Saturday Night at the Pub

What a LOAD of fun!!

The Peint o Grwr in Chatham, NY is a local pub that has a variety of musical offerings throughout any given year. One of the longest running and most community oriented nights is their Open Mic, run by Pat. As each musician comes in, they are greeted heartily by the others. It is a celebratory mood, and we celebrate making music and seeing each other. It sort of feels like a homecoming. And then, there are the regular listeners, all happy to be there, chatting to each other, but always noticing when the song ends,  to encourage the performer with some appreciative noise. And, there is a house band, a talented group of folks who can hold down the sound with tasty bass lines and spice up the music with wonderful fills and great solos....

This Open Mic has it all..... friendship, networking, house band that makes it all sound GREAT!!! Wonderful to play at, and wonderful to listen to....

Foregoing my own songwriting, I decided to choose easy to play (less challenging for the house band), well known (less challenging for the audience) songs, so I did Dead Flowers, Wagon Wheel and Rocking in the Free World..... and ROCKED OUT!!! Wendy helped out with some fantastic harmonies, Pat gave me really delicious guitar solos, and the bass player (sorry! his name escapes me at the moment, it sure is tough getting old!!) held us all together with his excellent lines!!! What a wonderful, fulfilling, FUN performance!!! Thank you all.....

And the audience! So appreciative of the music, they make it a pure pleasure to play for them....

Finally, the other musicians!!! Again, my ability to remember names is not one of my strong points. There was a young woman who has her first NYC gig very soon, who has a great sound and interesting songs. Aaron, who I think grew up at this open mic, wowed us with his fantastic blues guitar and songs. Connie, who appears everywhere and is one of the pillars of the local musical community. Amy, who came with band and played us some wonderful sounds. Oh, and so very many more, the evening was chock full of music and laughter and good times.

Thank you Chatham, for hosting this monthly musical wonder......