Thoughts On The 12/4 1 Uppers Gig
On Friday the 1 Uppers performed at the Skylark in West Seattle. Among the reasons to visit the Skylark is the tasty Mac & Cheese; at some point I’m going to dedicate a categorical thread to Mac & Cheese, but for purposes of this posting I’ll just say it’s mighty fine. We arrived early enough to get our gear assembled on the stage. Fitting a six-piece band onto this small stage is a bit of a puzzle, but we’re good at squeezing in. Jon Hyde and I formed an impromptu “Fender stack” by putting my Hot Rod Deluxe atop his Super Reverb. We performed a good cross-section of our original material and a few covers, starting with “Three Picks” which features the pedal steel. Also in the set was “Sad is the Lonely”, a fabulous instrumental tune written by Don Rich of the Buckaroos. Kris Geren positively slays this song and it’s always a big crowd pleaser.
We sound checked with “Ophelia”, an original song that we hadn’t fit into the set list. It’s consistently a hit, and a few people told me that was their favorite song of the night. I suppose that’s a good reason to be there early when the band is doing the sound check. One of the surprises at the Friday performance was our countrified rendition of “How Soon Is Now?” by the Smiths. It was fun to see the faces of the audience as they realized what song we were playing.
As always, the band had a great time playing together. It’s such a great joy to make music with friends, and this band is developing a distinctively original sound.