7.25.2004
Acoustic Tour 2004: San Francisco, CA
Thursday, July 22, 2004 – Sacred Grounds Café, San Francisco, CA
We rolled into San Francisco on Thursday afternoon with the clouds hovering so close to the earth, I thought I could reach up and touch them. I felt the history of the city in the cool mist I inhaled and for a moment I thought it was 1969. After orienting ourselves to the street angles and elevations, we arrived at Sacred Grounds Café and checked in with Todd, the host for the show. Sacred Grounds is a cozy little corner shop off of Hayes Street with 2 large windows that passerbys can peek into to see who’s performing. The small room is peppered with large comfy recliners and couches, all turned towards the 2 corner windows which, Thursday through Saturday, transforms into a performance area.
We sat down and watched as the other performers took the stage. I watched as Todd worked the room with his passionate renditions of classic folk tunes, then a singer/songwriter named Matt Swindells got up and played some of his original tunes. He's a one-man-band of sorts with a breathy blues voice that morphed into different instrumental accompaniments for the break parts of his songs. If you closed your eyes, you’d swear Miles Davis was in the room, adding a nice fuzzy trumpet line to his already ingenious compositions. It was a real treat.
When it came my turn to take the stage, I hopped up and started into Pages of Green. Now, I’m going to have to back track to my previous blog entry when I mentioned the importance of a good sound system for a good acoustic performance. This still holds true, but only when you have a sound system. This performance was going to be a new challenge for me because it was acoustic in the purest sense of the word - no PA. I had never attempted performing a gig without some sort of amplification and I was nervous about dynamics and projection. To my surprise, my nervousness helped me project out into the room, which was filled with familiar faces who had stopped by as well as some new friends I was to meet after the show. The unplugged nature of the performance gave me the freedom to move around, letting me turn my head in every direction and sing to everyone in the room. And my guitar - I never realized the natural volume of my guitar - it boomed and shimmered at the perfect levels making me appreciate it’s versatility and beauty. I continued through my set, now confident in my delivery, singing out in way I had never done before. It was really theraputic and I ended feeling more energized than I ever had after a show.
We hung out a while afterwards and talked to Zee (the cafe owner and very cool guy) and Todd (exchanging CDs - thanks Todd!) then headed over to a local pub where we caught up with friends and discussed what we'd be doing the next day (day-off) in the city. Asian Art Museum. Castro District. Fun!
Thank you to Zee & Todd at Sacred Grounds Cafe! I hope visit again soon:)
We rolled into San Francisco on Thursday afternoon with the clouds hovering so close to the earth, I thought I could reach up and touch them. I felt the history of the city in the cool mist I inhaled and for a moment I thought it was 1969. After orienting ourselves to the street angles and elevations, we arrived at Sacred Grounds Café and checked in with Todd, the host for the show. Sacred Grounds is a cozy little corner shop off of Hayes Street with 2 large windows that passerbys can peek into to see who’s performing. The small room is peppered with large comfy recliners and couches, all turned towards the 2 corner windows which, Thursday through Saturday, transforms into a performance area.
We sat down and watched as the other performers took the stage. I watched as Todd worked the room with his passionate renditions of classic folk tunes, then a singer/songwriter named Matt Swindells got up and played some of his original tunes. He's a one-man-band of sorts with a breathy blues voice that morphed into different instrumental accompaniments for the break parts of his songs. If you closed your eyes, you’d swear Miles Davis was in the room, adding a nice fuzzy trumpet line to his already ingenious compositions. It was a real treat.
When it came my turn to take the stage, I hopped up and started into Pages of Green. Now, I’m going to have to back track to my previous blog entry when I mentioned the importance of a good sound system for a good acoustic performance. This still holds true, but only when you have a sound system. This performance was going to be a new challenge for me because it was acoustic in the purest sense of the word - no PA. I had never attempted performing a gig without some sort of amplification and I was nervous about dynamics and projection. To my surprise, my nervousness helped me project out into the room, which was filled with familiar faces who had stopped by as well as some new friends I was to meet after the show. The unplugged nature of the performance gave me the freedom to move around, letting me turn my head in every direction and sing to everyone in the room. And my guitar - I never realized the natural volume of my guitar - it boomed and shimmered at the perfect levels making me appreciate it’s versatility and beauty. I continued through my set, now confident in my delivery, singing out in way I had never done before. It was really theraputic and I ended feeling more energized than I ever had after a show.
We hung out a while afterwards and talked to Zee (the cafe owner and very cool guy) and Todd (exchanging CDs - thanks Todd!) then headed over to a local pub where we caught up with friends and discussed what we'd be doing the next day (day-off) in the city. Asian Art Museum. Castro District. Fun!
Thank you to Zee & Todd at Sacred Grounds Cafe! I hope visit again soon:)
