Friday Night @ 303 Cafe, East Boston

what a day.

yesterday, as often happens when you have two kids, was exhausting...I got up early, went into school to tutor, came home to run some errands, make some dinner (which in all honestly was awful, and I never cook anything bad), and headed over to 303 Cafe in eastie.

Growing up in New York, I have never been to East Boston. In fact, I bet half of the people I know in Boston have never been to East Boston, except maybe to go through Logan Airport on their way somewhere. It was cute. And dilapidated. And trendy. And seemingly alive.

It reminded me of downtown Brooklyn a little - the Carroll Gardens area - where gentrification is slowly coming in, but there are enough stalwarts of the old school to keep it legit.

So, I get a spot directly in front of the place (i ALWAYS get a spot in front) and walk up. It's an awesome space, brick walls on either side, art collection hanging on the walls, huge open-air-to-the-street windows. The place had an excellent crowd, which was made even more excellent but friends new and old showing up to listen.


Now, due to a lack of communication (mostly on my part - never make assumptions! you only make an ass out of U and Umption. and poor Umption never did anything, did he?) it was a truly acoustic night, but you know, it was kinda cool that way. The intimateness of the venue allowed for the intimateness of an almost living-room performance, and I wonder if amplified music would have been almost intrusive to people's dinner conversations.

As Always, Casey Sullivan was great. Aaron Gage played a beautiful cello along with her. Casey's music is thoughtful, simple yet intricate, and mature beyond her years. (I feel a little bad saying that because I'm sure she hears that a lot, but she is AWEsome and a much better songwriter than people five or ten years older than she.) The only drawback to the quiet music and dinner-crowd-discussion was that she didn't feel able to play her quieter songs. Next time, we'll remember to bring the mics.

But, the intimateness allowed for a certain low-key casualness. After she played a set, I played a few songs and then Casey (and Aaron) came back up to sing a bunch of tunes with me. "When did you guys practice?" I was asked. Haha Casey is just THAT good. Overall, I tried to play the rockier songs to fill the room, but even the quieter songs were received well. And I think that when you have a bar/cafe in Eastie singing along with originals, you've done at least one thing right.

We had a great time and the food was awesome. Thank You, 303 Cafe. I can't wait to go back.

peace,
Dann

the set list:

Parking Lot Kings
Fortunes, Forecasts & Lucky Charms
Dreaming Without You
Waiting For The Dawn
Sigh No More (Mumford & Sons cover w/Casey)
Falling Slowly (The Swell Season cover w/ Casey & Aaron)
Nowhere Man (The Beatles cover w/ Casey & Aaron)
High & Dry (Radiohead cover w/ Casey & Aaron)
No Pain
Ruby Red Hair
Paris
Her Majesty Cry
Year
Don't Say That
It Seems Just Like A Dream (What a Day)

Week Two! (more or less)

ok, so in order to get my act together, here is week two.

It's the pitch week.

Anyone who has ever played wiffleball against me knows that I can hit a ton, but when it comes to pitching I'm just too nice. I like watching other people do well. I don't have the attack mode that a good pitcher needs. So I asked for help.

I put a list on my FB "band" page and asked people what they thought...I had a few ideas. And more questions than ideas. I came up against the "do you want to brand yourself using someone else's brand?" question. and I had the "who cares what you sound like if you can't tell people who you sound like" problem. And of course, the "Hey I sound exactly like Richie Havens." "Who?" problem.

but here are some thoughts that I wanted to share...some are a little more ridiculous than others...some are amazing...and some are "hey, what the hell? why not me?"

some goals I am setting for myself:

1. Play a show (open or headline) with a line outside the venue. before the end of summer 2012.

2. Have Bono or Eddie Vedder sing a verse of No Pain at a concert.

3. Induct someone into the Hall of Fame. (I'm thinking Dave Matthews or maybe Bon Jovi)

4. new CD by Christmas '10

5. open for someone who isn't a personal friend by next summer

6. run the 800 at the 2016 Olympics.

so, the pitch...

it's not wiffleball on 77th street, so I can't lead the league in doubles this time...

I can however, talk about

"All the power and emotion you can get from an acoustic guitar. I play fast and loud, I play quietly, I play with soul."

what do you think?

I'm'a keep myself honest - Week One, Part Deux

so here we go - to make sure I'm doing the right things, I'm going to let the ether of the interwebs know...

1. make a video. I did! it's for "Waiting For The Dawn" and you can see it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoqD-5JqcdI (and it has 125 views already! whooo hooo!) and now before August 1st I want to put another up!

2. post my set lists. I have been consistently posting set lists for the past two or three weeks on http://www.facebook.com/dannrussomusic as my status, and so that you don't have to go searching through weeks of status (stati? states?) to look for them all in one place, I

3. post my list of originals. It's up! as a note on facebook.com/dannrussomusic which leads me to

4. MORE originals! ok ok I'm working on this. I want to have at least two more originals (if not 5) by August 1st.

5. now that CDBaby/iTunes is giving the option, I want to release a two-song "single" of Waiting For The Dawn and another song that follows it thematically or musically (maybe even the other video?)

6. I think I AM going to attend SLCC (the Second Life conference) and see where and when I can play (I AM Dann Numbers, the 200-mile an hour savior of acoustic rock and soul, right?)

oh, and

7. finish writing that entry into Anthony Bourdain's "Why Cook Well" contest

:-)

peace,

Dann

week one...the intro.

ok.

so I downloaded this book, "Music Success in 9 Weeks" by Ariel Hyatt (http://www.arielpublicity.com/ ) and I guess I have to start doing it. It's a workbook of sorts, step by step helping (I hope) with all the stuff I'm not good at...yet.

I mean, I'm pretty sure I can sing. I kinda like the way I beat my acoustic at 200 miles an hour. And a majority of my songs are good.

I'm going to stop saying "hopefully," but my faith in my strengths and weaknesses, and (whenever the kids give me a second) work on the book.

*raises coffee* cheers.

peace,
Dann

New Video!

Two Posts in the same day? damn...all of a sudden someone got productive :-P

I think of it as using "naptime" usefully.

I took my first attempt at using iMovie and setting it up in my basement (aka "Broken Strings Studio") and seeing what happened.

As an actual review, I think I could have placed the computer better and maybe played with the sound a little more...but as a raw first try, I'm impressed with myself!

The song is Waiting For The Dawn.

the video is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoqD-5JqcdI

it's kinda cool.

peace.

so I haven't been around

although I've been obsessed with this computer!

espn3.com showed almost every game of the world cup in HD, and since I don't have a tv (well, I HAVE a tv but it's basically a glorified DVD screen cause cable is too expensive and anything that's good is available on line anyway) i've been marginally obsessed.

I watched almost every game, got yelled at by my friends for my constant FB status updates about the Denmark/Japan game and tried to tone it down, but was fanatic.

my mind is reeling with things to talk about...

the amazing Diego Forlan? and how he deserved the MVP award because he could score with either foot from seemingly anywhere on the pitch?

the wonderful Spanish passing game? They basically played keep-away once they scored

the one month that seemed to last a year?

the very disappointing play of the Italians? (were they even in South Africa?)

the very uplifting play of the Americans? (even though they only won one game)

the resurgence of South American futbol - not only Brazil, but everyone?

I already can't wait for 2014.

and even better, I may just get obsessed with La Liga in August, now that I have some favorite players by the names of Forlan, Messi, Villa and Ianesta to root for.

peace.