On the way to the Highland Pub, we got lost about five times and had to ask for directions.  The venue is a bit difficult to find for people who don’t go to Simon Fraser University.  My friends got lost as well, so that’s proof that I’m not just bad with directions.

When I finally found my way inside, I was greeted by the other artists and band members who were working on a sound check.  The lead singer of Makeshift Innocence, Jesse James, tossed me a shaker and so I shook along to the beat of a song (at the end of the show, I actually joined them on stage and did the same).  I think I impressed him with my sweet shaker skills.  And he and the band impressed me with their humble greetings.  It’s so nice to work with people that are easy to get along with.

My friends arrived not knowing that the show was going to cost anything (to be honest, I didn’t know it was going to cost anything either), and they didn’t have any cash on them, so I had to pay for them to get it.  Not a great start… I was losing money already.  They bought a pitcher of beer and shared it with me, so that helped.

There wasn’t a great turn out at the show.  I think there were a number of reasons for that: it was Monday night (many students were probably studying), it was snowing, the venue was hard to find for outsiders, and all of the acts were fairly unknown.  The people that did show up really seemed to like the music though.

My set went fantastically well.  I think it was the first time I didn’t really make any actual mistakes.  I could have still done better with some details (stage presence, etc), but I thought it was a great show.  I had Alicia Krueger sing with me, so of course it went well (she always makes me sound better than I really am).

Makeshift Innocence and the other opening acts did really well too.  They all had a bit of reggae flavor, which was cool.  It made me want to go relax in the sun.  Speaking of relax… I really need to get to bed.  It’s been a long day (I just got back from the show before I started writing this).