{"id":9781,"date":"2011-10-29T12:04:56","date_gmt":"2011-10-29T16:04:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.opticality.com\/blog\/?p=9781"},"modified":"2011-10-29T12:35:46","modified_gmt":"2011-10-29T16:35:46","slug":"chris-ayer-at-rockwood-music-hall-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/opticality.com\/blog\/2011\/10\/29\/chris-ayer-at-rockwood-music-hall-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Chris Ayer at Rockwood Music Hall"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chris Ayer<\/a> announced a show at Rockwood Music Hall<\/a> with the following tweet:<\/p>\n

chrisayer<\/a> Chris Ayer<\/p>\n

Show tonight in NYC! Rockwood 8p: playing brand new songs w\/ @CAndersonbass<\/a> @matt_simons<\/a> & @adamchristgau<\/a> that we’re recording today.excited<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We already had it on the calendar for a while, but didn\u2019t know it would be a full band show. In the end, it was close, but not exactly what Chris anticipated. The above was followed by this tweet:<\/p>\n

adamchristgau<\/a> Adam Christgau<\/p>\n

Awesome… sick again. Looks like being 29 got off to a great start<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So, after braving his cold in the studio all day, Adam simply couldn\u2019t make it out for the show.<\/p>\n

Chris is recording a new CD this week. We\u2019re very excited for this, because Chris\u2019 new songs (some of which he\u2019s been playing for the past few months) are great and we look forward to professionally produced versions of them.<\/p>\n

\"ChrisAyer\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Chris opened last night\u2019s show solo. In a nice twist for Rockwood, the large crowd was very quiet (necessary for a solo acoustic guitar performer). Thanks! Chris actually joked about it. When he first walked on stage he asked everyone how they\u2019re doing. Perhaps one person quietly said \u201cGreat\u201d. Chris said (I\u2019m paraphrasing): \u201cAh, a quiet crowd, that\u2019ll work!\u201d. \"Winking<\/p>\n

When he started playing Hiding Places (one of the new songs that I can\u2019t wait to get a recorded version of) he was finger picking. A little way into the song he switched to using a pick. Seconds later, the thicker of the two middle strings broke.<\/p>\n

If Chris were a normal<\/em> guitar player, we could queue all the \u201cHe broke his G String\u201d jokes! But, Chris is a lefty, so the third string from the top for him is the D (or perhaps I have it reversed and it is the G, and we do need to queue the jokes!). \"Winking<\/p>\n

Either end string can often be ignored and the performer can power through the song, especially when there are other band members making music. Break one of the middle strings and it\u2019s near impossible to make pleasant sounds.<\/p>\n

Chris stopped and replaced the string, pretty quickly. He joked that this was the first time he injected an intermission<\/strong> in the middle of a song. Technically, it wasn\u2019t an intermission, because he didn\u2019t pick up where he left off, he started the song from the beginning (yay!). \"Smile\"<\/p>\n

\"ChrisAyerStringChange\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A couple of songs later Chris invited the others up to join him.<\/p>\n

Matt Simons<\/a> on grand piano and vocals. Matt actually did a bit more singing than playing the piano. Both were excellent, but their harmonies are exquisite. My fingers are crossed that there are a ton of them on the new CD.<\/p>\n

\"MattSimons\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Chris Anderson<\/a> on electric bass. We\u2019ve seen Chris Anderson play with Chris Ayer a number of times. Anderson typically plays the upright bass, though a few numbers have been on an electric. Last night they were all electric. It didn\u2019t matter, with the exception of one song that demanded it, Chris was very subtle on the bass, suited perfectly with each song.<\/p>\n

\"ChrisAnderson\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Chris closed the show in what has become a tradition. Typically, he descends into the audience (with the band when there is one) and belts out an unplugged version of Roy G Biv. Considering how crowded it was in Rockwood, he varied by asking the audience first whether he should play on stage, or unplug and join them. He was enthusiastically welcomed into the audience (with the necessary parting of the sea<\/em>) for the big finale.<\/p>\n

\"ChrisAyerInTheAudience\"<\/a>\"MattSimonsChrisAyerInTheAudience\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"ChrisAyerRoyGBiv\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Another excellent set by Chris, Matt and Chris. If you\u2019re reading this in Europe, you can catch Chris Ayer and Matt Simons on their upcoming tour there in roughly 5 weeks.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the set list, our view and Chris\u2019:<\/p>\n

\"SetList\"<\/a>\"SetListFlipped\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We brought along our goddaughter and some friends, who had seen Chris play before in a 100% unplugged solo show.<\/p>\n

\"SarahPaul\"<\/a>\"LauraHadar\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Another friend joined for his first Chris Ayer experience:<\/p>\n

\"Jason\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chris Ayer announced a show at Rockwood Music Hall with the following tweet: chrisayer Chris Ayer Show tonight in NYC! Rockwood 8p: playing brand new songs w\/ @CAndersonbass @matt_simons & @adamchristgau that we’re recording today.excited We already had it on the calendar for a while, but didn\u2019t know it would be a full band show. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":4,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17,2],"tags":[602,648,650,493],"class_list":["post-9781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music","category-2","tag-chris-anderson","tag-chris-ayer","tag-matt-simons","tag-rockwood-music-hall"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/opticality.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9781","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/opticality.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/opticality.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opticality.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opticality.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9781"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/opticality.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9781\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9784,"href":"https:\/\/opticality.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9781\/revisions\/9784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/opticality.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opticality.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opticality.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}