Marathon music day

Yesterday was unlike anything I've experienced before musically. The Varnish Cooks played four (count 'em, four!) times yesterday. First, we played Park Ave Fest from 11:45-12:30 at Golden Link's showcase at the Kirkhaven Stage. Then we immediately hiked down to the lawn of a photography studio near Goodman (the bass wheel came in very handy here), and busked old school there for about an hour an a half. We drew a pretty decent crowd, gave out plenty of band fliers, and raked in over $100 in the guitar case. The studio owner really loved us (and the business we probably brought their booth), and said we could come back anytime that weekend. So after a little lunch break we did just that, and played from about 5:00 until almost 6.

During our last tune a festival crew member came up and told us we weren't allowed to play there. This precipitated a brief debate and semi-heated discussion between us, the studio (and property) owners, and the crew guy. (yeah, I'm gonna remember you, Rémy!) We were informed that the festival was a private event, and (even though we were on private property with permission to play) we couldn't perform without a permit. We were supposedly taking money away from paying vendors (it seems money was the real issue here) and the fliers we were giving out were a littering concern. The studio owners backed us up and argued with the crew guy to no avail. He conceded that we could keep playing if we shut the guitar case and took away the fliers. After all this the shop owners again tanked us for playing and suggested they may put up a music stage on their lawn next summer and have us as the headliners... great people!

Finally, we played at Starry Nights from 8-10:30. For this performance I had to wrap cloth medical tape around two fingers and the thumb of my right hand. I had developed two blisters and alot of irritated skin from all the plucking of steel bass strings. I played bass for about five hours yesterday, which is a first for me, especially on upright. It was quite the musical marathon, and was the culmination of three busy weekends for the band. I pulled in at least $65, and most of that was actually from busking on Park Ave. Hopefully we garnered alot of interest in the band, too... we'll see how many more hits the website gets after yesterday.

And now, I need to give my fingers some more rest, the poor things!