Played a Sharkskin gig tonight

February 01, 2002

Played a Sharkskin gig tonight without Simon. Weird. Flew home to do the gig and poor Simon has a broken back. Tom Arntzen did a fantastic job handling the keys and singing. We had a lot of fun inserting TV themes and riffs from bad musicals into the R&B classics. For the first two sets we were just audio wallpaper and in those situations you can do whatever you want. I always thought that the lounge guys were in some sort of musical straightjacket and were suffering to make a buck. Instead I find those situations to provide way more freedom than a regular rock show where everyone is expecting you to overwhelm them with your rock power. We designed Sharkskin as musical therapy and a vehicle for learning the soul essentials. I love the musical excercise I get by challenging myself in these situations. Two years ago I wouldn't have imagined getting through a five hour gig of instrumental music with more than half of it just happening on the fly. I would have choked in the first 45 minutes. I'm just not the right lounge lizard. But because its not my bread & butter I can throw common sense and my fragile reputation to the wind. I can just say "no way" when the promoter comes up at the end of the night and says, "I want to play 'Time in a Bottle' on your guitar" -- it happened tonight. That is somehow empowering. Its like your boss saying, "Let me grope your girlfriend or you're fired" and you get to say, "how about I hold your arms while my girlfriend emasculates you with the dull edge of a Jim Croce record".

Try to get "Bad Bad Leroy Brown" out of your head after I mention the title.

CN