Kristi and I play several different kinds of bookings in order to be able to play my songs. We don't play any original material as "Pressure Ridge". There was a time when we would play a handful of my songs as Pressure Ridge, but we stopped doing that entirely when our drum machine broke, or maybe before then as I began to see my songs as a liability with that act. At the very least, it was disconcerting when we would play one of the many excellent songs I have written and you could feel the enthusiasm of the audience die . . . immediately. I don't think we lost any work over it, and there was often someone who would be appreciative of the work I had done, but not always.
If you book us for an event, and don't pay us any money we will almost certainly be mostly, if not all original. We don't EVER play as Pressure Ridge for free, or even remotely free. That particular configuration is definitely the commercial department of Steve and Kristi Nebel. Also, you will never see me playing an acoustic guitar with Pressure Ridge. Consequently, the truth is that I've logged many more hours with an electric guitar strapped to my shoulder than I have an acoustic guitar. Enough on this subject.
As "Steve and Kristi Nebel" things have developed so that the less you pay us, the less likely we are to play anything but my songs. You won't get a show that is worth any less, as we will always do our best to entertain you, and play well, but you will only get the show that we "want" to give you. We play nursing homes, retirement homes, etc. where we are paid a little bit of money to enough money to actually make it worth our while and at those venues we play a mix of original and cover tunes, mostly folky kind of stuff.
On the other hand, four fingers and a thumb. We have gone through various configurations over the years that played pubs, and coffee houses. These places are businesses, and I would expect them to pay me for playing, but these days I'm afraid, they don't. Some coffee houses will give you a latte, and a free cookie for playing, but no money. They will put a tip jar out for you, but it's up to you to get it filled. Many of them don't even create an environment that is at all friendly to live music, such as the Mandolin Cafe in Tacoma. If you drop in there to see an act you will see everyone struggling to talk over the performers, and doing their best to ignore them, often regarding them more as an annoyance than an entertainment. On the other hand, some of the best acoustic and folk performers in the Pacific Northwest have played there on occasion.
Last night we played in West Seattle at a place we have played several times before. It is the C & P Coffee Co. They are a mom and pop business, and a neighborhood institution. They serve desserts, coffee, soft drinks, high quality beer, and wine. We like playing there because they make an effort to set up the room appropriately for entertainers. There is a small stage, and they set up concert seating. The people who come in are polite to the performers, albeit not always very attentive. As I say they are a mom and pop business, and the proprietor Pete is always welcoming, and more than polite. We play mostly my songs for this venue, but we did play Hobo Jim's "Iditarod Trail" for them.
We do our best to publicize our performances, but last night there was not a single person who came in who was off of our mailing list, or as a result of our publicity. I suppose that, once again, speaks well for Pete, and his wife Cameron (who books the "bands"). It speaks to their commitment to having live music, and their appreciation of high quality performers, for instance Jim Page plays this venue. If I'm honest, I have to say that we don't go out to see/hear live music very much. If we do, it's likely to be at a major venue, and we're likely to be going to see/hear a big name performer, and we don't do much of that either. We do get to see a fairly large number of acts over the course of a year as a consequence of playing open mikes, and festivals which have several acts playing them.
When we arrived last night I can't say that anyone was actually there to enjoy the performers. They were just there, and they were polite enough. They actually didn't even applaud for much of the first set. It seems to me that they only applauded songs that rocked. Even at that, I'm not certain that very many people regarded us as "real" entertainment. This is a subjective evaluation of what we saw last night, and I could be wrong, but I wouldn't be wrong about how the audience "felt" to me. I don't know if I'm becoming an anachronism, but I do know that's what it feels like. I suspect that I'm not folksy enough for the folksy folks, and I don't rock enough for the rock folks, am not country enough for the country folks and have too much "high falutin'" content for all of them (not enough love songs). That would be one way to look at it. We often get complimented on our "quality" of performance these days. One would hope that performance is improving. We work hard to be more than just wallpaper when we do this act.
I hadn't had an opportunity to play one of these venues recently, and was much up for the opportunity. I still am, although it may seem I am not making all that many positive comments about these kinds of venues.
Ironically, even though they don't pay anything, it's not necessarily like falling off of a log to get a gig at one of them. There are many, many fine musicians willing to play for a cookie, and a cup of coffee but more, for a chance to play the style, and selection of material that they want to. We actually have gone even farther afield than Seattle to play this kind of gig, and have been playing them for years now. I will look for this kind of booking to play on the days that Pressure Ridge isn't working. If Kristi comes up with a paying gig, well gotta pay the rent somehow.
We will be working with Kristi's band, "Cowgirl's Dream" more this summer, and I hope we'll be increasing the number of bookings with that band all the time. It is a good sound, and it is one that is familiar to many people. The band plays both originals, and cover tunes with a preponderance of covers. It is an Americana band that plays some western swing. I am the lead guitarist and junior musician in the band, which is a challenge for me. I am constantly having to learn new guitar parts, memorize them, and practice the ones that were memorized before to keep them happening. Toby, the accordionist and I do a lot of improvisation. I am learning from listening to Toby, and from my practice. I love my red stratocaster guitar. It sounds great, and is a lot of fun to play. More later. Steve Nebel
Ironically, even though they don't pay anything, it's not necessarily like falling off of a log to get a gig at one of them. There are many, many fine musicians willing to play for a cookie, and a cup of coffee but more, for a chance to play the style, and selection of material that they want to. We actually have gone even farther afield than Seattle to play this kind of gig, and have been playing them for years now. I will look for this kind of booking to play on the days that Pressure Ridge isn't working. If Kristi comes up with a paying gig, well gotta pay the rent somehow.
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