Slept 14 hours last night after a series of dominos falling lead to playing music in Brooklyn, New York, this past Thursday. A friend and music hero of mine (Justin Wierbonski) asked me to open for SeN. I would have been happy just seeing them play let alone get a chance to open. SeN reminds me of The Cardigans. The Cardigans are one of my all time favorite bands, they follow this basic formula: beautiful pop songs + an underrated backing jazz band + Nina’s awesome voice and lyrics = genius. SeN is duo band with kick-ass: drums, backing tracks, vocal loops, and two genuinely kind people.

No one was going to really know my music or care too much about my set, so I didn’t feel that nervous being the opener. During the set I looked up and saw about 15 astute listeners and thought to myself, “oh shit, good thing I practiced.” The mellow, “Sound of Music,” vibe I was going for was not going to leave an impression, so I kicked up the tempo and just started ripping on the guitar as much as I could. I had not played music in front of people for 3 years, so for months I berried practicing everyday in my busy work schedule. (I work two jobs and I’ve been picking up every shift I could get my hands on.)

I’m not going to see Jehnny Beth open for QOTSA. That is hitting me pretty hard right now, she is one of the best front women that has ever graced the stage. I remember I saw Savages 6 times in 2016. My life changed after those shows: I got deeper into music, working out, and some of the best things that have ever happened to me actually happened after those 6 pilgrimages. Specifically, I met someone I wanted to marry and I recorded an album with my then band. Fuck nihilism. I want to wake up with excitement. Concerts like those are a rare breath of life. Who doesn’t need another injection of, “life worth living,” right now? My last dose is kind of wearing off.

It is a 7.5 hour drive to NY and I actually own a monster truck (4runner), so driving my car was out of the question. I rented a Camry. I got extra protection so I could basically ram it into a wall and sigh, “no big.” I didn’t want to have to worry about narrow parking spaces, the milage, the gas, the scratches, and hiding my gear. It worked out ok, minus the trunk leaking. The water miraculously missed my amp. My amp is my pride and joy, it is a Marshall Studio Vintage that I bought years ago before the price hikes of 2022. I actually tried not to take it, I bought a Yamaha thr30iia and it was way too quiet. So I basically had a mini Marshall stack with me to amp my classical guitar. Justin said that was something Kim Deal does. That comment was worth the trip alone. The amp sounded amazing, and pared with a Pitchfork EH pedal one octave down blending 50% with a classical guitar sounded intoxicating. I forgot about home much fun it is to pluck a classical. I have a really nice Gibson L-00 remake, but something inside me was telling me to go back to the classical guitar. And I’m glad I did, the bass is so pronounced your fingers have bigger targets for picking, but you have to open up your grasp to hit the strings right; it is just really cool to watch, sounds dope, and it hits different then a nickel string. It’s harder to bend nylon strings and when you strum, I’ve noticed its more difficult to get a chord to fully resonate if you are playing too fast, longer refractory time in my case. When I bought the guitar I used (a Cordoba FCWE) I broke two strings in the first week, also was having a hard time keeping it in tune, and I change into open tunings at least twice a set. So I was nervous that it wasn’t practical for shows, but I gave it a chance and worked with it the best I could unconsciously learning how to play it better over time; I was able to stop destroying the strings and keep it in tune. In the end, I didn’t break the guitar in, the guitar broke me in.

I think for the future I want to apply what I learned from the show, practice more on the classical and get more grit, darkness, and twang. Major wins: getting there and back safely, seeing Sen, seeing Justin rip up the drums, getting some great pictures, playing my first show in NY, and my amp and guitar sounding great. Brooklyn was kind of noisy and summer is hot but I had pre-mediated so it’s all good. Hidden Hemp is a really cool place to see performances, I wish I lived in Brooklyn so I could see all their events. The owner, David, was very kind and considerate. Some of the pictures down below (the professional looking ones) are by a wonderful NYC blogger, Hiroaki Konaka. Over all, I was very lucky to stumble upon this opportunity and would love the chance to do it again.