shimmy in the front wheel when I was going down hills, even though the tires were inflated properly. So yesterday I dropped the "Minstrel Cycle" off at the Local Bike Shop to have them true both wheels. It turns out the front axle had a little play and the rear wheel was way out of shape, so it's a good thing I had this done. I picked up the bicycle from the bike shop at 4 p.m. and the music started at the BBQ place at 5. I had to wait a while for my turn to play.