It is gray, damp and comfortably cool today, and we are meeting early at the space in preparation for the final performance in the Guitar Circle Sundays series (season one...?). Hard to believe this is number eighteen!
Matthew Merchant has come down from Canada to join us for the show, and is with Brad at SC when Chris and Alex arrive around 2:30. Downstairs, another group is getting ready for a graduation party, making for concurrent convivial convocations. We set up for a circle of eight by giving one of the house bar stools a long-needed repair.
As we are setting up sound, a technical difficulty arises concerning our amplifier, and Victor is forced to depart to retrieve a replacement. While he is away, the group keeps focus and goes over common repertoire with Matthew. After about twenty-five minutes, Victor returns with an amp and is able to finish the mix, which, with Matthew in the eighth seat, has a more 'circular' sound. We wrap up repertoire work with Matt and take a dinner break around 5:20.
The 'party' portion of the party downstairs gets underway during this time, and when we are seated again there is an enticing mix of salsa and contemporary pop thumping through the floorboards. Victor gives Matthew the skinny on our improvisational tendencies and some of the circulation forms that commonly come up in our performances, with the group providing examples. We then move on to special group repertoire, giving the most attention to The Sunken Cathedral, Love is Green and Prelude No. 1.
As always (well, more or less), we go on at 7:30. It is our best house so far, volume-wise, with 25-30 people. A set a little more on the repertoire end, with Victor mostly calling the shots. We play for about fifty minutes, with no encore. Audience response after the performance is highly positive, and it seems like there will be a future for the group. We roll-up quickly, and head out as a group for a post-series celebration.
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