Greg Tannen (wrap-up)

Here's a wrap-up of Greg Tannen's visit to the Tree House (pictures of that night):

• Greg first contacted us in January about coming out. When I looked him up on CD Baby and started listening to music clips, liking what I heard, I realized I was listening to his brother, Steve! It only got better when I realized my mistake and found Greg's stuff.


• Greg was a wonderful story-teller and showman. He told great stories, even mixing story into song about meeting a woman in North Carolina and driving all the way to New York City that same night ("October," which will be on the next album). He went from quiet to soul to rock and back again, all with a very rich voice to match.


• Greg and I spent this morning at KPIG on "Please Stand By." He got to play three songs (including "Vegas Baby") and did pretty well at the small-talk with "Sleepy" John Sandidge of Snazzy Productions.
  
  
• Prior to Greg going on, they interviewed someone for agricultural questions, but they didn't have any. I offered up "What's the difference between sweet potatoes and yams?" only because I thought Juliet might be listening. BabyCenter.com says at 18 weeks the fetus is the size of a small sweet potato. She wasn't listening, but thought it was funny anyways.
  
  
• After Greg's performance, we both watched recent Grammy-winner Laurence Juber in the KPIG studios, and he was simply stunning. Laurence played with Paul McCartney in Wings in the 70's. Today he was playing acoustic stuff but was all over the fretboard. He ended with an amzing "Strawberry Fields." The following Monday Laurence was sold-out at Don Quixote's in Felton.
  
  
• While hanging around the KPIG studios, I met and talked to local singer/songwriter, Mike Beck. He really wants to come down to the Tree House. After listening to his CD on the drive home, I really want to book him! Nevertheless, I had to let him know we had booked through August, and after the delivery well see if we can pull off a house concert in the Winter.
  
  
• I had lunch afterwards with KPIG DJ, Arden Eaton, and we talked about the Peninsula Acoustic Music Scene mailing list I want to start.
  
  
• The song Greg sang in the first set at the Tree House, about the woman he met in North Carolina that ended up hating October in NYC? That's coming out on his next album.
  
  
• Greg's shirt was a limited edition cartoon from a group of artists in San Francisco called Gama-Go. They think streetwear fashion lacks a sense of humor. Greg's was a picture of a TV set with the Yeti beating Deathbot in a wrestling match.
  
  
• I had my good friend and best man, Steve Zmak, hang four of his black-and-white photographs on our walls. My favorite is the Andrew Molera Dinosaurs.
  
  
• Greg's good friend, Dan, came up from L.A. and was the inspiration for all the heckling in the back of the room. He was responsible for Greg's amazing try at a song titled something like "Existential Superhero." Dan said that Greg probably hadn't played it live in 10 years!
  
  
• Greg's last song in the second set? Bruce Springsteen's "Open All Night" from Bruce's worst selling album, Nebraska. Don't get me started on how influential that album is to me.
  
  
• The next day, Juliet took Greg and Dan to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Both of them dive but never on the West Coast, so they seemed awe-struck by it all. Our plan worked. (insert evil laugh here)
  
  
• Greg's on his way to L.A. after this for some kind of award for a song that appears in a show on the ABC Family channel. All that "Dawson's Creek" stuff he talked about is in addition to songs that have appeared on "Party of Five," too.