One afternoon about two years ago my friend Dave Peros and I were sitting in a local coffee shop and cafe called The Daily Brew. Dave was asking about how my guitar playing and teaching was going and I told him I was pretty excited about my new instrumental arrangements, especially the bossa nova stuff I had been exploring for a year or so. The previous summer I was fortunate to attend the Newport Jazz Festival and hear an absolute master of this type of music, Romero Lubambo, and watch him play from a few feet away. It was truly inspirational and helped confirm that I was on the right track.
Dave said - well, when are you going to play it somewhere? I mumbled something about being out of the loop, not knowing where I could go to play it, and so on.... Without hesitation, Dave got up and brought over the Daily Brew's owner, Kathy Hickey. You need Gene to play here! Dave said.
Kathy looked me over with a frown and asked, are you any good? Well, I said, I think so. But I promise not to blow people out of here and of course if you don't like it, no hard feelings. OK, said Kathy. Come in next weekend.
That was the beginning of what has been the most pleasurable gig I've ever had. Two years later, I still play at the Brew just about every weekend. I've become friends with many of the regulars and the staff, although I still haven't succeeded in getting Kathy to sing with me - she is a very, very find singer and even self-produced a CD a few years ago.
A few months after I started she said to me one day - you know, I didn't know if this was going to work. What if you sucked?! But you don't of course. The customers all tell me how much they enjoy what you do and look forward to hearing you.
I've played in front of thousands of people at festivals and concerts but I can say with all candor that my Daily Brew thing is the most pure enjoyment I've ever had in all my years of playing. The best part is that with having something regular every weekend, plus ramping up my teaching business again, my playing is as good as it's ever been - probably better.
Time marches on, that's for sure. I'll be looking for more playing jobs in the near future. It would be great to get a semi regular job at one of the nice restaurants we now have in Falmouth. We'll see. I also intend to do more recording and learning more about that process in my home studio. Videos of lesson samples, product reviews and sound samples of the guitars I sell are also on the to-do list.
Well, it's time to head down to the Brew to play. If you've stuck with my story through all the parts, I thank you and hope it wasn't too boring. I know it was fun to finally put it down. There were many, many other musical adventures that I didn't catalog. Maybe I'll catalog those in the future. In the meantime...
Peace & good music,
Gene
Dave said - well, when are you going to play it somewhere? I mumbled something about being out of the loop, not knowing where I could go to play it, and so on.... Without hesitation, Dave got up and brought over the Daily Brew's owner, Kathy Hickey. You need Gene to play here! Dave said.
Kathy looked me over with a frown and asked, are you any good? Well, I said, I think so. But I promise not to blow people out of here and of course if you don't like it, no hard feelings. OK, said Kathy. Come in next weekend.
That was the beginning of what has been the most pleasurable gig I've ever had. Two years later, I still play at the Brew just about every weekend. I've become friends with many of the regulars and the staff, although I still haven't succeeded in getting Kathy to sing with me - she is a very, very find singer and even self-produced a CD a few years ago.
A few months after I started she said to me one day - you know, I didn't know if this was going to work. What if you sucked?! But you don't of course. The customers all tell me how much they enjoy what you do and look forward to hearing you.
I've played in front of thousands of people at festivals and concerts but I can say with all candor that my Daily Brew thing is the most pure enjoyment I've ever had in all my years of playing. The best part is that with having something regular every weekend, plus ramping up my teaching business again, my playing is as good as it's ever been - probably better.
Time marches on, that's for sure. I'll be looking for more playing jobs in the near future. It would be great to get a semi regular job at one of the nice restaurants we now have in Falmouth. We'll see. I also intend to do more recording and learning more about that process in my home studio. Videos of lesson samples, product reviews and sound samples of the guitars I sell are also on the to-do list.
Well, it's time to head down to the Brew to play. If you've stuck with my story through all the parts, I thank you and hope it wasn't too boring. I know it was fun to finally put it down. There were many, many other musical adventures that I didn't catalog. Maybe I'll catalog those in the future. In the meantime...
Peace & good music,
Gene
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