cover songs » Darryl Gregory Music

An Open Letter to All Coffeehouse Venues

Apr 132010

Dear Coffeehouse owners/managers/baristas,

I just want to start out by saying thanks for having the guts to open a coffee shop and keeping it going in these tough economic times. I love coffee, but I love a great coffeehouse experience even more and Starbucks just doesn’t cut it (even though I do go there for a quick venti coffee on my way home from work).

I want to say an even bigger thank you to those coffeehouse owners that welcome in live music. You are a singer-songwriter’s life blood and if you didn’t open your doors to us we’d be busking on the cold streets (we do that too, but it’s nice to know we can come in once in a while).

But lately I’ve been thinking about my coffeehouse experiences and was wondering if you’d listen to a few (just a few) suggestions? I’m a veteran of many years of playing in a wide variety of venues and the laid back coffeehouse has got to be my favorite; no pressure, plenty of time, no drunks getting mean and demanding you play Free Bird and I can sit down and really be connected to the audience. But because of that laid back ambiance there is also a kind of laissez faire attitude towards the performer and the audience as well. So here are some suggestions that I think would enrich the musical experience for the audience, the performer and the venue and best thing of all – it don’t cost a dime.

Introduce the performer – It would be great to have a barista or the owner say how happy they are to have “insert artists name here” playing tonight. That’s it. Now everyone knows that this guy didn’t just come in off the street and start playing.
Prep the audience – Just a reminder to the audience that someone is performing and it’s not a CD player or Karaoke machine.
Play the performer’s CD prior to the performance date – If there are regulars in the house they will recognize the music and make a connection. We should assume that the owners “like” the music that the performer will play so why not include the CD in their daily rotation?
Pass a Tip Jar at the end of each set – It’s OK if the venue is not paying the performer, but the venue should tell the patrons that so they can understand that putting a few bucks in the tip jar is all the performer is getting. The audience just got some entertainment and I believe that the performer shouldn’t have to tell them that they should tip – the owner should.
Have a Conversation with the Performer in front of the audience – This one is a stretch, but for the owner who really enjoys bringing in talented songwriters for their customers to enjoy, sitting down and interviewing or having a conversation with the artist could really add another dimension to the evening.
Make sure someone knows how to operate the PA – There’s nothing more embarrassing than loud feedback or having no sound come out of the sound system. If there isn’t a person in the café that can operate the PA then at least have a sheet explaining how to turn things on and then off and a phone number to call in case it doesn’t work.

So those are a few suggestions. I understand that you can’t do them all, but a few would be appreciated (especially the tip jar one…). I remember playing at Eureka Joe in NYC back in the late 1990’s and they tried most of these and it worked well. Just think about it, huh?

Yours musically,

Darryl Gregory

ps – Do you have anything to add to this list? Leave a comment below and I’ll pass it on…

Musical Conspiracy Theory #27

Articles No Responses »

Mar 292010

I’m tired of conflict. I’m tired of hate spewing voices and aggressive acts of mindless violence, discrimination and lack of compassion. So — I’m gonna pick up my guitar and play, just like yesterday. Thanks Pete!

It should be of no surprise, but let me point it out anyway, that the only communal human activity in which it is impossible to interact negatively is in musical performance. Now, let me clarify that statement before some of you start to point out what you think is wrong with my statement. By performing I mean the people/artists actually playing the music via instrument or voice. They are the ones that I specifically recognize as unable to be at odds with the other performers on stage. Impossible. The listening audience may be moshing around and tearing at the seat cushions, but the performers are in sync and are harmonious in their actions.

Think about it. Have you ever witnessed a band, string quartet, percussion ensemble or kazoo octet not getting along as they played their music? Acting and dancing may come in a close second, but it is not he same – there is no sustained byproduct like the vibrations that fill the air from a musical performance. Conflict may arise from a musical performance but it occurs before or after the music is being made or when something or someone disrupts the performance. The music stops, people address the issue, but while the music plays, there is no conflict between them.

