Countdown to 100: 6 - Fair Bean Coffee
Chronicling the final 10 out of 100 Open Mic and Showcase performances I have done since June 2011. This is #95
photo by Amy Zamarripa
Tonight I set out to catch the bus at 4:45, expecting to be at Fair Bean just a few minutes after 5pm. There have been a couple times in the past few weeks where one of the scheduled busses just doesn’t seem to show up - two will pass by in the other direction before the one in my direction comes by. It was a little bit late and a CapMetro truck pulled up to the bus stop and waited for a few minutes. The guy finally rolled down his window and waved us over to say that the bus was on detour because the train was blocking the tracks, and so if we wanted to catch the bus we were going to have to go a couple blocks south to the stop just across the highway. By the time he actually told us this and we started walking toward the stop, we could see the bus already there and we missed it. Which meant another 20-30 minutes of waiting, and not getting to the open mic till about an hour after it started. On the plus side, my beat-up bus pass worked when the bus did finally come!
Luckily there was still plenty of room on the list and actually a few people there to just listen (as opposed to all musicians, which happens sometimes) so I did my first set to a cozy little crowd.
I had a beast of a time with tuning, which was frustrating. I tuned up before my set, but as soon as I got the capos on it was out of whack and I couldn’t quite figure it out. I think though that between the hours of rain today, standing out in the cold for way longer than I expected, and then moving into a super warm and cozy coffee shop, well… yeah, I’m gonna blame it mostly on the weather.
In any case, the tuning issues helped dictate what songs I ended up playing, because I ended up taking off the capos, starting over with the tuning and playing one with no capos, one with only one, and finally one with the doubles. Even that didn’t seem to be quite exactly in tune, but I focussed on the low strings and tried not to play the high ones as much and I think it worked out good enough for folk-rock & roll open mic.
I was last on the official list, and most people left after that, so the remaining of us circled up on the couches and went around playing a couple more songs for each other. It was a sweet way to finish off the night.
Songs:
Round 1) Keep Telling Me, Anchor, Winter Time
Round 2) Lazy Saturday, Wings
Host:
Amy Zamarripa
Location:
Fair Bean Coffee
2210 South 1st Street, Suite I
Austin, TX 78704
Sign-up at 4:45, Music from 5-7:30ish.
Favorite Fair Bean treats:
Iced White Mocha, Red Symphony Latte, Orange Bars (like Lemon Bars but with orange!), Veggie Chorizo Empanadas, Hard Boiled Egg
Other things I like about Fair Bean:
Fair Trade coffee, comfy couches, plenty of plugs for laptops, big glass windows to let in the light and allow for people watching.
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heathermillermusic posted this
