this past weekend i caught two shows by the boston based singer/songwriter mieka pauley. the first show was an intimate little show on friday at kim taylor's coffee shop in cincinnati. it was arranged for a few friends by brian o'donnell, a cincinnati based radio dj for WNKU and all 'round good guy. brian is a great supporter of acts like OtR, kim taylor, ellery, mieka and quality independent music in general. radio could use more people like him.
the show was at "the pleasant perk," kim's coffee shop in cincinnati and the place was packed. mieka delivered a great solo acoustic set, very informal, very nice, she covered some stuff from her previously released cd's, a couple of new songs and a beautiful cover of john prine's "angel from montgomery" during her hour long set.
she is an accomplished writer & guitar player and has a great voice that will hopefully someday be heard by more and get the recognition she deserves.
but, on saturday night...wow. what a difference a night makes. tough crowd, tonight mieka was here in louisville, opening for a local band "north jordan" and this place, "the skybar @ saints" couldn't be more unfriendly to performers like mieka. it is basically a twenty-something "look-a-me, i'm beautiful (and hip and cool too)" bar with a stage. full of plaid shorts and polos w/flipped up collars, i'll guarantee you the guys took as long getting dressed and fluffed as the girls did. a "look a me, i'm beautiful and i'm ordering the right kind of (pick one) beer/shot/martini" (and if you didn't notice that i ordered the right kind of kind beer/shot/martini, i'll tell you, loudly, several times) kind of joint. sure as hell not my kind of joint.
and my god, they were intent on the fact that no matter how loud mieka played, she was not going to interupt their conversations.
if anything, i gained a helluva lot of respect for her, she is a pro. she hung in, did her thing and gave it all she had and never let up, one bit. and she never stopped smiling. by the end of her set, she actually had quite a few people walk up closer to the stage to (try) listen. as i said, i'll give her credit and much respect. she never backed down, in voice or intensity. good for her.
to bad...the rest of those dumbfuck little posers don't have a clue what they missed.
as she sings in "blunt"..."if this guitar wasn't so expensive and i didn't need it night and day | it would make a pretty good blunt object"
for more about mieka:
mieka
mieka's my space
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