A new musical experience presented itself for Carl and I as we added a great new venue to our list of places we can categorically say, we enjoy playing.
The Firehouse Pub in St. Clair Shores opened their doors to our unique brand of entertaining on Saturday, April ninth.
Before we even brought our equipment inside, we sat down at the bar and had a drink with some of the regulars. Sometimes that is a great way to scout out the place and get a gauge on the pulse of the crowd. Sitting next to a guy who could literally walk to his house got us the inside track on what made the place tick. He even introduced us to the owner, Brian. (although we had met Brian previously at the Three Blind Mice Irish Pub).
Brian made us even more at ease and directed us to the manager Chad, who offered to set us up with anything that we needed. All that we had to do was to entertain the crowd, and we knew just how to do that.
Sometimes it takes us a bit to break the ice, so to speak, in a new venue. Here, however, I believe that we both felt right at home from the very first note.
The response was overwhelmingly positive after our inaugural set was in the books. Set up in the corner, it gave us a a great view to command the attention of the entire room.
Filled with happy patrons engaged in their relaxing dinner and drinks, it was our chance to take control of the evenings’ direction.
We began the night with some Jimmy Buffet, (always a safe choice), and then segued from Bob Seger right into the first of many requests at hand.
Beginning the second set with some country favorites and current hits, the evening was moving along quite nicely. The sound mix from our corner was perfect, in that we could hear every note being played. While all great places to entertain, there are many places that we play where we have to struggle to hear ourselves. And, hearing is the most important thing there is in music. Not here. For our little corner of the Firehouse proved to be the perfect spot to survey the crowd and offer up our rendition of so many spirited requests.
Halfway through the evening, we were joined by Sarah with her crew, to help celebrate her birthday. They were all in their mid-twenties, and feeling pretty good about themselves. (As they should have been).
They were fun and full of energy, singing and playing the Tamborine with reckless abandon. I must say, Sarah is one of the few women that I have seen actually play the Tamborine while drinking a full beer. Now, that’s talent!
One great thing about playing a new venue is that every song that you sing, seems to ring new in a different place. New pub, new people, new acoustics. Not exactly sure what it is, but the music itself becomes rejuvenated.
As the one O’clock hour approached, only the “die-hards” were still actively participating in the evenings’ adult refreshments. That’s ok, it was time for us to pack it all up and hopefully come back another time.
The staff thanked us for a hard nights’ work, and we them. Hopefully we will be back to 
fan the flames of musical memories once more.
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Want to listen to the first set of the night? Recorded live, April 9, 2016 Click on the microphone, and enjoy!
