tampa, florida - gigs

i like music.  i really like live music.  but nothing beats BEing the musician.  when i was a kid, i would goof off on the piano with my siblings.  in fifth grade my class learned the flutophone.  in grade school i played the trombone for the band.  in high school i was self taught the guitar with helpful pointers from my brother and a few friends.  i also bought a set of drums on craigslist but sold them only three weeks later because i didn't have enough time in my schedule to learn them well.  i like a good beat, and i like making a good sounding beat on anything that i can hit with my hands.  if i were to embrace a little more stage flair, you'd probably find me on a stomp crew.  but i'm satisfied listening to my own beats when no one else is around.

while i'd never played a cajon (cahone) before, playing it felt perfectly natural.  it's basically a box that you slap with your hands in various ways to make various percussion sounds.  i had the chance to play the cajon for mike and kelly at a few of their gigs while they sang and played guitar, mandolin, key board, and harmonica.  they are great musicians. it was great listening to them, and was really fun playing with them.   doug filled in on the key board too.

here we were at tgi fridays in tampa again...  this was my view of them while sitting on the cajon as we played.

this was at the old northeast tavern in st petersburg. mike on guitar, kelly on cajon.

this was the group that played after us at a coffee shop called tre amici in downtown tampa.  there was no cover fee for people to come into this coffee shop and listen to local artists do their live music.

having fun playing the cajon has made me toy with the idea of buying my own and seeing if anyone doing a gig needed a simple percussion accompanist when i'm in their area.  i doubt i'll actually do that but it's fun to think about.