Tyson's Tavern Review - September 18, 2008
Limping through the red double doors with my 60lb AC-30 guitar amp swinging from my hands, I realized that this was a place for unplugged acts. There was barely any room to lay our amps, guitar cases, and drums out without obstructing the nearest dining booth. Dean, the owner, was stressed at our arrival. "I thought there was only going to be one PA system," he stated as if he just got billed for a new car that he didn't even purchase. But I was confident. Steve, Derek, and I were well-practiced, and we were on time.
This place was small. Too small for four acts! But there was a warmth in the air, after we managed to hide our equipment strategically in several places around the bar. We rested off the load-in with a few beers and Seinfeld impersonations, while awaiting the rest of the musicians to show up.
We enjoyed Billy Thompson's handful of soulful acoustic covers. His Sam Elliot looks and time-worn voice singing Van Morrison's "Gypsy Queen" like a true vocal veteran was the highlight of the night. The other acts had still not shown up.
When he finished, three men dressed in golf garments strutted through the doors and set up.
Tom Puwalski and The Atonement played their "Jew-Grass" music and lectured about the ways of Jewish synagogs and melodic minor interpretations of lullabies. After eating a Cuban, which may have been the best sandwich I've ever had in baltimore, the clarinetist and his caddies finished. They left. And when Sean Holloran carried his guitar through the doors to perform the next set, it became clear that the courtesy of respecting fellow performers by simply BEING IN THE AUDIENCE was not at all an important theme for the night. He played his acoustic. He sang. He left (after spreading the feeling of having just lay out on a shaded hammock in Hawaii... and, to his credit, after a couple of our tunes).
We were then in the spotlight, or, in fact, the corner. But it felt brighter than the sun, I was nervous. This is a new endeavor. Performing, as myself, music written by me. And though we had the most equipment of any group that night, we may have set up the fastest, just another case of mind over matter I guess... in the first song I felt myself clenching from a bee sting I achieved earlier that day, but I eventually overcame that too.
By the third song, we jumped into the first original song of the night and though it wasn't a huge room, there was a great cheer which rivaled that of a baseball stadium during a home-run. My aunt came, even though it was two hours past her bedtime, and brought my cousin Lauren. Both were smiling and I was charged up like a skydiver in the open doorway of a plane.
Steve and Derek are such great musicians, when I looked at them they seemed as thought they were on auto pilot, programmed destination: success! Derek's girlfriend, Jessica, also seemed to be drifting, possibly trying to evade the Seinfeld re-run playing in her mind and replace it with a Lifetime special.
Dean was air-drumming in no time. My friend Patty brought a table of friends who were igniting a party for their Birthday guest A J. And the beautiful Michelle was dancing her cosmopolitans away. We ran at least an hour over the time we were supposed to, pulling out all the Beatles tunes that at least one of us knew and the rest could follow by watching each other's chord changes or foot tapping.
My good friends Meg Bowen and John Lawton also seemed to be enjoying themselves, not sure what to expect next: an original song or a twisted version of "Hey Bulldog." Guest performers included my father, Jon Banner, singing "You've really Got a Hold on Me" and "Money," and my mother, Christina Brown, singing "Oh Darling." I'd like to especially thank John L for braving the Royal Farms parking lot to come see the show. Unfortunately, he was not so lucky and got stuck with a missing car and a couple paycheck's worth of towing fees... One of these days, maybe I can repay him with a fundraiser.
Thanks to everyone, the Jess Banner Trio's debut performance was a hit. This gig has left me wanting more, and I believe has left everyone else with the same desire. First stop, Tyson's Tavern. Next stop, Merriweather.
This place was small. Too small for four acts! But there was a warmth in the air, after we managed to hide our equipment strategically in several places around the bar. We rested off the load-in with a few beers and Seinfeld impersonations, while awaiting the rest of the musicians to show up.
We enjoyed Billy Thompson's handful of soulful acoustic covers. His Sam Elliot looks and time-worn voice singing Van Morrison's "Gypsy Queen" like a true vocal veteran was the highlight of the night. The other acts had still not shown up.
When he finished, three men dressed in golf garments strutted through the doors and set up.
Tom Puwalski and The Atonement played their "Jew-Grass" music and lectured about the ways of Jewish synagogs and melodic minor interpretations of lullabies. After eating a Cuban, which may have been the best sandwich I've ever had in baltimore, the clarinetist and his caddies finished. They left. And when Sean Holloran carried his guitar through the doors to perform the next set, it became clear that the courtesy of respecting fellow performers by simply BEING IN THE AUDIENCE was not at all an important theme for the night. He played his acoustic. He sang. He left (after spreading the feeling of having just lay out on a shaded hammock in Hawaii... and, to his credit, after a couple of our tunes).
We were then in the spotlight, or, in fact, the corner. But it felt brighter than the sun, I was nervous. This is a new endeavor. Performing, as myself, music written by me. And though we had the most equipment of any group that night, we may have set up the fastest, just another case of mind over matter I guess... in the first song I felt myself clenching from a bee sting I achieved earlier that day, but I eventually overcame that too.
By the third song, we jumped into the first original song of the night and though it wasn't a huge room, there was a great cheer which rivaled that of a baseball stadium during a home-run. My aunt came, even though it was two hours past her bedtime, and brought my cousin Lauren. Both were smiling and I was charged up like a skydiver in the open doorway of a plane.
Steve and Derek are such great musicians, when I looked at them they seemed as thought they were on auto pilot, programmed destination: success! Derek's girlfriend, Jessica, also seemed to be drifting, possibly trying to evade the Seinfeld re-run playing in her mind and replace it with a Lifetime special.
Dean was air-drumming in no time. My friend Patty brought a table of friends who were igniting a party for their Birthday guest A J. And the beautiful Michelle was dancing her cosmopolitans away. We ran at least an hour over the time we were supposed to, pulling out all the Beatles tunes that at least one of us knew and the rest could follow by watching each other's chord changes or foot tapping.
My good friends Meg Bowen and John Lawton also seemed to be enjoying themselves, not sure what to expect next: an original song or a twisted version of "Hey Bulldog." Guest performers included my father, Jon Banner, singing "You've really Got a Hold on Me" and "Money," and my mother, Christina Brown, singing "Oh Darling." I'd like to especially thank John L for braving the Royal Farms parking lot to come see the show. Unfortunately, he was not so lucky and got stuck with a missing car and a couple paycheck's worth of towing fees... One of these days, maybe I can repay him with a fundraiser.
Thanks to everyone, the Jess Banner Trio's debut performance was a hit. This gig has left me wanting more, and I believe has left everyone else with the same desire. First stop, Tyson's Tavern. Next stop, Merriweather.