I kid, of course. But this past Thursday night, I played the Horseshoe again; the second time in less than a month. My friend Boag (who faithful readers will remember from the St. Paddy's Day Massacre (In Three-part Harmony) blog entry, had organized a Bruce Springsteen tribute night at The 'Shoe and asked me and our campadre Tim to once again back him up on guitar. Proceeds were to benefit a Parkdale outreach centre, St. Francis Table. So we practiced two songs: ìThe Feverî and ìRed Headed Womanî. I played lead guitar. Tim played acoustic rhythm.
It was billed as "The Wild, the Innocent, and the Queen Street Shuffle", and it turned out to be a very good night. As always, there were a few last-minute snafus or near-snafus. Just as I was leaving work, I got an email from Boag saying he'd decided that he'd start the show himself, and did I know any of these songs well enough to back him up: "Born To Run", "Backstreets", "Racing In The Streets", "Growin' Up", and one other I can't recall. I figured the only one I could do adequately on short notice was "Growin' Up", so when I got home, I ran through it a bit on my acoustic, and figured it out.
When I got to the 'Shoe, I met up with Boag, and we went across the street to Steve's Music to rent the drum kit, guitar amp and other accoutrements for the stage. (Later on, it was discovered that the drum kit was missing a hi-hat stand, resulting in a mad pre-show scramble by Jay Clark Reid of Jay Clark & The Jones, who heroically raced in their van out to Parkdale to get a replacement.) Had a bit of a problem finding a cab so we could transport the gear, but after two bailed on us, we found one guy that begrudgingly ferried us and the gear around the corner. Back at the 'Shoe, we huddled with Tim and ran through our two songs just to refresh our memories and do a little last-minute fine-tuning. I ran through "Growin' Up" with Boag, and it seemed to be all right. Then it was just a matter of waiting for show time.
I was definitely harbouring a few butterflies in my stomach, but I wasn't quite as nervous as I was before the St. Patrick's Day show, mostly because I felt I knew these songs better, thanks to the rehearsal we'd had the previous Sunday. (By the way, ìThe Feverî is a tricky little song, if you've ever tried to learn it. Not that the chords are difficult, but the way Bruce does it, there are sections that seem to straddle a line between a verse and a bridge, and sections that share the same lyrics as the first verse, but aren't structurally the same as the verse, just slightly different. Sneaky.)
When 10pm rolled around, Boag took to the stage and said a few words about St. Francis Table and ran through the line-up for the evening. Then I joined him and strapped on Tim's acoustic for "Growin' Up". I eschewed the picking pattern that Bruce does, and some of the finer points of his guitar playing on the song, in favour of a simpler approach that relied more on vigorous, rhythmic strumming. Keep it simple. It seemed to go pretty well. Good song to start the night with. And it was good for me to get up there early and get my feet wet, so to speak. Let loose some of those butterflies. For the next hour or so I just sat back and enjoyed the show. And it was a very good show, with all-round enjoyable performances; some absolutely stellar.
Dan Kershaw - I Wish I†Were Blind, Bobby Jean
(Our friend) Heather Morgan & The Company Of Men - Dancing In The Dark
Michelle Rumball - Across The Border
John Borra & Colleen Hodgson - 10th Ave Freezout,†Because The Night, Dead Man Walking (Colleen vocals)
Tim Armour - Nebraska
Cindy Archer & Co. - Dry Lightning
Pete Elkas and band - Darkness On The Edge Of Town, Streets Of Fire/Hungry Heart
Paul Emery & The Dickens - Prove It All Night
Jonah Ward & Tina Martinez - State Trooper
Not to mention the one and only Ron Sexsmith, who graced us with three or four songs, including "I Wanna Marry You" and "Factory".
As for our time on stage--under the name Boag And His Band And Street Choir--it went really well, helped in no small part by Don Kerr sitting in with us on drums, and Kenny Yoshioka ("The Japanese Torpedo") from Jay Clark & The Jones joining in on harmonica. It was very cool to play with Don, as I'd admired his playing for quite some time, with Ron Sexsmith and with The Rheostatics. Boag really let go on "The Fever", throwing himself into it, body and soul, and everyone seemed to be diggin' it, so he came over to me during my solo and yelled to stretch it out longer and keep it going. Felt pretty good. And "Red Headed Woman" went pretty well too. We had rehearsed it as sort of a rockabilly version, using Elvis' "That's Alright Mama" as a template, which is not that far removed from Bruce's solo acoustic version (it appears on the MTV XXPlugged album). But with the drums and harp and the energy on the stage, it seemed to emerge more like something from Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited (think Tombstone Blues). Perhaps not surprising since I had envisioned my role as more of a Mike Bloomfield/Robbie Robertson part. I'm afraid the fancy James Burton stuff just ain't my forte. I didn't seem to be hitting the notes as solidly as I wanted to during my solos, but people told me afterwards that it sounded all right. I guess there's something to be said for the transfer of energy over the accuracy of picking.
So it was a very satisfying night. And we raised about $300 for St. Francis Table.
Here's a pic from my friend Larry's photo-phone. Poor quality, I'm afraid.
me, torso and legs of the Japanese Torpedo
I don't think I'm close to ditching the writing gig for a life making music, as much as that would be sweet as honey, but it's sure good to get out and play. Scary and nerve-wracking, but the more I do it, the more comfortable it gets. Nice when it goes well and you get some positive feedback, too. And, again, to play the Horseshoe is a thrill. I suppose I was standing in the same spot on stage where Keith Richards would have stood. Maybe I absorbed some residual energy?
And it may not be the last time, as there's talk of maybe starting a series to benefit St. Francis Table. Next up: A tribute to The Band.
Count me in!
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