Last night was one of those rare nights when all kinds of strange and wonderful things happen. I played a little place known as the Viper Room in a spot called the Green Room. As you can imagine from the title of the room it’s not meant to be big, in fact if you have about 15 to 20 people in there, it’s hard to move around. The performer stands in a back corner and plays. What’s interesting is with the way the lights are set up you can’t see that small room when you’re performing.
Some historical bits… It was my first time there as a performer. It was the first public performance of Hero Unexpected. Another new song made it’s public debut as well – and based on the response, I think it’s gonna do great. It was the first time I didn’t have a long time friend in the audience, all new faces. It was the first night that my friend Donovan started his Hollowbody series there.
Some other tidbits… One of the people that came to see me is a new friend who does big things in events. He informed me about the Green Room. It was originally a meat locker. Then it was redecorated to be a hidden room for after parties. Since then it’s been redesigned and reopened as a mini room for additional bar space and now a small acoustic room for performers.
Oddly, it was the first time I was not allowed in a venue before I was playing. It’s a good thing I’m easy to deal with, but that was really odd hearing that until I saw the size of the room. It really is small.
I imagine that today’s choice could very well have played at the Green Room. Since there were so many little firsts for me last night I figured it would be good to find a tune about getting a first taste. This led me to Fiona Apple. I really could imagine her having played there. It probably helps that after me there was a female singer songwriter that was playing with a keyboard. She actually had a similar vibe to Fiona.
Fiona is pretty much an artist to herself. I have Tidal in my collection because I’m a nut for things done with Jon Brion. The sounds, the rhythms, the elements all extremely unique. Not typical pop due to the flowing nature of how the songs were crafted. I pretty sure a good portion of that has to be attributed to Jon. He’s very eclectic in his choices. It’s actually pretty surprising how well Fiona did with the release based on the nature of the eclectic vibe. It gives musicians that are off the beaten path a bit of hope, even if it was years ago.
What kinds of firsts have you had recently? Does the First Taste represent it? Do you have it? If not, go get it now!