Howlers Coyote Cafe in Pittsburgh, PA

Yesterday we arrived in Pittsburgh with the rain and humidity, checked into our hotel and I promptly took a nap while my wife and son went to a museum. I was already thinking that this driving all day and then playing in the evening was too much and I hadn’t even started.

Pittsburgh is an interesting city – weird streets and a mixture of old and new architecture. Lots of different neighborhoods make a mosaic out of the landscape. The place I was playing was in the Little Italy district on Liberty Street about 2 miles from my hotel.

After a light dinner I packed up my guitars and headed out. I got to the venue early because I get anxious about getting lost when I’m going to a new place. Since I was in a new city I wanted to check out the area before I had to play. I usually like to take a little walk before I go on stage so I started off down the street to explore the other businesses.

When I got back to the venue I got to meet Beth the bartender and Jo the booking agent. Beth sported multiple tattoos and jet black hair with Cleopatra bangs. She seemed a little on edge, but was very helpful when I asked her where I should park so I wouldn’t get towed. Jo was an “everybody’s grandma type” who bought the other band and me pizza right before the show. At one point before the show she grabbed my hand and drew a B with a black magic marker on it – so’s ya ken get Pabst for $1.50 – she told me. I didn’t bother to tell her I don’t drink.

Howlers was not what I expected. Well I wasn’t’ quite sure what to expect, but when I walked in I had this flash back to the bars my father would drag me to when I was a kid. I call them “Old Man Bars”. You know, the kind of bar where a bunch of old guys sit along the bar with a draft beer, an empty shot glass and a few dollars and change sitting in front of them. Howlers was half Old Man Bar and half rock club. In the rock club part the stage was huge and there were t-shirts on the ceiling from the bands that had played the venue. Jo said they were shirts that the bands had tried to get her to wear over the years. ha, hmmm.

I played to a crowd of about 15 people. 5 were my friends and family, 7 were with the other band and the rest floated in and out of the room and back to the bar. The sound was good and the house engineer was a cool dude who talked about ukuleles with me and was very happy to adjust the sound any way I wanted. Very cool – you don’t get that very often, especially for  a solo artist.

Robbie Hazen and The Riot

I played through my set and had fun with the crowd. At one point a woman came in from the bar and started dancing and then high-fived me after the song. The boys in the other band had great things to say after the set. I was happy, I made a few bucks and sold a few CDs. I was happy.

I packed up and talked a bit to the people that stayed and then got some water and ice and listened to Robbie Hazen and the Riot rock the house. In talking to Robbie and his band before the show he told me that they were planning a 300 date tour and they were committed to the van life. They were all in their early 20s and very happy to be there! I kept thinking of the song from “School of Rock” where Jack Black sings ‘You’re not hard core / Unless you live hard core‘. These guys were living the hard core rock life – I went back to my hotel room to my wife and 6 year old and slept in a nice soft bed.

Off to Cleveland to play another show in a more familiar venue setting – the coffeehouse. Stay tuned!