No kidding: I got up in front of people and sang (!), with friend PJ on the guitar. It was actually ok and maybe I'll do it again sometime. In case you all care, here's the set list:
Naragansett Bay (trad., as done by Cordelia's Dad)
E-ri-e Canal (trad., silly)
Will the Circle Be Unbroken (trad.)
Hard Times (Stephen Foster)
Angel From Montgomery (John Prine)
And then Austin and Mike did some songs but they didn't take their shirts off like they do when they're rockin and rollin, and then Elaine and Mark did some Appalachian-ish folk with some help from PJ and Mistie, and then Mistie did her solo thing which is a really fine thing. After we were done (we opened) Erin at the bar gave me a water-glass full of red wine so I guess she liked it. We did goof up on the very first one, difference of opinion on how many verses the song had, but people just laughed and we finished the song. McMurdo audiences aren't too picky (phew). I did E-ri-e Canal pretty straight and I guess most people didn't realize that a song about a shipwreck on a canal was meant to be silly, but that's ok.
Acoustic night is in the coffeehouse, which is one of the last quonset-hut-type structures left at McMurdo. It's wood-paneled on the inside and one of the nicest public places we have, and of course they want to knock it down and build something else there. Something about the complete lack of insulation, go figure. It's cold when the furnace is off and hot and noisy when it's on, fortunately we had enough bodies in there for the performance that we could turn the furnace off and not freeze. When PJ was playing the violin he had to be strategically positioned in the middle or else his bow would hit the roof on the upstroke. Another musical consideration here is the dry air: stringed instruments get hit pretty hard, Mistie says her guitar neck is warping and she can't play below the fifth fret. Nobody can keep the piano in tune. Tough life eh? Oh yeah watch us suffer. it's almost time for me to stroll over to the galley and eat the fine, free food that somebody else has cooked for me. Sympathy, I'm really looking for sympathy here.
The Crater Hill Black Ops Blues Band (CHBOBB) will have its first gig June 1 over at Scott Base, as long as we can get the electrical differences straightened out. Should be fun, we're splitting the show with another band since we've only got 6 songs so far. Oh yeah, the Black Ops thing. some wacko conspiracy nuts back there in the real world have this whole theory about the medevacs covering up covert government activities being carried out down here by the Raytheon Black Ops division, check them out:
http://www.enterprisemission.com/antarctica.htm
http://www.enterprisemission.com/ant2.htm
Some people got way too much time on their hands.
[After lunch] Oh my God, we've got something real to worry about now! Some local nutcases have kidnapped the galley's best heating/warming oven and sent a ransom note demanding pizza every day. We're determined not to cave in to terrorism.
Nothing but the latest news -
-Sarah