Good Times at Free Times - The Sequel

Last Sunday night I had the privilege of hosting an event at the Free Times Cafe featuring several of my talented friends. Since I find it impossible to be at all objective when reviewing close friends of mine, I don't think that I'm going to do any formal type of review. They were awesome and I had a great time. Heck, for the first time ever in history I even feel mildly pleased with my MC job. I probably made half the crowd laugh and I think I may have irritated the other half. That, my friends, is the hallmark of any successful MC.

Now it should be mentioned that the evening did not go off without a few minor glitches. First of all, the irresistible Nicki Wales had blown her voice out at her sister's wedding the night before so unfortunately she was unable to perform. Secondly, Free Times is not really conducive to the size of crowd that we had that night. I'd say there was probably about 90 or so in attendance, and the Free Times Cafe is really more of a, erm, cafe, than it is a concert venue. So the sound system wasn't really suffice to reach the ears of the people sitting closer to the back. But ultimately, who cares? The night was fun and the girls sounded great.

The night began with my friend Billy (who served as sound guy for the evening) belting out a medley of (mostly) grungy tunes from the 90's. I'm sure it brought back a few memories for some, and his tongue and cheek performance got the crowd respectably warmed up. The rest of the evening belonged to the star performers: Alicia Isenor, Lindsay Elvie, Haley Zalesky and Rayelle Stainton. You've probably never heard of these girls and you'll notice that only one of them has a website to speak of. The reason for this is that, despite the enormous talent that these girls have, they have all made a conscious decision to prioritize their lives in a different way, leading a simple life, volunteering their time and efforts to causes that mean more to them. And for that, they have my utmost respect. A couple of them have tasted a measure of success in the past, and some tempting offers have made to the others, but these days they're performing music strictly because they like to do it. What a novel concept!

Also, I said that I wasn't going to do any real review of the show, but I did want to include a special shout out to Rayelle, who was insanely nervous due to the fact that, other than a brief impromptu 3 song set last time, has never really performed to a crowd of this magnitude before. Girl, you had nothing to worry about! You handled yourself with a professionalism that cannot be faked. Everyone in attendance was beyond impressed. They were almost as impressed with you as they were with the MC. That witty witty MC.

Photos: Good Times at Free Times: The Sequel on flickr.
Download: Haley Zalesky - Circuits and Secrets mp3

Download: Haley Zalesky - Mostly Myself mp3