Third Time's a Charm?

Gregory Page playing the Lestat's Open Mic Monday night

So I went to the open mic night at Lestat's in Normal Heights for the second time Monday night.  I wrote my name on the little slip of paper, put it in the bowl, and went into their music venue next door to patiently wait.  24 names were drawn and announced, mine was not one of them.  Again.

Unlike last week, I decided to stay and watch a bunch of the other performers.  I got to see a bunch of really talented musicians, and I got very inspired.

In particular, a performer named Dan Gidley gave a heartfelt introduction to his two songs that was very emotional for me.  He explained that his wife passed away very unexpectedly five years ago.  He hadn't played guitar at that point in about 20 years, but he picked it up again and began writing songs to deal with his deep, intense grief.  His songs, "Where does somebody go when they die?" and "I'll never forget you," were works of such raw, vulnerable pain, I was moved to tears throughout.  He announced he had songs on soundcloud.com under the name dannygmusic, if you are interested in hearing for yourself.   

I really enjoyed myself at the open mic, but yesterday morning, it was back to playing and rehearsing at home for me.  Seems like my newest song, "Fly, Baby, Fly" is performance-ready, as is my new-ish tune "Pretty Blade Trickster," "Junk," "Picture of Your Touch," and "Home of Love."  I'm working on several relatively-new ones, "Bittersweet Departure," inspired by my leaving the East Coast for California, "Pretty Little Town," about the town I grew up in in Maine, "New Home," which should be self-explanatory LOL, "This Love," and "Sing + Dance."  If you're interested and not near San Diego at the moment, I have live videos of "Fly, Baby, Fly," "Pretty Blade Trickster" and "Bittersweet Departure" up on my official YouTube Channel (link at top-right of this page).

Tonight I'm going to attempt to play the Open Mic Night at the 710 Beach Club, at 710 Garnet Avenue in Pacific Beach.  The performances begin at 9:00pm PT.  There is some competition for time slots there, but last week it looked like so long as I got there a bit before the sign-up sheet opens up at 8:30, I would get to play.

I also just got confirmation of a time slot at the Open Mic Rancho San Diego this Saturday afternoon.  That's being held this week at Hooley's Restaurant at 2955 Jamacha Road. (If I've used GoogleMaps correctly, the city in the address is El Cajon, not San Diego - I still ask pardon for my S.D. "newbie-ness.")  That open mic goes all day beginning at 12:00noon PT, and I'm scheduled to play my three songs at 4:30pm.  The vibe there this past week was super-mellow, so I'm planning on playing "Dancing Wheels," "Love by the Lake," and "Home of Love."  So if you like slow, sappy love songs, come out for that.

All right, I'm headed to the beach for my morning walk.  After that, more playing and prepping for the open mic tonight in P.B.  Thanks so much for visiting here and reading, I truly appreciate it.

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