Brad Spurgeon's Blog

When I set out on the open mic tour last night, the idea was to do the Vieux Léon, then wander over to the Highlander, then maybe go to the Cavern. When I arrived at the Vieux Léon, I was a little disappointed – a lot, in fact – to find not a whole lot of musicians and spectators. Such things fluctuate. But I ended up staying the whole evening and foregoing the others….

The point is that there may not have been a lot of people, but those who were there were fun and interesting to talk to, and it also and above all meant being able to go behind the mic twice, sing six songs total, and play songs I do not normally play. When it is quieter, you can try different things out, plays less played songs, and have a completely different kind of evening.

That I did. So it was that among the songs, I decided to sing “May You Never,” by John Martyn, a song I’m just learning now and had to read from the printout of the lyrics I had. I have a lot of work to do on it, but each time you try a new song there is always that first try where you have to break the ice with yourself in front of an audience. That happened a bit last night. A wonderful song, by the way….

Michelle Blades did one of her songs that I haven’t heard before, and which she normally does with a band. But you can hear its originality as is – and as with most of her songs. So maybe she did the same bit of different effort that I did….

In any case, by the time the open mic ended at midnight, I felt I’d had a great, fun, comfortable laid-back evening, and I returned home. Thanks Vieux Léon….