Neil Fein's Blog

Did... tolerably at the Red Lion open mic. I could barely sing (still getting over that sore throat), and I couldn't hear my guitar at all.

Spook saw Bruce in the audience, and recognized him from when he played in his old band. So Artistic Differences-- all of whom were there-- played Ouch, thoroughly confusing the audience.

Before packing up for the open mic, I was flipping through my songbook to put together a set, and decided I was in the mood for covers that night.

Time in a Bottle
Never Had a Brother
Here Comes the Sun
Tears in Heaven
The Rainbow Connection
Dance In My Kitchen
Ouch (with Artistic Differences)

Much of this will make for a nice second, mellow set to counterpoint more energetic first and third sets. Yes, I'm looking towards building up my act.

I need more instrumental songs for sore-throat situations. Bringing a littler, guitar guitar does help me sing more softly, since I'm not trying to compete with a louder guitar, like Kate. I won't bring
Millicent to a performance again until get the pickup installed. (That's an entire saga, now. Will post about that later.)

Tags: music

Labels: music

Beta page is up on Millicent, my fingerstyle guitar.

Tags: music

Labels: music

Where to start with the Wicked Winter Renaissance Faire...? This post is late, because after spending 12 hours working at the Faire, plus setup/breakdown time on both ends, I've been pretty wiped out.

The Faire was a combination of Rennaisance, Goth, and Kink communities. Oddly enough, it worked well. A lot of thought was obviously put into the blend.

There were three stages with performers. I worked the main stage; from what I saw, the other stages were acts with either drum groups, sing-alongs, or stuff that didn't fit into the "A" stage schedule.

As I posted earlier, I was hired to be The PA Guy, which means setting up the PA, working the board, and in general making performers sound as good as possible.

After getting the mics, speakers, amp and whatnot set up, the first performer -- the Cast of the faire, who were on stage three times over the day -- told me that they'd not need mics. Of course, nobody waay across the room heard them, but they did attract a small circle of audience, getting larger as the day went on.

Did I mention that there were no chairs? I don't mean to rip on the festival organizers, they did an incredible job overall. But a dedicated audience area would have taken care of many of the overcrowding problems they had later in the evening. The purpose of the cast is, as far as I understand it, to bookend and give an Renny (i.e., rennaissance-like) atmosphere to the other sets. Some of these sets fit into the middle-agey-motif, some not.

I don't remember everybody, here are those I do, in order. If I left you out, email me and I'll add you.

The first big performer was the Wyrd Sisters. (Folks, if you have a weblink, send it my way and I'd be happy to link here.) They were great singers, but their backing was from CDs. Once we got some equipment problems worked out, they sounded good.

Next up was A Halo Called Fred. In between songs, Eric Vitner played Halo videos and some funny, surreal short films: The Territory and The Robbery. Halo played well, although Adam needs a new pickup in that guitar of his, the one he has was overloading the preamp in the mixing board. Except for that bit, Halo sounded great! The videos and movies gave the set a nice feel.

The Itty Bitty Shakespeare troupe performed "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Abridged" (as lisenced from the Reduced Shakespeare Company). A

The goth-scene star Voltaire did a set, performing to a very responsive audience. His music isn't my speed, but he's a great performer, and he has great stage presence.

Jason Webley finished up the Faire, with a guitar-and-accordian set that brings some new life to the collective singer-songwriter persona. Last night, I wrote an Amazon review of his record, Against the Night, which was listening to then. Amazing songs, amazing pacing. I'll be buying more of Jason's albums. And I hope to see him live again, maybe even not behind a mixing board! He needs to come back to NJ, and soon!

There were other acts, and some whip demonstrations during which I didscovered, you can make the crack of a whip sound louder even when the mics are across the room. High frequencies carry well, and subtle reverb added to the acoustics of a large room sounds great!

A few tips for performers, at events like this:

• It's your job to sing and play well, and to keep the audience in the palm of your hand. We'll worry about making you louder, equalized, and balanced. And as you suddenly get louder, or softer, it's out job to deal with that as well.


• If your act absolutely depends on playing a CD for cues or backing tracks, or having a direct box for your guitar, or anything else, do not assume there will be a CD player or direct box or whatever gadget there unless you've spoken to the engineer personally. Bring that little portable CD walkman or iPod, one that has an output. Bring your favorite direct box. Pack along your lucky performing socks. The overworked guy at the board is not a magician.


• If your guitar needs an amp, bring it. If you play drums and plan on bringing an extensive kit, talk to the engineer ahead of time (a few days before set time, not a few minutes).


• It's fair of you to expect that the sound guy has brought a PA, microphones, speakers, monutors, enough cables for the mics, and a few patch cables. If you have a favorite mic, feel free to plug it in, of course. If you need to roam and need a 50 foot patch cable, or a wireless, bring that.


• If your voice doesn't sound loud enough to you through the monitors, don't sing louder, don't get too close to the mic. (Generally, a couple of inches works fine.) Instead, trust that your sound guy will turn you up or down. Also, turn your damn guitar down! Playing at eleven means you're gonna overdrive the board. The lovely, mellow sound of your acoustic guitar will sound like a badly distorted, $59 knockoff electric guitar. Let the engineer handle it.

Tags: music

My voice sounded off to me, but Graz and Martha thought I sounded better. Odd.

She Told It To Me Twice
From the Beginning
Woke Up On the Fourth
Baby Driver
Rock Creek
Eyes Up Front

Tags: music

Two open mic appearances scheduled, both at the Red Lion in New Brunswick. (Mapquest Link)

• Wednesday, 8 February 2006
• Wednesday, 22 February 2006

Both start at 9pm. I should be on stage about 9:40.

Also, I'm manning the sound board at Jeff Mach's Wicked Winter Rennissance Faire, Saturday 11 February. If Jeff has stage time, I may play a short set as well. Check out his website; performers such as Voltaire, Jason Webley and A Halo Called Fred will be playing. From Noon to Midnight. Children under 15 are discouraged from attending.

Administriva: To get my mailing list of future events, email me with the subject line "Event List".

Tags: music

There was an act I saw this past Saturday, "Fresh Mountain Air", a duo who played a couple of songs at The Mine Street Coffeehouse. (This was 4 February 2006.)

Guys, hope you don't mind that I mentioned you to a soon-to-open cafe owner in Highland Park, dunno if it'll lead to anything but he seems interested. I gave him the name of your band, but since I can't find you on the net (are you on the net yet?) suggest you drop off a demo. Get in touch with me privately and I'd love to pass along his name and contact info.

Tags: music

We went to the Mine Street Coffeehouse tonight, which was hosting what Bob called "The Traveling Spook Handy Show". There were multiple acts, and Spook encouraged me to sign up for "the fourth chair"; I just realized that this sounds ominous out of context. It meant playing two songs over the course of the round-robin evening (on two different guitars, borrowed from two separate performers). Woke Up On the Fourth and Eyes Up Front.

I'd heard a lot of the performers before, at Bob's Princeton songwriting thing and at Spook's open mics. (There's one progressive-acoustic-rock-duo-thing act that really needs to get a CD out.) We should go to the Mine Street Coffeehouse more often. There's an "Eastern European" music thing in two weeks; Klezmer? Will find out...

Tags: music

I wrote a new song, over the last two evenings. Last week, Grazina uttered the phrase, "When we were monkeys" and I ended up with a song, When I Was a Monkey.

(Edit: I checked, and Graz said "When we were apes".)

It still needs a bridge, and it could be more unified, but I think it's a real honest-to-goodness song, the best I've written in a year.

Will be playing an open mic next week, maybe I can audition the new song then.

Tags: music