There was no one particular theme of the night, although I had picked all eight songs from Led Zeppelin's fifth album, Houses of the Holy, because that album's 35th anniversary hit at midnight. And I also wanted to perform at least one track from Coverdale/Page because it was that album's 15th anniversary that day. I also chose a slew of songs from the MTV Unplugged appearance by Alice in Chains just because I really like that album -- no other particular significance.
Since the place has a Cajun vibe to it, I started things off with a New Orleans-infected instrumental take on "The Crunge," nailing one of eight Houses of the Holy tracks right off the bat. In its funkier moments, I added some licks from James Brown's "Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine." This all went straight into the Fats Domino tune "I'm Walkin'." I think I had some nice rolling bassline stuff going on there. Improvising, I threw in a few measures of "Lady Madonna," another from the Fats Domino catalog.
"Under My Thumb" was next, and I tried not to play it like the original by the Rolling Stones. Earlier in the day, I had heard the Who's cover version of it, which is different. I didn't attempt to play it the way the Who did, but I just wanted to change it up a little somehow. I forget exactly what I ended up doing with the song, but it was all right. And I guess this was my first time ever playing the song.
Next was my first Alice in Chains song of the night, "Heaven Beside You." There wasn't much I did to the arrangement that I did to change it up at all; I just played it pretty straight. One difference between this attempt and all previous ones, whether on guitar or keyboard, was that I accidentally stumbled upon the correct chords for the "So there's problems in your life" part! Let the record show that in the key of E-flat, they are G7, Ab6, A+, Bb. I hope I never forget this important lesson!
The next song was radically different from the original. It was "Help" by the Beatles. I played a reggae version of it based off a friend having played for me on Wednesday night his former band's reggae version of it, recorded a long time ago. So I waddled my way through that one!
Next was the Coverdale/Page song, "Shake My Tree." I didn't enjoy playing this one. The breaks in the song don't sound right with only a piano. You want a snare to be there along with a bass and a guitar and a harmonica; that gives the illusion of a band being tight. A single piano doesn't do that at all, which you don't find out until you try it. And besides that, I can't sing like David Coverdale can. While the song was proceeding, I thought to myself how badly I wanted to end it early!
Since I had just done one song that doesn't fit my vocal range, the next extended that category a bit more. It was "The Ocean," Led Zeppelin's last track on Houses of the Holy. At this point, I was rather disgusted with myself because it seemed like these two songs in a row were jokes.
Luckily for me, the next song I was slated to play was a beautiful, mellow track I could play and sing seriously. It was "Flying Home," the lushest song on my college band The Interface's self-titled album. I thought my rendition of it was the most gorgeous one I had ever played by myself. Thank goodness, I saved my reputation with this song!
I went from mellow to grudgy with the next pick, "Brother" by Alice in Chains. The same guy whose version of "Help" I copped had been harmonizing with me on this tune earlier, which is why I picked any Alice tunes at all.
Next on my list was "King of Pain" by the Police. I did play this, but somewhere along the line I added two other songs. One of them was "Lola" by request. I knew all the music even though it was my first time ever playing it. I couldn't all remember the words, and neither could the people who requested it and whom I encouraged to sing along. I used the Kinks' trick of saying I wouldn't play "Lola" unless the audience sang along.
And also at some point, one of the regulars came up and asked me if I heard of some keyboard player who wrote his own songs, usually about relationships gone horribly wrong. I think this songwriter's name was Dan Johnson. I said I had never heard of him but that I had written a song about a relationship gone horribly wrong, so I played my original "I Beat the System." After it was over, that guy told me he'd first heard me play it another time I was out there.
So, back to the list. What shows next after "King of Pain" is "Dancing Days" by Led Zeppelin. This started off like a classical arrangement I was making up as I went along. It morphed into something more akin to the version we all know and love.
Next was a song I've been hearing on the radio lately and have fallen in love with (even despite my own negative association with the name Jennifer). It's Mike Doughty's "27 Jennifers," which I made into a medley also incorporating "Can't Explain" by the Who and "Over Now" by Alice in Chains. They're the songs I had listed before the gig. I think I ended up playing something else along with them too.
