Music Midtown in Atlanta, GA: Day 2

This is more of a narrative of what happened at Music Midtown in Atlanta, GA on Saturday…

regarding karaoke:
1. been there
2. did that
3. bought the t-shirt

they played an hour-long set and i had signed up just before they started – i was #6 in line or so, but a few radio celebrities were inserted in the middle of people so they could sing. there were a few hundred people there watching/nearby (a LOT more than i expected, haha). i was nervous up there while they did the guitar solo since i wasn’t sure how they’d segue into the actual song and when to be ready for it. afterwards, the entire band said that i did a fantastic job and gave me high-fives, guys working backstage said i was awesome, and a few different people who were in the crowd said that i did a great job (gary can vouch for these, hahaha). i told them all that it was my first time doing karaoke, hahaha! it’s a lot tougher being a rock star than you think – i could barely hear myself up there! i guess i did a good job considering the circumstances (never done karaoke, can’t hear myself, in front of hundreds of people), hahaha…

and as a preemptive faq:
1. i can neither confirm nor deny the existence of a video of me singing
2. the song was “you really got me” by van halen, with intro guitar solo song “eruption”

it rained about 90% of the day. after karaoke we went to see robert randolph and the family band, and it rained for most (if not all) of their set, but they did such non-stop awesome amazing rock that it was worth it – we were all dancing and singing and cheering in the rain! he played a few covers (including a hendrix cover as well as a cover of michael jackson’s “billy jean”, during which he passed the microphone to an audience member to sing), and was generally all-around amazing up on stage too, playing practically all the instruments at his disposal up there. we got him to come out for an encore (partially since we were awesome for watching out in the rain). i had originally seen the band perform on jay leno, and i thought their songs were so catchy that i ended up buying a few of their songs even before their set on the show ended. it’s nice to see that while their music is good, their live show is even better!

afterwards gary went to go see some other bands and i wanted to stick around for john fogerty… the only song i was able to attach to his name was “centerfield” and i was hoping to see him play that, so imagine my surprise when i realized john fogerty == creedence clearwater revival! that was a pleasant surprise, especially since i already knew the lyrics to many of the songs he played, haha! i was even right up close for his set, moving up to within 5′ of the front (about 3 people back) before the set.

last band i saw was the black eyed peas – it was kind of funny and appropriate, my coworker keith sent me a text message about the black eyed peas’ latest album just before their set started, so i told him i was going to see them in a few minutes and made him jealous, haha… since it was still raining off and on, i found a spot directly in front of the soundstage (i actually leaned against it during the set) – this way if the wind blew the rain certain directions, i didn’t get wet! not that it did much good as i still ended up soaked. i wasn’t familar with many of their songs, but they played a few that i knew (“hey mama”, “don’t funk with my heart”, “let’s get it started in here” were a few i knew the titles to). unfortunately i was much further back (since i was where the soundstage was), so i didn’t get good pictures.

when they finished, i ended up just walking back to the hotel since everything else was either finished or finishing, and when i got back i had to hang up my clothes to dry since i was SOAKED. my feet amazingly enough stayed dry the entire day, even slopping through puddles and mud, hah!