My solo performance at Starbuck’s last night wasn’t quite as smooth as
I would have liked. I was running a bit hot and cold, with a repeating
pattern of one song coming out about as good as I’ve ever played it,
then the next coming dangerously close to a train wreck. It ended on a
high note, so I was happy about that, and the crowd was very nice.

Largely as a result of last night’s experience, I’ve decided that I should
try to perform in front of people more often, to get more stage experience
and hopefully learn to suppress the pre-performance jitters a bit. I have a
few contacts at restaurants, cafes, and such, so maybe I’ll be able to work
out some regular monthly gigs at a few places.

I also discovered last night that I apparently have a short in my mono-stereo
Stick cable. In the middle of a song in the second set, I could hear some
static in the bass side like the signal was about to go out. Luckily I
had the presence of mind to quickly flip my pickup switch to mono, and
then finished the show playing through only the melody side pickups. It
went so smoothly, I really doubt if anyone noticed the change. I got home
at about 2:30am and immediately called Stick Enterprises to order new
cables.