last night i had the pleasure of listening to and hanging with local acoustic duo another colour, a.k.a. paul del aquila (uofl students may know him as professor of 16th and 17th century counterpoint) and his lovely wife, grace…the show, at bearno’s by the bridge, where the duo has a regular appearance, was the first i had seen by the duo, and it was thoroughly enjoyable…not only were the song choices great, including bowie’s “ground control to major tom” (just like the record!), blue oyster cult’s “don’t fear the reaper”, and csn’s “southern cross”; and the music solid, with paul’s classically-tinged guitar playing complementing his seasoned rock voice and grace’s soaring vocals together with her relentlessly inviting stage presence; but the company was wonderful, making me feel as if i was among old friends, even though i had only just met most of the people there…
what struck me most was perhaps how receptive paul and grace were to their friends…seeing their friends as their fans and vice versa, they made no reservations in inviting folks up to the stage to join them for a song or even do a solo number…as there were several of grace’s vocal students, grace made sure to have each of the girls come up and do a number and did so with beaming pride…witnessing this i was reminded of the importance of making your fans feel like part of the show, making the show be about them as much as it is about you, or even more so…and paul and grace exemplified this to the highest degree…
if there is one insight i could take from last night’s hang with paul and grace, it would be the importance of networking with good people…which, it turns out, is a big key to success in the music business…as they say, “it’s not what you know but who you know” and it is so true…we, as musicians, are a family, and we can never forget that…we always should be looking out for each other, keeping in touch, and seeking out other musicians who are equally, if not more experienced than us…who knows, they may be our next cohorts or mentors…and as far as other musicians who are lacking in confidence or self-esteem, well, maybe those are the ones we should try to inspire or have sing at our shows…nobody should be left behind in the musical family…we all know each other and are separated by too few degrees of removal…
my thoughts for now, inspired by paul and grace of another colour…thanks for reading and i’ll be talking to you soon!
-pierson