When I go to concerts the musicians are usually smiling. Sometimes they may have a stern face because they are concentrating in order to listen and interact. But there is no prejudice, no animosity, no hatred while the music plays. Even if the musician is performing solo there is an inner peace that allows the music to flow out of them. It’s like the act of creating music dissolves all hostility and soothes the savage breast.

But what about music that has a message? Music that inspires men to go off to war? Music that inspires love? Well that’ something entirely different from what I’m talking about. Performers have no real control over how the listener interprets the sounds. My focus is the performer. The pure artist that engages in music for the sake of creation. And I say that in that creation there can exist no conflict and no hate. As the Sex Pistols played ‘Anarchy in the UK’, the audience may have been bloody, but the boys in the band were in harmony and not in conflict. Until they stopped the music.

OK, so we have to be playing music constantly in order to stay out of trouble. No. But, as in meditation it’s what we carry away from the practice that sustains our ability to be present. So perhaps through consistent performance of music we can carry away feelings of compassion and empathy. Just a thought.

I’m in the middle of budget cuts once again. The school system in which I teach has been cutting away and we all know what gets trimmed: music, art and home economics. It would seem to me that these should be the last subjects to cut. Home Ec teaches us how to eat. Art teaches us appreciation of life, beauty and creation. And music teaches us how to get along – communal non-aggression. That seems like a recipe for the survival of our species if I ever heard one: eating, creation and co-existence. But the people with their hands on the purse strings say otherwise and choose to diminish the role of the arts in our lives. Sounds like a conspiracy to keep us angry, hungry and silent.

Well it seems my only response is to play my guitar like I did yesterday, will today and plan to do tomorrow and then get on my knees and pray I won’t get fooled again.

Drip 17: The Challenge of Singing Cover Songs

Acoustic/Groove/Folk, Articles, Songs with Video No Responses »

Oct 202009

hiding under the covers? –

I have had two successive discussions about doing cover songs recently. The first was with my songwriter’s circle and the second was with myself as I listened to Roseanne Cash talk about her new CD “The List” on NPR’s Fresh Air. Each time I have been confronted with how difficult it is to do a cover song right. There are a lot of bands/performers that cover a song just to have it in their songbook as filler for their second set and then there are artists that cover songs because they want to perform a great song.

The discussion I had with my Songwriter’s Circle was centered around how we can take a cover and transform it. The song that we were tossing about was AC/DC’s “You Shook Me All Night Long”. That hard rockin’ song is difficult to do on acoustic guitar and have it sound like AC/DC. Well then, that’s the point: don’t allow it to sound like AC/DC. So we played it slower and with a bluegrass edge to it and man did it sound great! All of a sudden I started to really hear the lyrics and feel the intent of the song.

The discussion I had with myself as I listened to Roseanne Cash involved honesty and soul. If you’re going to sing classic country songs that everyone knows, then you had better understand your reason for singing it. How are you, the singer, going to make an audience hear this song differently from the way we are used to hearing it? Do you really understand the lyrics and can you convey the meaning to an audience that may understand them a totally different way.

I have a few covers in my working songbook that I take out every once in a while. The latest song I’ve added is “One” by U2 and I am struggling with it. First of all how do I make it mine? How do I change it up with out ruining a beautiful melody and lyric? And how do I make it travel from the first line to the last line like Bono does? And – how do I create atmosphere with my acoustic guitar the way The Edge does with his electric and a lot of delay?

In my head I had a picture of Tom Waits doing this song. What would he do? Slow it down? Be more accusatory in his tone? Speak some of the lines? I tried to approach it from this angle. I also have a lower voice than Bono does so I couldn’t do the vocal calisthenics that he does and that gave me another indication that I should think of Waits.

The more times I sung the lyrics the more I felt the real anger that was hidden between the lines. Even though Bono sings this in a ballad style, I felt that there needed to be some punch to a few of the lines so that the person being sung to (and about) really gets hit in the face with the words.

I’m still working on this One, but check out the video of me and let me know what you think. I take the covers I do very seriously and I try to find a balance between original interpretation and keeping true to the writer’s intent.

Peace

~Darryl

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