Free show tonight at Bellefonte Cafe, plus dodging the bullet
8/22 '15
Hot Breakfast! has a free show tonight from 7-9PM at The Bellefonte Cafe (804 Brandywine Blvd, Wilmington). Good eats for people of all foodly needs and desires. We'll be playing a nice mix of our mellower stuff and our ridiculous dork-rock... so there'll be something for everyone. Non-screechy kids are welcome, since we're a family-friendly kinda band. (No F-bombs tonight!) :-)
(I should mention that we play for tips, though. So "free show" is relative.)
In other news, this morning I was cruising Instagram as I do in the morning, and saw a photo of many friends at a girlie event last night at a casino. My gut reaction was "Wow. Gee. Thanks for the invite." But not 8 seconds later my butt-hurt turned to relief, because I wouldn't have wanted to go. I like the people just fine, but it looked like a drinky kind of night, and I absolutely would have been deemed the designated driver, and I reeeeeaaaaallllly, rreeeeaaaallly dislike drunk people.
Drunk people used to be fun on those occasions when I'd also drink. But I'm not interested in drinking anymore, and babysitting and/or pretending to enjoy the company of drunk people is not something I'm willing to spend time pretending I like. Life is short, and I don't wanna spend it doing stuff I don't wanna do.
Plus, the casino is super-smoky despite the place's mega-ventilation... and one thing I hate more than drunk loud people is smelling like smoke.
Last night was my last night home with Matt before I jet off for 5 days, and the only place I wanted to be is with him.
Does this make me a party-pooper? Sure. And maybe that's why I didn't get invited. Or maybe the invitations only happened via Facebook, and that's the price I pay for steering clear of that site (see sentence re: life being too short to spend time doing things I don't like doing). Or maybe the event was coordinated by someone on whose radar I do not appear. Whatever. The reason is moot, because even if I was invited, I either would have politely declined, or I would have attended and spent the night in uncomfortable shoes feeling socially awkward, spending money I don't have at a place I don't like with people I'd rather spend time with when we can actually talk.
I can see why this circle of friends "jokingly" calls me "The Anti-Fun."
Anyway, I'm really not butt-hurt. I'm genuinely relieved I didn't have to go. Everyone won. Yay!
(I should mention that we play for tips, though. So "free show" is relative.)
In other news, this morning I was cruising Instagram as I do in the morning, and saw a photo of many friends at a girlie event last night at a casino. My gut reaction was "Wow. Gee. Thanks for the invite." But not 8 seconds later my butt-hurt turned to relief, because I wouldn't have wanted to go. I like the people just fine, but it looked like a drinky kind of night, and I absolutely would have been deemed the designated driver, and I reeeeeaaaaallllly, rreeeeaaaallly dislike drunk people.
Drunk people used to be fun on those occasions when I'd also drink. But I'm not interested in drinking anymore, and babysitting and/or pretending to enjoy the company of drunk people is not something I'm willing to spend time pretending I like. Life is short, and I don't wanna spend it doing stuff I don't wanna do.
Plus, the casino is super-smoky despite the place's mega-ventilation... and one thing I hate more than drunk loud people is smelling like smoke.
Last night was my last night home with Matt before I jet off for 5 days, and the only place I wanted to be is with him.
Does this make me a party-pooper? Sure. And maybe that's why I didn't get invited. Or maybe the invitations only happened via Facebook, and that's the price I pay for steering clear of that site (see sentence re: life being too short to spend time doing things I don't like doing). Or maybe the event was coordinated by someone on whose radar I do not appear. Whatever. The reason is moot, because even if I was invited, I either would have politely declined, or I would have attended and spent the night in uncomfortable shoes feeling socially awkward, spending money I don't have at a place I don't like with people I'd rather spend time with when we can actually talk.
I can see why this circle of friends "jokingly" calls me "The Anti-Fun."
Anyway, I'm really not butt-hurt. I'm genuinely relieved I didn't have to go. Everyone won. Yay!
MORE
Were there healthy chords?
Anyway, I'm just playin'... I know you're talking about my vocal cords. (I don't have too many pet peeves, but I have a totally irrational "Gaaaargh!" when people mix up "cords" and "chords." Everyone does it. It's in print everywhere; like in reputable publications. Billy Joel even made the mistake on <i>The Nylon Curtain</i>'s liner notes for the song "Laura.") This either means that people rely too heavily on spell check, or it's actually a non-error as our language naturally evolves. It also probably means I should get this giant pole out of my ass. :)
ANYHOO, thank you, very sincerely, for asking. (I mean it.) I'd say the month of 78% vocal rest did its job. Matt was a sweetheart and prepared over an hour of his solo material in the event I couldn't sing and he had to take over.<sup>1</sup> I really didn't know what to expect. I sang the first song, and my voice felt... different. I wasn't sure if it was just dusting the cobwebs off, or if it was a warning that things were about to get bad. But after that first song (which went well), I felt absolutely wonderful... possibly better than I've felt in a very long time. I sang the whole two-hour set, and I chose not to take a break because I didn't want to lose the momentum and energy we (us + the audience) had going. There is really something special about playing at Bellefonte. It's not big, it's not a huge moneymaker, but you can really connect with an audience... and that's really why we make music, isn't it?
I was excited that we got to play more covers than we normally do, and a few of our softer tunes, too. After the show, the head of the Hot Breakfast! Fan Club (yes, really) wrote me a long email thanking us for playing what we played, and he reassured me that I sounded really good. He's very sweet, somewhat Asbergersy, so I value and trust his opinion because I know he understands our sound and my voice in a really cool, special way.
I may turn this comment into its own OPW post at some point.
Thank you for letting me clog up your page with my teasing you, and with my navel-gazey blather.
Love from Peoria,
Jill-o
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<sup>1</sup> People sometimes forget that Matt has three solo albums out that predate Hot Breakfast!. They're wonderful. (I especially recommend his later two albums "All This Life" and "Songs For The Earthbound."</small>