BIG WOMEN

Hello from Music City! Or, I should probably be starting these blog posts out with, "Dear Diary," shouldn't I? Haha!

It's freaking cold here. I know I'm originally from Michigan, but DAMN! This is ridiculous!

But, it's always warm during open mic and writer's nights! I played at the Commodore Lounge Wednesday open mic, and after I played, the sweet lady (Debbie Champion you rock!) who runs it wanted to schedule me for a featured writer's night (there is a difference between open mic and writer's nights, but it's a real fine line, I'm still figuring all this out). So she opened up her calendar to write me in, and started at February. Yikes. I had to tell her I only have a couple weeks left. She is booked solid until February, but will call if she gets a cancellation before I leave. Bummer, but it still felt great to be asked!

Also met a very cool dude named Sam who asked me to go to Idle Hours on Thursday. I've been there, the super smoky place? Ugh. But hey, why not? So I called the guy who runs it, Donnie, and he put me in a round at 9:30 on Thursday night.

So yesterday, Thursday, was another fun day! 2 1/2 hours of brutal YMCA classes, then open mic at Puckett's in Leiper's Fork, TN (I know!), I sang "Starting to Shake" and "Out of My Reach." The featured band was from Louisiana, called L'Angelus, two sisters and a brother and they were incredible. They're going to be playing in LA in January, hopefully I can make it!

Okay, did my two songs, listened for about another hour, and took off. Went back to Idle Hours, the smokiest bar in all of Nashville, and knew about 15 people there. It was like Cheers. Jack was there. I see him almost every night. Gotta get a good photo of him soon.

So I ran into two guys, Justin and Mike, whom I've seen around. Mike and I were in the same round together with another guy named Jason, I just met him last night. So, Mike is one of those guys I'm always talking about who speaks with no discernible accent, and then when he sings, he's got the thickest accent I've ever heard! That cracks me up! Super talented songwriter, he did a song called "Big Women." Yeeeeeeessssss.... "Big Women." So I was up there on the stage with him (the "stage" being a portion of floor), in front of a big crowd, with a smile kinda slapped on my face. I wasn't sure where the song was going to go. There were some lyrics that kinda... I don't know... made fun of big girls, but the gist of it was that "Big Women know what I need." Complete with twang! Um, so, it wasn't ripping on us biggies, it was a love song to women who, when they dance, "shake in places he's never seen." Whhhhhhhoooooooeeeeewwwww...." I just sat there, tapping my toes, trying not to cringe at the little offensive lyrics, and trying not to gloat during the complimentary lyrics, just trying not to react at all to the song. But COME ON!!!!! So, after he finished, I was the next to sing. I spoke into the microphone, "Okay, I"m doing my next song called "Skinny Guys..." Got a huge laugh, thankfully, and allowed me to blow off a little of what I was feeling. From Mike's point of view, his song is all about loving Big Women. That's awesome. Good for him. It was just a little uncomfortable up there. But that was my problem, not his. He's a cool guy! And, we're singing in a round together again next Thursday. I wonder if I can write that Skinny Guys song by then???

Anyway, I had a great time, sang my most comfortable songs to perform, "Starting to Shake" "Out of My Reach" and "Alive," and stayed until they closed the place listening to every single songwriter. I drank something called "Bud Light Lime," which I actually kind of liked, and got invited to a Guitar-B-Que on Saturday night. Food, drink, songwriters and guitars.

Is this place heaven or what?