Wednesday night was a rough one. Daniela called me voicing concern about the mini tornado blowing through her neighborhood. I had the contents of my balcony rearranged by a gust or two but I never even thought of cancelling the show. When I looked outside I realized that the constant hissing I had been tolerating was not in fact our usual cranky radiator, but a torrential downpour. Several people cancelled but some folks had bought tickets online and no one refunded. The venue confirmed they were still open, the show must go on. Daniela opted to stay with her daughter who was ill as it was looking like a light show anyhow. The gig would be a solo performance. Driving to the lower east side in the rain I had a growing sense of dread, would people even turn up? We had been playing to large audiences all this year and I wanted to end on a well attended show.

When I arrived the band before us was playing to five people. I had one person waiting for my set. Thankfully more people turned up as 9pm grew closer. Just before I walked on stage the owner asked me if I wanted to make it a free show. Why not? He opened the doors and some more people made their way inside from the bar.  By the time I finished a few songs I had a respectable group of people in attendance. Relief.

I love the rain, particularly when in the village at night. There is something about the light reflecting up from the street that makes the city an other worldly place. It can play havoc on shows though. I was lucky, hopefully our album release on January 20th wont be during a blizzard.

Photograph: Courtesy Creative Commons/Flickr/Reeve Jolliffe