Meat Loaf!

News flash: I get to play guitar in the Blue Room Theatre Meat Loaf tribute! Whoo!

Duck and cover

We're polishing up something evil from Alice In Chains for our June 6 show at Nick's Nightclub.

Thursday Night Farmer's Market

Mike, Brandon and I played on 4th Street during Thursday's Farmer's Market. We played considerably louder than any other street band I've seen during the city-sponsored events. No one complained. In fact, we had a surprisingly large audience, and quite a bit of cash in the guitar case afterward, which we spent on beer and Mexican food. Fun!

LaSalles report

I would love to post photos and video of our gig at LaSalles on May 2, but I can't. The boss said no-no until he gets back to "fighting weight" and we can shoot some quality footage with the Butte College team. OKfinewhatever. I'll just say that the gig was a blast, and I can't wait to do it again.

Friday Night Lights - MC at LaSalles

Yes, yes, ladies and headbangers, Friday is the night! Entertainment! Peril! Luminescence! My debut in Mike Comfort. Can you tell I'm excited?

"Wait, haven't you played twice already?" you say, not missing a thing. Uh, yes. And no. Our first gig was a warm up, with a substitute bass player in a bar with a sick singer and no sound check. The second was "unplugged," with no bass or drums at all. So this gig really is the one, with a cherry on top.

We're at LaSalles, 10pm. Chico's "biggest" small club. Smallest big club, whatever. Smells delightfully of stale beer, year round. Good soundsystem. Fits a couple hundred college kids. Mike's band has a decidedly grown up set of fans, too. I have no idea how many people will be there. But there's a small herd coming for me! You guys rock!

My fingernail has about had it. 120 hours in 12 weeks evidently is enough to rub away my nail. Rock and roll, baby.

Café Coda, April 19

Our show was just excellent. After setting up and rewiring the stage monitors to work with my mixer, I stayed to engineer the sound for the opening act, Marquesa Versola, who has a clear, beautiful voice like Patty Griffin. The crowd grew as we set up for our turn. In attendance were my mom and dad, Heather, Bess and Olivia, aunt Susan and cousin Anna, friends Kiel and Yvonne, Ben, and Garry—thanks for coming, people!

We played 20 songs in just under two hours, and the audience kept us floating with generous applause, many of them singing along with Mike's songs. Mike introduced me as the new guy, and I got a lot of support when the fans saw that I could walk the walk AND that I was having fun doing it. In turn, I introduced my family, mentioned that my folks are going to move to Chico this year (garnering a big cheer) and played "Happy Birthday to You" for Dad's 65th.

After the show, I was surprised at the reactions of my family and friends. They were effusive. I'll have to ask them to post their comments here, but in sum, it seemed like they had not expected to enjoy themselves as much as they did. I knew Mike's songs were good and that we presented them professionally, but I was very gratified to hear their excitement.

It was a great night, and I can't wait for May 2, when the full band will rock LaSalles!

Below, an excerpt from "Another Side," shot by Heather with her Canon PowerShot camera. (L-R: Brandon, Mike, Aaron)