Goal - Perform The Ark: Check.

Last night The Back Alley Project fulfilled one of several long standing goals. We played the Ark's open stage night. Our last live performance was April 1, 2004. That means that 1,987 days passed between performances. I think we just might have set a record with that.

The open stage at the Ark works like this - each performer writes their name on a raffle ticket, which goes into a bucket. Around 8 pm, the host draws eight performers' names at which point they are guaranteed to perform in the first eight slots. After the 2nd or 3rd performer, the host draws an additional eight names for slots 9 - 16. If your name doesn't get drawn, you get to keep your raffle ticket and submit it next time (along with a new entry for a total of two) to increase your chances. Also - if you bring 5 or more non-performing audience members with you, your performance slot is guaranteed - and you get to select your slot (1-16).

The host drew the first 8 names last night around 8:00 pm. No dice.

A couple performers performed, then the host drew the final 8 names. Slot 9 was taken by a duo that had brought 5 or more attendees. Names 10-15 were drawn. Again, no dice. Just when you would have thought we weren't going to perform last night, The Back Alley Project was drawn as slot #16. We were headliners! In a sense.

Jason and I performed "Simple Days" as our first song, followed by some banter, then we moved along to "Locked Away." We were both pretty satisfied with our performances last night. It was exciting to finally play on the same stage we've seen Glen Phillips, Ellis Paul, Teitur, and many others. The acoustics in the Ark, even on the stage, were amazing. It was only a 2 song performance but it was a good (re) starting point for TBAP.

We're going to attempt to play every open stage at the Ark that we can in the future, selecting 2 different songs for each performance.

All in all it was an amazing experience and a major milestone for us. TBAP is back!

-Andy

The Full Monty (List of All 32 S4S Candidates)

Here is the complete list of original songs written as candidates for the Songs For Sale album, with a single more recent addition - #32.

This list might even be 'in order written.'

1 here's to goodbye
2 what you do
3 sad eyes
4 simple days
5 happy
6 not on your life
7 time to move on
8 satisfied
9 work it out
10 seasons
11 waste
12 earth to God
13 everyone Should Have
14 Johnnie Appleseed
15 Shift
16 Locked Away
17 Santa Monica Baby
18 Someone At The Door
19 Gone Astray (Prom Queen)
20 So Lucky
21 The One For Me
22 When You Come Back
23 Sad to say
24 Innocence Inside
25 Just once
26 Hiding out
27 She's Hot!
28 Your Island
29 Not Here
30 Ocean Blue
31 Trust
32 Sure About Me

The remainder.... from the beer that says...

These are the tunes that we've agreed to add to round out the full set list.

It looks like we'll be playing for about two and a half hours at the gig. Andy's hands are going to need Jagerbombs to ease the pain!

Sep 15
When You Come Back To Me
Easier - Glen Phillips
Everybody Here Wants You - Jeff Buckley
FBomb Amazed - TBAP
Hurts So Good - John Cougar Mellencamp

Oct 6
Gone Astray
The One For Me
B Time - FOTC
I'm Yours - Jason Mraz
Duality - Slipnot

Oct 13
My Stupid Mouth - JM
Hard Luck Woman - Kiss
Going the Distance - Cake
Someone At The Door

The Sugar Loaf Lake Sessions - 9/1/2009

Last night we rehearsed at Jason's place in Chelsea. Brought to you by Leinenkugel and Sam Adams, the "Sugar Loaf Lake Sessions" were recorded for posterity and we ended up with a surprisingly good recording. The following songs were rehearsed -

*Just Once - TBAP
*Not On Your Life - TBAP
*Hiding Out - TBAP
*Everybody Here Wants You - Jeff Buckley
*Second Chance - Shinedown
*100 in a 55 - Pop Evil

We discovered that "Everybody Here Wants You" is as challenging to perform for us as expected, so we plan to add it as a 'new' song for next week's rehearsals. On a related note, we plan to record EHWY for submission into the 12th annual Jeff Buckley tribute - once we get comfortable with our performance of the song, of course. The submissions are due October 5th, so we have about a month to rehearse and attempt a good recording of it.

Next week's rehearsal(s) will be a review week. In other words, we aren't officially adding any new songs to the list. We have quickly built up our set list to 22 songs since August 4th. Not bad for less than a month's worth of rehearsals!

Finally, we are planning to visit the Ark next week and enter their raffle to perform at Open Mic on Wednesday. If our name is drawn, this will give us an opportunity to a.) play the Ark! (2 songs) and b.) rehearse in front of a live audience before the November gig. We will most likely plan to visit the Ark regularly before (and possibly after) the gig to continue improving our live performances.

That's it for now.
-Andy