Rock Bottom Bethesda - 3/4/06 - Bethesda, MD

This Bethesda gig was the perfect remedy to an otherwise so-so weekend. Lifted my spirits right up. Always lots of young and good-looking people out in Bethesda, and this night was no exception.

This was our first "acoustic full band" gig as I had mentioned in my last post, and it was a blast! Ken had a very scaled-down drum kit along with some bongos and other smaller percussion, and I played quite a few "piano tunes" on acoustic guitar. A lot of cool acoustic renditions of songs we normally do, which gave the tunes a different feel and was very refreshing. I even found myself thinking, "maybe we should just become an acoustic band," but I/we like to rock out too much to give up our amp stacks and electric instruments. It gives you a idea of how much we dug the acoustic vibe, though.

We busted out a few never-rehearsed, never-played-before tunes, mostly requests that we tried to honor, including "Babylon," "Mr. Jones," and "Collide." We also played an acoustic guitar version of one of our own piano tunes, "Blanket," which gave the tune a really cool new feel. For me the highlight of the night was playing "Jump"--on acoustic guitars! I'm not sure that's ever been attempted in the history of the song. It killed, man!

Thanks to our man Rich for yelling at us the whole night and getting folks into the show, and for just generally being "that guy." You know what I mean. I met a lot of friendly people at the gig who said some nice things about the band. Thanks for listening. Probably one of the best crowds we've had in Bethesda to date.

Near the end of the show we were told that it was someone's birthday. The birthday girl, Amy, looked fantastic for the 37 years of life she claimed to have under her belt. She busted out some mad tambourine action and even helped me sing part of "Country Roads." After the gig we were talking to her and found our she lived 3 blocks down the street. So, amped up from the show we decided that we could continue the birthday party at Amy's place after we loaded-out. Amy claimed she had plenty of beer in the fridge, so we were all set. I took her number and told her we'd call.

After we packed up and went to get a bite at a local diner, I went to call Amy to solidify plans when I realized that I only saved 9 of the 10 numbers she gave me to call her. Sweet irony! Honestly, who does that? Man, I totally blew it. Chris said I ruined her birthday, but based on her jovial demeanor during the gig I'd say her birthday was already one for the books. No worries. We had some diner food and some good conversation and I made it back home around 4:30am. It was a good night.