You can always book your band in a club, but sometimes I prefer the challenge of making up an event – at a spot where events don’t normally occur – and just seeing what happens. You promote and hope for the best, but you don’t REALLY know what the turnout might be until that day.

Last Saturday’s “Dogspeed” release party was a good case in point. With the help of our pal Marky (from the Canyon Acoustic Society), we held a concert at Jansen Music in Watsonville. Marky’s brother Jody owns the store, so it’s a natural fit. In the spirit of “cross-promotion”, we were able to create an audience from our respective circles of folk, and it benefited all involved. The crowd saw a free concert, CDs were purchased, Marky publicized her February 28th songwriting workshop with Chuck McCabe. And Jody sold gear – at least to most of us in the band. Heh. In addition, we had adoptable puppies from Animal Friends Rescue Project, giving their organization a bit of exposure as well.

I had this wild notion of playing one guitar off the wall for each song, which logistically didn’t work out. But Aaron did give one of the store’s Samicks a workout after he broke a string:

Big thanks on my end to everyone who played, helped out, enjoyed the music, or just browsed around the store. It was one of them perfect afternoons.

This week’s also busy on the music front. Thursday 2/5 I’m running the open mic at the Wooden Nickel in Watsonville. (Email me if you want more info on that.) The day happens to coincide with my dad’s 85th birthday, so cake will definitely be involved.

And this Friday, 2/6, I have two solo things lined up: At 3:00 pm, I’ll be playing live on KKUP (91.5 FM if you’re within earshot of Cupertino…sorry, they don’t stream). And at 8:00 pm that night, I’ll be at the Mission City Coffee Roasting Co. in Santa Clara, opening for Chuck Brodsky (who happens to be one of MY favorite songwriters). Tickets for that show are available through Fiddling Cricket Music.