[Harp-L] First Time in Public

[jofjltn4@xxxxxxxxxxx]

Executive summary: I played in front of an audience in an actual live
music setting for the first time. Very, very surreal.

In my usual rambling-stream-of-thought style, here's far more of the
story than you'd ever want to hear:

I went to a coworker's going away party at Villa Farotto in
Chesterfield, MO. (I parked...okay, hid...my old car in the back of
the lot and walked past Porsche Cayennes, Infinity SUVs, Mercedes,
BMWs, etc. on my way into the building.) On a Thursday night, this
place was packed...probably about 40+ people in the bar area. Live
music provided by Gus & Bryan. A little loud, but my group is sitting
on the couches by the fireplace next to the speaker so that's to be
expected. A very diverse selection of music, mostly 70s and 80s soft
rock, r&b, a little funk, etc. One of my coworkers that knew I played
joked that I should join them. Ha ha, yeah right. This place is very
up-scale and these guys are paid professional musicians. I am a tax
accountant who likes to play along with the radio in his car. Besides,
this just isn't blues music clientele, although it seems like a good
bet that the duo is capable of playing it.

Anyhow, my coworkers found it funny and odd that I actually had a harp
in my pocket. Personally, I'd find it odd if someone who plays harp
*doesn't* have one in their pocket everywhere they go. Later in the
evening, when my work group had dwindled down to about six of us (but
the number of patrons in the bar had grown to 50+), one of them
mentioned my harmonica to the singer during a break. He stopped by to
see if I really had one, asked to see what kind it was...I told him
what key it was...and then I told him I had been playing for only nine
months. At that point, or maybe it was just a coincidence, he seemed
uninterested and changed the subject. I thought, good, I derailed that
certain train wreck and went back to socializing. Maybe some day I'll
play in public, but I am just not ready yet.

About an hour later, the singer walked over to our group w/ mike in
hand...and said something like, "we have a harmonica player with us
tonight...his name is Jonathan. Come up here, Jonathan, and play
something for us!" Instant panic. Fight or flee time. I shook my head
and said no, that's really not a good idea. My coworkers insisted, the
singer insisted, and maybe three women in the back of the bar
insisted. At this point, I figured it was now their own fault and that
I had appropriately warned them, so I pulled out the case and stepped
up to the mike...and then I'm not sure what happened. I think I
timidly played about 12 bars of an intro solo and instinctively backed
off for the singer to do his part. At best, I hoped for a crowd
reaction of indifference, but was fully braced for a complete shun or
even an "I'm glad that's over".

Instead, the place went a little crazy. I was not expecting that at
all. I think the singer sang a verse or part of a verse...(I'm not
really sure as I'm a little freaked out at this point)...and I
retreated for my seat (which was about 10 yards from the mike). As I
walked back, I heard the singer say something about playing more, but
I was just thrilled that I was going to survive this without the
experience being a total disaster and sat down. Again, he insisted, my
coworkers insisted, and this time, many of the patrons in the place
insisted. This was just plain weird. I figured it would be more
awkward to refuse to play than to play, so back I went for another 12
bars, this time just a little less timid, and as I wrapped up this
solo run, the real musicians said to keep soloing...so I shrugged and
did as they said. I didn't get a feel from the crowd at this point,
probably because I was starting to realize that it was actually me I
was hearing reverberating throughout the room and I freaked out just a
little inside, but I didn't get a sense of annoyance, so that was a
good sign. At this point, I figured, hey, if this is what they want,
then that's what they'll get, and stepped it up just a little. Okay,
maybe more than just a little.  I played my little nine-months-of-
experience heart out.

I had trouble getting the right distance from the mike, usually being
too far away, but it was in a mike stand and I couldn't get a good cup
around it and couldn't get close enough to play w/ a good cup in front
of it...so I ditched the cup entirely and just played from somewhere
deep inside...not quite "bottom of the soul" deep, but it was in the
vicinity of it. It wasn't anything that impressive, the tone was a
little lacking (probably from the lack of any cup whatsoever), I
fought a little with the keyboardist trying to get to an ending when I
felt like I had had my moment in the spotlight, the keyboardist
altered the chord progression at the end or more accurately, didn't
change chords...(maybe he was trying to end it by staying on the one
instead of working through a turnaround into an ending)...so it was
admittedly far short of musical genius. At this point, I worked in a
surprisingly catchy repeating triplet pattern and brought it to a
fairly abrupt, yet open/soft ending, thinking the duo might take it
from there and do their professional musician thing. That might have
been their plan, but when I stopped playing, the place just went
freakin' insane. Seriously, I mean, standing ovation insanity.

I'm not one to shy away from potentially embarrassing situations since
I was apparently born without that gene that keeps normal people from
making fools of themselves in public, but I had no idea how to respond
to this reaction. I don't remember the last time I witnessed a
reaction like this, and I've certainly never been the reason for it. I
floated back to my seat with a little "thank you" wave and tried to
rejoin the conversation. My coworkers were dumbfounded. They kept
saying things like, "That was freaking awesome.  Seriously, that was
really good."  For the rest of the night, no matter what topic we
discussed, it kept coming back to my time in the spotlight.

Looking back, what I played wasn't anything special, and it wasn't
even that good...but it admittedly wasn't bad either. The awkwardness
of not knowing what the rest of the band wanted to do next and how
long they wanted me to play was a little weird for me too, but that
probably just added to the whole experience and helped set crowd
expectations just a little lower. Fortunately, being about 9p and most
everyone being at least a little liquored up probably helped a lot.  I
don't drink, but that might have helped me a little too.

So there it is, a nice little "concise" summary of my first time...and I
left out a lot of "irrelevant" details. Now if only someone had
recorded it. =P

Jonathan "if that's what they want, that's what they'll get" Compton