I had a hysterical night last night at the restaurant, it didn't start out that way, but the flow seems to be one of increasing looseness over the course of the evening. I always start out the same way, playing a couple of instrumental guitar songs that I've written over the years, then work into some mellow love song type stuff, and eventually into 'whatever'. It seems like people are there to enjoy their food and their company, not to be assaulted by and attention seeking musician, so I try and accompany 'date night' with the songs I choose.
But as the evening goes on, the tables change, folks get a few drinks in them, they start responding, I start getting a little more raucous and let's see what happens. Last night, Noi was sitting at the table next to me with her kinda BF Jay and our mutual friend John. She really likes it when I interact with her customers so she told one older couple that 'he likes suggestions, do you have a request?' The guy said, 'Amazing Grace'. (didn't expect that, but I played it). And since I don't really know the verse, I asked for some help, and he sang it. Then I invited him up to the mic and he sang it there, got some applause. Turns out he's a Baptist minister, so that was a cool moment. Of course I had to tell him the story about how I was playing piano during one of those interfaith services and the song was Amazing Grace. I jazzed it up some, got some gospel thing going on the keys and afterward a little old lady came up and said, 'I can tell you're a baptist by the way you play piano'. I thanked her for the compliment.
And there was a table of 4 right in front of me, turns out they're from Malta and they were pretty cool, just good energy. I told them that the first I ever heard of Malta was on Heavyweight Wrestling in the 60's there was a bad guy named 'Baron Mikel Sikluna' FROM THE ISLAND OF MALTA and he was a giant evil bastard who cheated and hurt the good guys. They whipped out their Iphones and found him, came up to the mic to show me his picture, I feigned terror and we all laughed. And then somehow I started making up a song about Malta, starting with the Baron, and then asking them for instance, 'what's a common name for a girl in Malta?' 'Maria' both girls said, so I made up a song about going to be with Maria in Malta and if I married her did I have to give her father a goat, that sort of thing. Then we changed it to I'll get him a new boat, and that was better :-). Mostly it was just silliness but it was totally live, full of laughter and tremendously fun energy. I made their night, they made my night, kind of thing.
Both of the guys were graphic designers so there was just some creative spark at that table. They had asked for a Johnny Cash song and I did parts of a couple of them, ending with Ring of Fire. And it burns burns burns... One of the guys said, burns like curry... and now we're off on that tangent. And it occurred to me that the ring of fire could be uh a bunghole of fire after the curry... It looks stupid now, but at the moment, we were hysterical. Same way with my buddy John, who is in a disastrous relationship but can't seem to extricate himself. That turned into a little improvisation as well, and I totally nailed it... Noi is like 'You have to write that down', but no, it was gone, it's one of those things that happens in the moment if the force is with you. To write it down is to kill it. John loved it, it was just one of those moments.
And how awesome to have that kind of freedom in a gig, when the boss loves what you're doing, encourages it, calls out songs, which I dutifully play. It's a two hour gig, but since the place is packed when I'm supposedly done, I just keep going and they pay me for that extra hour. Last night I made a whopping $52 which is nothing in the states, but is really good for here, and I added up everything and in the last 10 days, I'm down a total of $5. I'm paying my way through music, and that is incredibly satisfying... I feel proud of that. But shhhh I'm not allowed to earn money here.
Sick today, it's been coming on for a day or two, now fully into my sinus, my voice is half gone, might have to miss tonight and possibly tomorrow... darn it. But I feel good inside in spite of it. Maybe it will clear up enough to perform, seems like less than a 50percent chance... but let's see what happens...
