Concert Report: Jim Marcotte

I've been meaning to get this written since last Friday, but I was hoping to use both the video and the webstream to help me out. The tape drive in the video camera is fighting me (think I'm going to need to go to direct capture, if I can manage it), and while we did stream last Thursday's concert, it didn't automatically archive. That leaves me to relying on my memory, and having time to sit in front of the computer and actually think. Both things have been a bit tapped out of late. ;-)

The RSVP message I'd sent out for the concert warned people that the forecast was for rain. Thursday morning, Traci sent me a message letting me know Jim really wanted to set up outside, if it was at all possible. I suggested she bribe Kiera, as that kitten seems to really love having the concerts indoors and apparently has a remarkable knack for making it rain on Thursdays. Whatever was behind it, we had rain that evening, so we set up inside.

It was an unusual concert for me, because Traci and family did all the cooking. There was her award-winning vegan chili, a tomato-cucumber salad, and Andre's rather fabulous rosemary lemonade. Ian helped set up, and they even provided compostable bowls and utensils, so I wouldn't have to do dishes.

This concert also had a new twist in that we took a stab at webcasting it. Jim has friends in SoCal and family in Hawaii that had expressed disappointment in not being able to be here for the concert, so we decided to webcast the concert to them. It'd been a little while since I'd done any webcasting, so there were some technical difficulties in the set-up. I wasn't getting a video feed, until Dirk reminded me to switch the camera over to iLink, because U-Stream can't handle the HD output from the camera. Then, when the camera had issues with the tape drive, that stopped the video again, until I noticed it had hung. And we didn't wind up with an archive, because the last time I'd webcast, I could have sworn U-Stream kept archived the show automatically. Apparently, now you need to hit "start record" as well as "start broadcast" to get an archive later. 

However, all those things were just interesting wrinkles. The main point was music, food and friendship, and we had all of those in wonderful supply. Jim started things out with a great set of mostly originals. At this point, I couldn't tell you for sure what he played, but I do remember enjoying it. One song I did particularly note was a brand new one, that I hope we hear more of in the future, called something along the lines of Queen of Tragedy. Traci participated with a story she had been inspired to write about Little Wing, and why Jim may have been moved to play it twice at his first wife's funeral. 

When Jim was done, he turned things over to some of the audience musicians. Ron played first, getting a chance to redeem himself for having blanked during his performance of Happy Man the previous week. We didn't really think he needed to redeem himself, as being able to handle that sort of situation well is a sign of good stage presence, and it happens to everyone, sooner or later. But we did enjoy getting to hear the whole song. After a couple more songs, Yohaan took a turn, and played us a few more, including Romeo is Bleeding. Jim got back up and played a few more songs, while Kim got her guitar ready, and then Kim played a couple songs she had written. Jim played a couple more songs to close out the night. Andre joined him to sing Mad World, much to the delight of those present. We didn't get a chance to hear from Mitch, because he'd had to take off early.

Thanks to everyone who came out, for a great night! I'd offer special thanks, but everyone who was there contributed, so I'd have to give special thanks to everyone (that's not a bad thing!). Perhaps, because he's not been mentioned yet: thanks to Tim, who joined us for the first time, for coming out and joining our community!