two benefit shows rocked...
This past weekend I played a second benefit show for Cal Robbins, and I just realized I never posted pictures from the first one.
The Funky Buddha Lounge in Boca Raton was gracious enough to host both shows, and both were a blast. The first show was held on June 16, and five acts played -- we raised over $500 to split between the SMA Foundation and Cal's fund. The CD's arrived the day before, and we sold a bunch -- however, there was a misprint -- a photo of Cal underneath the CD tray was partially obscured, so I haven't been selling the CD's except at the two shows. As soon as the sleeve reprints arrive (hopefully today!) I will put up a Paypal page for ordering copies.
Here is Paul Roub's photoset from June 16: http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulroub/sets/72157600382862890/ (let me know if the guest pass expires). Paul came all the way down from Melbourne to play a set, and we ended up pulling off an impromptu version of Jawbox's "Cooling Card" after rehearsing it once before the show. I also joined Alex's band Frenjen for their entire set. Since three other cellists weren't readily available to instantly memorize parts to 8 Jawbox songs, I finished the night playing a set of tracks from the CD against a backing tape (with the "vocal" tracks removed). It ended up working a lot better than I expected. Alex went above and beyond the call of duty again at the end of the night, when we pulled out a surprise encore of Metallica's "One" -- the Apocalyptica version rearranged for cello and acoustic guitar. THERE WILL BE A VIDEO OF THIS posted soon, I promise!!!
The Funky Buddha asked me back for a second show, so last friday (July 6th) I played two solo sets of mostly classical music, with the Jawbox stuff at the end. It was strange playing two Bach suites, Hindemith, Cassado, and a Harold Meltzer piece at a bar, but it worked (sort of). People seemed to enjoy it -- at one point, a crazy, immaculately dressed Italian guy bought ten CD's and handed them out to random people, while demanding that I play The Godfather Theme. In between sets a friend downloaded a midi version of it to his phone, which I learned and played on the spot (to the guy's delight).
More pictures from both shows to come soon!
