Hi emers,
Well, as a part of the continuing saga of my initiation into live performing by fire trip, I wanted to fill you in on last nights performance on live TV.
It was on "Ce Soir Ou Jamais" on France Station 4 and we went on at around midnight. How did it go? Despite my voice being a bit better healed, still a little foggy, but better control... and having a fifth musician added who has a beautiful voice and plays a great number of wonderful instruments... and despite having recently worked out a really peppy backing track to Red States and it had sounded absolutely fabulous in rehearsals... it was really mixed. Nobody made a mistake but me. I just absolutely froze. My voice quavered terribly. It was nuts. I was telling the musicians, it's like I had slipped into a vortex, because it seemed like some indeterminate period of time later I suddenly arrived in the studio and the performance was done, and I had some vague sense of having failed miserably!
There's something really strange about playing with amplification. There's so much out of your control. You just have to have faith it sounds good and let it go I guess. But I find it really challenging. Today we are doing a totally unplugged acoustic set for Blogotheque which I'm much more looking forwards to, as each time we sing in an un-amplified environment I enjoy it so much more!
Anyway, one more thing to notch off the list of things I haven't done before: live tv.
What I REALLY have to learn how to handle, btw, is my emotions after a mediocre performance. I felt a bit like I had to claim to everyone that I knew it sucked, and I think that kind of puts people in an awkward situation. So no more of that for me!
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 link link I'm a singer and composer living in Manhattan. You might like my music. Come check some of it out at my site. My Gear
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Written March 31 2009
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wow. this is like a soap opera...except with a decent storyline. great stuff!
i find amplication a pain too. i find it very hard to work out what is right an wrong. when i played out on saturday night i had some popping and crackling going on with the PA but I thought it was just through my monitors...apparently NOT  ho hum...too late now!good lucks on your BIG journey Fredo. very happy / proud for you. xx it helps a lot if you have a sound engineer you can trust. we always tour with the same guys. they know what we want. but still it can go wrong. that's the risk with performing live. it keeps you alive as well.
this sounds like an exciting time. i hope the good stuff outweights the bad stuff like your cold
it's a roller coaster ride...
I'm not going to look, but there's footage of the performance online already. Gulp. Here's the link:
link i looked! you are overly self critical...IMHO. i thought you really got into it and i am generally amazed by how it went, given your review. PROPS MISTER!
yeah, it sounds really really good fredo... you look a little nervous, but voice and other instruments sound fantastic!
thanks, guys. I looked. It's not quite as horrible as I remembered it being. Not great though by any stretch, and not really even good. I think I'm saved by the musicians, who did a generally excellent job, plus the song is a catchy and fun one. I just felt really disappointed with myself. I'd like to be able to be both honest and in control during one of these performances!!!
all in your head i think. vocals sounded fantastic to me. maybe not technically perfect (i dunno, i'm not a vocalist), but it's a really catchy song and as long as you perform decently your writing and composition skills have already got you 50% of the way, you know? i don't think i've heard that song before. very nice work, fredo! you're too self-critical! but maybe that will hep in the long run? you'll always be trying really hard. just don't forget to have fun, eh?
thanks bbwax. That's the problem. I felt it impossible to have fun and it sucks because the audience here in France is so ready to enjoy it! It's not like I'm in an open mic in NYC with folks who just want me to get over it and let them on the mic. Tonight folks have had to enter some contest to get tickets, so it should be a really warm audience. We just sat in the hotel stairwell and played an acoustic version of Sad Song. It sounded so pretty I started to cry. That's going to be the next big problem for me... gushing emotions! hahah.
i think gushing emotions is what people are looking for these days. let it flow. sounds like you have some receptive audiences there in france.
picture yourself in 10-15 years sitting on a porch somewhere, thinking about 2009. what memories and feelings do you want to have in your head about 2009 and all these touring experiences? i'm pretty sure it wouldn't be nerves and self-doubt. really project into the future and think about what you'd like to remember about this time in your life. make good memories man! relax, have fun, and let those fears fade away. okay, i'll get out of here before i start to sound even more like an amateur head-shrinker.  good luck, fredo!bbwax said: " your writing and composition skills have already got you 50% of the way" exactly what I was going to say earlier..........! woop! hey fredo - wheres the problem - that was great - now you are where you are - just enjoy yourself goddam'!!!! ;)
scary or not, better then hair vidioes!
i thinkyou are so used to performing so well, and having such a good singing voice that you've forgotten that about 90% of the world cant sing for shit; and that even your shittiest, but honest performance is always going to be better than most.
also yeah,saying you suck makes people feel akward. obliged to say that you didn't. dont do it. just accept what happened and don't try tojustify. saying you suck sort of makes you look like you are looking for compliments. Page 1 | 2
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