"Addicted to Love" by the late Robert Palmer was listed next. This would have been my first time playing it live, but I remember playing it once last December at an Alowishious Farhatt gig in Bethesda. Nobody in the band really knew the lyrics that time, and I was shouting out the chord changes to the group as we were playing it. Last night, I had the lyrics in front of me, so it was easy as pie playing it by myself. I didn't have to yell any chord changes this time!
Another Led Zeppelin track was next, "D'yer Mak'er," followed by the tune "Respect" -- the same tune Aretha Franklin made famous but the cover version by a '60s garage band called the Vagrants. I think it was that song that saw me inserting a little bit of "Come Together" by the Beatles. I got a thumbs up from Thunder while I was playing the next tune, "About a Girl" by Nirvana. I played it in D minor, like Kurt Cobain did in a demo version on the Nirvana box set With the Lights Out. The first set closed with my first-ever attempt at playing "Maybe I'm a Leo," the second song from Deep Purple's famous Machine Head album.
Well, I can't be sure of exactly what all was played during my raucous second set since I stopped following my script halfway through and wasn't keeping track in any way. But I started off honoring the script.
My set opener was "The Enchanter," a great tune from Robert Plant's album Mighty ReArranger. This wasn't my first time ever playing the song because it's one I have messed around playing on guitar at home numerous times. But it was indeed my first time ever playing it on keyboard. Now, I had in mind that I would work out a segue and play Led Zeppelin's "No Quarter" next. And that just about happened, but I actually played the last verse of "The Enchanter" over an improvised piano line that quickly turned into part of Traffic's "Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys." I was surprised as hell to be hearing myself play that. And then I reverted to "Low Spark" a few times later, during "No Quarter." That was fun as hell, and one guy at a table of four asked me what I had just been playing. Of the three songs I mentioned, the one he was talking about was the Traffic song.
Next up on the set list was "Into the Great Wide Open" by Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers. This was the first time I was ever playing it. I played it perfectly straight, no frills. But I do remember laughing really hard after I tickled some high piano notes following the line about the leather jacket with chains that would jingle.
After that, I was supposed to play "No Excuses" by Alice in Chains. But I did one long medley first before that happened. Since I had just played one Heartbreakers tune, I figured I would do another. "Breakdown" led nicely into Van Morrison's "Moondance" and Traffic's "Glad." I even did a version of Petty's fast-talking "this is an adult situation" monologue which he sometimes performs live at the end of "Breakdown." "No Excuses" did end up following that all.
Stevie Wonder's "I Wish" was next, and I think this went straight into two different Doors songs, "When the Music's Over" and "Riders on the Storm." The latter went on to include a verse of Bon Jovi's "Living on a Prayer." At some point during all of this is when I chucked my printed lyrics and set list away. I thought I would return to them at some point, but I never did.
This may have actually led straight into the following medley, or the following medley may have been completely separate. I remember combining Pink Floyd's "Pigs (Three Different Ones)" with Jethro Tull's "Locomotive Breath" and improvised Ian Anderson flute solo including "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen" and a complete rendition of Yes's "Roundabout." These were things I was playing only as they came to me.
That's about all I remember, and I may have played more. But that's a lot. And those last few songs all took a long time to play.
After all paying customers in the bar left, except for my Usual Suspects bandmate Thunder, I took the bartender's girlfriend's request for Elton John's "Tiny Dancer" and gave about as heartfelt a version of that tune as anybody will ever get from me. Of course, the words "Tony Danza" are substituted in the chorus in place of the title phrase. It was suggested that "Ted Danson" would also work pretty well in the chorus. It did, although we all know who's the boss.
So, that was it!
This morning, I participated in a commemorative walk from RFK Stadium to the new Nationals Park and received a 3WT T-shirt and two tickets to tomorrow's exhibition game against the Orioles, the Nats' first in the new stadium. Along the walk, we all got to carry a bat with the baseball D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty will use to throw out the commemorative first pitch at Saturday's game.
Baseball is back in Washington, D.C.! Let the games begin!
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