2/4/17's Ground Up Open Mic

2/4/17:

The Warehouse,
Battle Creek, MI

(Ground Up Open Mic)

Setlist:

Catfish John - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqC9gjwsv58

The Way You Do The Things You Do

Dupree's Diamond Blues>

Mountains of the Moon

I Second That Emotion

All these songs (excluding ISTE) I learned in the week leading up to this performance. Mainly because:

I couldn't go by the name Catfish Juan without learning how to play Catfish John, now could I?

I always knew I could learn TWYDTTYD, due to it's simple lyric structure, but I never really got around to it until last week.

If you follow my other blog (onemoregratefuldeadblog.blogspot.com), you'll see that I recently uploaded a post covering the Dead's 1968-70 acoustical adventures, and you'll also notice how much I talked about the classic segue of Dupree's>Mountains. I had played it once before, but I wanted to relearn it just because the more I talked about the pairing, the more I remembered how much I enjoyed both of those songs.

Other acts (in order): T-Rex, a guitar player, Dr. Skonzo(?), Andy El, Chip & Mark, yours truly, female singer (w/ a really great voice)

1/28/17's Blues Jam/Chili Cook-Off (+ Introduction)

1/28/17:

Underground Stage - Marshall United Methodists Church, Marshall, MI

(Blues Jam & Chili Cook-Off event)

Pre-1st set; Ed Englerth adjusting the mics.

Alright, first official post! Some basic info: my name's Juan, I've been playing guitar since September 2014, and I fucking love the Grateful Dead

For some context: When I was a freshman in high school, getting into the Dead for the first time (I had Anthem and Workingman's on my iPod, having downloaded them from my local library), I was able to appreciate this music like I had never been able to do before with any other band, and I must've realized that I wanted to do what they were doing, because I signed myself up for guitar class for my Sophomore year. I started printing out a ton of chord sheets and brought them to class every day, practicing their tunes whenever we had down time, and being able to get better at chord changes over time.

Fast forward to the end of sophomore year, I learned that my family and I were moving up to Michigan, and that was a major turning point in my life, because not only did I have to learn how to socialize on my own instead of just by pertaining to a common-interest group, but on 11/7/15 I played guitar and sang for the first time in front of a group of people at the Ground Up Open Mic hosted at a bar dubbed "The Warehouse". What was especially significant about this for me is that I've always been very self-conscious about my singing voice, and has drastically improved since that day. Now, don't get me wrong, the performance was bad, with me playing solo-electric, but a month later I played acoustically for the first time, and a month after that, I made the permanent switch.

After going to their Open Mics for over a year, I finally got the chance to play in front of a new crowd. On 1/28/17, a reached a new milestone, playing for the first time in a different venue, in a different city, in front of a different crowd. Now, onto the performance:

Setlist:


1: Wake Up Little Susie - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PGpgqqTAd4
New Minglewood Blues - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EewIePJGtP0
I Second That Emotion
Weather Report Suite/Let It Grow>
Me And My Uncle

2: Seasons
Beat It On Down The Line
Silver Threads And Golden Needles (an attempt)
Knockin' On Heaven's Door (Ed Englerth Band joins in)
Not Fade Away>
That's Alright Mama>
Not Fade Away Reprise
I Know You Rider
Rocky Racoon (Ed Englerth on vocals)
The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down

1st set

The place sounded great in terms of the acoustics and everything. After the 2nd set, I went upstairs to join Jacob Bredshaw, 2 more guitar players, a bassist, and a drummer for the closing Blues Jam (I played rhythm, as I couldn't hear myself too well on the monitors, so I was discouraged to try any extended lead work). The only song of 3 that I remember was played was Born Under A Bad Sign. All in all, a good night (and the chili wasn't half bad either).

Blues Jam

2nd set