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Set Suggestions?

May 12, 2008 10:53 PM

s I said before, one of my goals for the year is to get in front of people and play live music again. There are several obstacles to this sort of thing.

First of all, no one in their right mind would pay me to play at their establishment. Which means that I have to seek out open-mic nights. Which presents the second problem: unlike Flagstaff, I don't know of any open-mic nights at bars in Madison. I know that there are some at coffee shops or whatever, but fuck that. I need a bar atmosphere. So there's the first question for all of you who know more about the Madison bar scene than I do: what bar has an open-mic night?

The third and final problem is picking songs. I know that I for sure want to do "Born in the U.S.A." I've been working on a pretty decent version involving my guitar and digital loop pedal. I can set the loop to play the keyboard part and then I can play the rhythm part and, you know, sing. It's passable, although it doesn't rock nearly as much as the original. But it's still fun, I think.

So, anyway, that's one song. But I think I should have more. So, I'm asking for suggestions. I'll listen to pretty much any suggestion, regardless of genre, style, or artist.



6 Comments


mark said:

Freebird!

May 14, 2008 2:09 AM



RPM said:

I suggest you rework a heavily produced or elaborate song into a simpler guitar version. I'm thinking of something similar to M. Ward's subtle treatment of Bowie's "Let's Dance." I don't suggest that one itself, that's just for brainstorming purposes. One crazy idea, you could rework a song from Michael Jackson's "Thriller" album. Really, if you pick a well-written song and put in the effort to make it your own, it will kick ass.

May 14, 2008 8:08 PM



TheExpat said:

I like the Michael Jackson idea. You should work on Don't Stop Till You Get Enough. His early stuff (Thriller back) is probably the best, not that I'm dissing the Bad album, though.

May 14, 2008 9:50 PM



Lauren said:

For those of you completely divorced from popular culture (or for you people who don't have finals to avoid), one of the American Idol finalists did a version of Billy Jean that was very similar to what you all are suggesting. It was basically a rock/blues version that ended up being really cool. If you want to see it, try youtubeing David Cook. It should come up. Now I'm going to go study, since now that I've admitted I've seen American Idol, I won't have any friends anyway....

May 15, 2008 10:14 AM



TheExpat said:

Lauren, you have not been disowned (at least not by me), but you will instead remain under probation until you can prove your ability to recite Space Oddity in its entirity. Backwards.


Go.


Also, I'd like to point out my own ability to feel the pulse of modern pop music without actually being directly exposed to it (7000+ miles away w/o satellite). I'm sorry, RPM, but I just don't know how exposed you are to the whole mess and thus cannot vouch for you.

Acknowledge my glory!!!

May 16, 2008 2:39 PM



RPM said:

Me? I broke up with pop music and widespread cultural trends years ago.

I probably thought of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" album in this sequence: 1. "Let's Dance" is a song by a pop genius with a hired gun guitarist (Stevie Ray Vaughan), 2. "Beat It" is a song by a pop genius with a hired gun guitarist (Eddie Van Halen), 3. "Beat It" is on "Thriller."

My knowledge of American Idol is limited to the fact that the remaining two contestants are both named David. I know because the elevator news monitors in my office building report that crap as news.

May 17, 2008 10:47 PM



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