Duke's - 5/12/06 - Alexandria, VA

Nothing like driving on the beltway on Friday. Traffic, accidents--a circus of highway action. I actually seemed to avoid most of the traffic and thought--thought--that I was going to have a smooth, uneventful ride. BUT, two exits before I was supposed to get off things came to a grinding halt and totally killed me time-wise. It made me a little nervous, especially since it was my first time at this joint, but eventually I made it with just enough time to set up.

Duke's a restaurant/bar on the second story of a very nice hotel (Embassy Suites) in Alexandria. This was an early happy hour gig (5:30-9pm), and for the majority I kept a very mellow profile. The gig was mostly "atmospheric," but things gradually picked up and near the end people were singing along and clapping quite freely. Hey, they don't call it "happy hour" for nothing.

There was a very friendly family sitting right in front of me when I started playing, and they actually left for a short while and came back with more family members for dinner. A lovely bunch. There were also some other diners that came up and requested songs, and a very nice gentleman who wrote down a bunch of artists and songs he thought I would like. He might've been from Canada or somewhere up north, because I noticed quite a few "eh"s that he slipped into our conversation. Very nice fellow.

Overall, pretty smooth sailing and a nice change to get home from a Friday gig before 3am.