No I do not in any way believe the resetting of the Mayan Calendar will bring about the end of the world or the end of civilization as I/we know it.
But just in case the world DID end this Friday, here is how my last ever musical performance played out:
Pulled up to Friends on 6th Street for the ETB monday residency about 8:15pm. Eric Tessmer helped me load my gear into the venue. Sitting outside the front door on our merch tubs, I had him sign the picture of him and a kid from Dallas whose parents took him to see Eric at Sundown at Granada a few weeks back. He signed it: "Keep the Dream Supreme."
As he signed it one of the local street sketch artists poised himself to draw either me, or Eric, or both of us. There are two of them. One is Art Randall, who Trintiti and I have several works from. He is awesome, great style, and quick as a flash. Then there is the other guy, who is not so much.
Stood outside with Eric waiting for parking to open on 6th Street so I could stow Goldie Hawn, smoking a cigarette, sketch artist working for almost a full 10 minutes. And I thought it was the Art Randall guy until I saw his sketch. Totally was the OTHER guy. Art Randall is more Ritchie Havens-looking now that I recall. It was Eric and I, just our heads/shoulders. And we looked like Beavis and Butthead. Dammit.
Oh well. Gave him a few bucks (for art classes) and found parking around the corner.
Kind of slow crowd-wise starting off, and we took our time loading on. But started to slowly fill after we began the first set with "Love is Taking It's Toll" by Anders Osborn. Felt good in general, we were definitely still tight from our long weekend of shows (another post for another time, which will include ETB's history-making set at the Saxon Pub...). But I was still feeling the effects of so many long sets in such a short amount of time.
By now our friend and Amplified Heat roadie Moses Blues had made an appearance. Always good to see him!
Halfway thru whatever funk Muddy Waters song we do my fret hand started to go tingly. Not good. My elbows/forearms have been problematic as of late (will go more into detail in aforementioned post for another time). But was able to shake it off and go on, and was not a problem for the rest of the set.
By the first crowd walk the place was pretty swinging for a slow Monday night. Eric managed to park his '49 International ("Olive Oyl") right in front of Friends after I pulled my van around the block, which is good for the show because I have taken to climbing into the back when I'm out smoking a cigarette mid-song. Works every time.
When we were done with that one our friend Dave Scher came up with his iPhone showing the stop-watch function: "You guys were playing for 28 minutes and 33.9 seconds!!!"
Yeah that sounds about right, heh!
Things started to slow down crowd wise in the songs that followed. Which was good cause we were all still recovering from the weekend and could use a breather. Caught up with our friend Kelley Premeaux (tattoo artist) and got talking outside to Gary the bartender about tattoos, tattoo studios and artists. And of course Trin has only been working for Republic Tattoo supply for 2 weeks now which was more than enough time for me to brain-fart on the name of the company, much less tell him about Kelley. Well shit.
By the start of the second set our good friend Roberto Balderrama stopped by. He's a really good dude and true music-lover. We need more people like him.
Second set is by now a blur. You play for 3 hours without a setlist and it becomes hard to remember exactly what you played. "White Room" by Cream is sounding stronger. Some guy tipped us handsomely to play "How Many More Times" by Led Zeppelin, which is incorporated into our walk-around. So we did that section again. And we finally closed with "Love Is Taking It's Toll" again, only this time we decided to play it completely different, and did it as a chill jam. Fun.
All in all my last performance before the end of the world was typical for a decent Monday night. Got to see some good friends, got to make some good music with some good people, got to assist in helping a kid in Dallas Keep the Dream Supreme, and had a rather terrible final portrait of myself and Eric drawn.
Adios world, you've certainly been fun, and what a ride.
I plan to spend Final Friday at the beach in Corpus Christi with Triniti, her son and GF, not giving a fuck. If the Gulf of Mexico starts to recede, I've lived on the coast long enough to spot the warning signs of a Tsunami. If some big meteor or something flies over head, I'll try to get pics of it.
Other than that, I plan to drink a beer or three and relax. And strongly urge the rest of you to do the same.
Take care and rock on,
Danny G
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