microphone check, 1...2... what is this?!

d willie comin' through with the roughneck business.

props to all of you who got my 'tribe called quest' reference there.

so tonight i'm helping jamie, my aspiring music promoter of a sister-in-law, set up a raggedy ass p.a. at starbucks for the second ever starbucks open mic. jamie helped get this event off the ground at her current place of employment, and it's very cool of her because until now there has only been one open mic venue in town, once a week. i'm very proud of her. but i'm not proud of the mediocre sound system i'll be supplying.

i'm borrowing one of the college microphones (with permission, dad) and plugging it into an old gorilla amp i have from my band geek days in junior high. the guitar will be plugged into a larger fender amp i have from when timmy and i thought we should learn how to play electric guitar. i soon realized that the electric guitar is an entirely different animal from the acoustic, with a completely different set of skills. i think timmy realized the same. so, i bought an acoustic guitar with a pickup, and now i can play it through the amp, while the electric sits in the corner gathering dust. it comes out a few times a year when i'm laying down tracks on my computer.

but i digress. anyway, this lo-fi, low-rent sound system i'm setting up ought to do the trick. but i'm dubious. thankfully, i get to go first and try it out. and i am looking forward to that. it's my first open mic at a coffee house, just like bob dylan and joan baez over 40 years ago.

of course, bob and joan didn't play at a starbucks.

"hey mister starbucks guy
please brew a drink for me
and don't forget the insulating sleeve
i promise that i'll use it!"

(the preceding was sung to the tune of "mr. tambourine man")