Good morning from the Venice Pier. I've tweeted that I'm dangerously falling in love with Southern California. The weather is awesome, my two best friends live here, the music scene is hot, (most of) the people here are great ... ugh. I don't know. New York is still my first love, but L.A. is tempting.
Played my first West Coast gig here on Tuesday night. Awesome show. AWESOME. And thanks to all of you that made it out. The venue was Genghis Cohen Restaurant, a Chinese restaurant with a connecting venue set up for acoustic performances. The room is really cool, too. It's set up like a small chapel - benches lined up in two rows on either side, all facing the stage. Very cool, intimate place to play.
The gig itself went really well. I don't think there were many uncomfortable moments onstage for me. I felt really good vocally and for some reason, everything just seemed to flow naturally. This isn't that unusual for me, but paired with the fact that I was kind of nervous to play my first L.A. crowd made that feat a bit more impressive.
I managed to pay tribute to MJ by playing my cover of "The Way You Make Me Feel," which I recorded on my 2005 album Acoustic Boogaloo, as well as ending the show with a Paul Simon-esque arrangement of "I'll Be There". I thought it went OK. I was really nervous about the vocal on the J5 song. Don't think it was terrible. I actually got kind of emotional singing it. RIP, MJ.
OK, the best part about Genghis Cohen is the restaurant itself. Such a great ambience and the food was ridiculously incredible. I strongly recommend a visit if you're ever around. I'm definitely going back just for the food.
I'm driving up to San Francisco tomorrow to visit some family and mix in some open mics. I've always loved it in the Bay Area and I'm really looking forward to that drive up the coast. Should be great.
OK. Hope you're all well. Here's my set list from the other night. Take care ...
- Now
- Untitled (The Man That I Am)
- Not Guilty
- The Way You Make Me Feel (Michael Jackson cover)
- Supposed to Be
- Rely on Fate/The Crime
- Bundle of You
- Wondering If I Belong
- I'll Be There (Jackson 5 cover)
