First day in our extended stay rental. It’s called the “Pink Door House”! Isn’t that perfect? “The Band” recorded one of their albums in a pink house (“Music From Big Pink”), featuring a little tune you may remember called “The Weight”. Let’s hope our recordings from The Pink Door House are as widely loved.
Our morning began early, with the sun warmly greeting us through our sliding glass doors. We spent a good portion of our evening last night just getting stuff done, like unloading ALL our shit, doing laundry, and grocery shopping. I was pretty excited to start cooking again, as I love to do it, and haven’t really been able to. Our first meal in PD (Pink Door) was a huge success, praised by esteemed food critic, J. D. Fredeen. A smoked paprika and lemon salmon, atop a bed of kale and quinoa, aside a seasoned batch of black beens, topped with fresh avocado, goat cheese, cayenne pepper and Himalayan pink sea salt.
See? Esteemed…
Anyway, we did indeed buy coffee at the store, but this morning it was so beautiful, we decided to explore our neighborhood a bit. We sought out the Frothy Monkey and had a gorgeous forty-minute walk there and back. Really great coffee too!
The sky was so blue! Such a welcome change to the past few weeks of weather we’ve been having. We had a lovely walk, looking at all the unique houses in Nashville’s East Side. We TOTALLY understood why so many people recommended we stay in this part of the city. It really is an entirely different feel than the last time we were out here. We feel completely at home.
We walked through a really cool, little corner park with a “poetry box” in it. It was located in a little spot down from Shelby Park and it was called “Safe Walks”. It’s basically a path that people can walk freely and safely, knowing that the community is watching and looking out for the pedestrians. I loved the idea of placing a little poem in the box. The first scrap of paper I chose to write on had the words “I love” written at the top in a child’s printing. I decided that was the PERFECT title for a poem I would create!
I know I’m no Dylan, but it sure made us smile and feel nice. A great way to begin any day.
When we got back, we signed up for our first open mic at the Twelve Keys Saloon. They describe themselves as a “Beer bar with a music problem”! And, even though their open mic sign-ups were from 12-6:00, when we signed up online at 12:02, there were only two slots left!! We get twenty minutes to play, which I feel is a lifetime at an open mic. So we are really excited to meet people and just start sharing.
So, fun fact. Nashville is watched over by everyone’s favorite vigilante, Batman…yep. Here’s where he resides, looking over all of downtown.
I have no idea what the actual name of this building is, but the locals would be remiss if they didn’t all refer to it as the “Bat Mobuilding”.
Anyway, turns out for tonight’s open mic, we assumed it was a pretty sought-after event, seeing as how there were only two slots left when we signed up…Well, turns out there were only four slots to begin with! Hahahaha! We signed up for the 10:00 slot, but the invite said to show up at 8:00. So, naturally, we got there at 7:30. We were immediately laughing as the act on stage, Janet and Charles, were entertaining the audience with their, “Too Old To Tour”, show. They look unassuming enough, but sang tunes about George Washington’s “wood pecker”, how the second word in “Happiness” is “Penis”, and how she has “A cute Angina”. Oh my gosh. It was light-hearted and bawdy all at once and reminded us both of “A Mighty Wind” or “Waiting For Guffman” and we had a ball.
When their set was over, the open mic began. Each act got twenty minutes. We patiently waited until our set time came. After a few numbers, a woman came into the bar. She introduced herself as a fellow PNW-er who has been a CS fan for years!! She used to dance with our buddies from Studio 6 Ballroom at our shows before she moved to Nashville three years ago. She was so excited to get to see us in her town, and said she’d try to make our other shows here as well.
It was so nice to see her, as it really felt like a little piece of home was sitting right there with us the whole night. She even got in on our crossword action!! Look out…us PNWer’s really know how to PARTY!!
Including the bartender, there were maybe seven other people in the place, four of whom were performing. Most of whom were only one ear cocked to the musicians. It may have seemed like a joke to have stuck around, but Jared and I have seen beautiful things come from even more meager beginnings. One of the acts that got up was a country, singer/songwriter duo, called Paramount Junction Band. Rory plays and Allyson sings. They are Nashville regulars, and they play out aaaalllll the time! They actually stuck around for our set, which I thought was nice, in and of itself. But, they got even nicer!
When Jared and I were through, they immediately jumped up and said, “Oh my gosh!!! More people NEED to hear you two! We’d like to give you some of our upcoming gigs!” What? Like, seriously…what? The concept of giving away gigs is foreign to us, as each gig pays our bills, feeds our kiddo, helps buy gear, etc. Our gigs are our work. But, here in Nashville, as we said before, the musicians don’t get paid for their gigs. The shows are just for, well, the dirtiest of words in the industry…EXPOSURE! However, when in Rome, right? I mean, exposure is actually EXACTLY what we came here for, so , yes, we will take those gigs. And, THAT, my friends is why you go out and play your balls off, even, and sometimes ESPECIALLY if, there are only seven people in the bar! You truly never know what can come of anything, so do everything like it’s gonna become something!
Side note: This morning, we saw that Paramount Junction Band posted something REALLY kind about us on their Facebook page. Like, they didn’t just blow smoke up our asses…they actually lit the fire too! Damn fine people.
