For the Love of Mic: Wood 'n' Lips Newsletter

Stop by the Wood ‘n’ Lips Open Mic at Frubble every Thursday at 6:30 p.m.

Howdy,

We were off to a late start with our set-up because Greg had a flat tire en-route and didn’t show up until after 6:00.  We hustled and managed to start the first set at the usual 6:30.  It wasn’t too critical—we had the smallest turn out that we’ve had in months; and a few time slots were left when we started.

Three of the guys from the Valley Music open mic came by and joined in on the festivities; Dave, who usually plays the electronic drum kit, John their resident bass player, and Curtis, who never fails to add comments during the evening.

6:30 – Tim Woods – I introduced my new song, “Two Week Party Animal”, to the Wood ‘n’ Lips audience; then did Steve Seskin’s “BFD”; John Denver’s “My Marvelous Toy”; and The Royal Guardsmen’s “Snoopy and the Red Baron”.

6:45 – John Cheney – John usually brings a keyboard; this week he brought a guitar to try new ground.  He writes his own songs; his first this week was called “Back in the Sixties”; next was “Mountain Magic”; “Tearful Lady”; and “Lonely Highway”.  They were songs he wrote many years ago and this was the first time he played them for anybody—they’re good songs too.  He was better on the guitar than he had led us to believe.

7:00 – Gregory Gross – Greg treated us to Jim Stafford’s “Spiders and Snakes”; Fred Kohler’s “God’s Gift to Women”, which, as usual, he followed with David Gates “If”; then on to Mark McGinn’s “The Centipede”; and Harold Groot’s “Baby Vampire Boogie”, with the audience miming the flapping of a bat’s wings.

7:15 – Bill Lodin – Bill was yielding a twelve-string and a brass slide; he started with The Rolling Stones’ (Keith Richards)“No Expectations”; then Leo Kottke’s “Sailor’s Grave On the Prairie” which transitioned into an instrumental he wrote for his kids; ending with Joanie Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi”.

7:30 – Les Armstrong & John– Les recruited John Rodriguez from the audience to play bass; they did Johnny Cash’s “Working Man Blues”; Buck Owens’ “I’ve Got a Tiger By the Tail”; Owens’ “Out There Chasing Rainbows”; Waylon Jennings’ “Good Hearted Woman”; and (Oops, missed one).

7:45 – Cliff Niman – Cliff can be depended on to bring a historical folk perspective to the evening; he did Phil Ochs’ “Changes”; Jack Tempchin’s “Ties That Bind” (it has made its way onto the sound tracks of “The Big Lebowski”, “Thelma and Louise” and the first episode of “Knight Rider” amongst others); and Bob Dylan’s “Pretty Peggy-O” (covered by the Grateful Dead).  Cliff recently found out that his aged Martin guitar was worth quite a lot of money—so I think he felt a little more obligated to play it now and then.

8:00 – Joanna & Mark – It was the first visit for the young duo; Joanna plays the guitar and Mark adds vocal harmonies; and I have to say they have a really good sound.  Their set consisted of Patience and Prudence’s “Tonight You Belong to Me” (I was stunned, when we were wee lads my brothers and I had mad crushes on the Lennon Sisters, it was one of their hits too).  Then they did an original—I got the impression that Joanna had written it—“Dream”; Jessie J’s “Price Tag”; and The Jackson Five’s “I Want You Back”.

8:15 – Bob Cool – It was great to have Bob back on our stage.  He played his original “The Blephartis-meoibomiam Blues”, about his chronic eye condition; Don Gibson’s “Falling in Love”; Glen Campbell’s “Gentle on My Mind”; and with Greg Gross, Billie Holiday’s “All of Me”; then solo again for, Mike Snider’s “If My Nose was Running Money, I’d Blow it all on You”.

8:30 – Dave Ferrel & John Rodriguez – These are the guys usually found at Valley Music’s open mic; we cajoled them into play a set; I lent Dave my guitar—he’s much more comfortable behind a drum set.  They did Bill Withers’ “Ain’t No Sunshine When She’s Gone”; Bob Dylan’s “Knocking on Heaven’s Door”; and, with some help from Greg Gross, Van Morrison’s “Gloria”.

8:45 – Jesse Eisenbarth – There was a little lull in the action behind the counter, so Jesse was finally able to play us a set.  His first tune was a brand new, unnamed number (he later decided to call it “Monoply”); he follow it with This Providence’s “Sand in Your Shoes”; and his own “My Ghost”.

9:00 – Greg Gross and Tim Woods – Greg and I, with a little help from John on bass, capped off the night with a set of The Statler Brothers’ “Flowers on the Wall”; Roger Miller’s “King of the Road”; Hank Williams’ “Jambalaya”; our version of Joni Mitchells’ “Big Yellow Taxi”; capping the evening by leading the audience with Dale Evan’s “Happy Trails”

What started out as a very lightly attended evening, swelled in attendance as the night progressed and tapered toward the end.  It punctuated the fact that we’ve had many “full-house” weeks in a row—it’s always good though.  Be sure to drop on by; a good venue is a blessing and deserves our continued support.

By the way, Greg Gross isn’t going to be there this week; wish Bob Setzer and I luck—it’s a bit of a scary thought; Greg has a lot of equipment for us to set up and figure out.

Tim Woods, Greg Gross, and the Wood ‘n’ Lips open mic crew

Photos by Greg Gross, and Tim Woods