gig: hempstalk, portland, or, september 12th

UPDATE: This is a video my brother took with his BlackBerry of me playing. The quality isn’t great and he missed the first song (kind of … he was recording the audio for a Cinch thing, which I will look for later), but for the vast majority of you who have never seen me play live, this is what a Josh Belville show is typically like. As in, I make a lot of mistakes and try to be funny.

This past weekend I had the pleasure of popping my musical gig cherry at Portland Hempstalk.  I moved to Portland a year ago and while I have spent a lot of time writing and recording songs, I’ve been a bit reclusive about playing.  The reasons are various, from lack of transportation to a general disinterest in playing “Kittens & Puppies” for the nth time.  However, I was given an opportunity to play a short, 20 minute gig at Hempstalk and I took it.  This required me to unearth ancient songs, like mummies, and try to render them serviceable in front of people (even if they’re stoned).

My set list was:

Going to Portland
Kittens & Puppies
Susan (is it true?)
The Sign [yes, the Ace of Base song]
Here, I Found Your Stupid Bike
Noelle

I also burned 25 CD-Rs to sell but I didn’t end up selling any, mostly because of my own ineptitude.  If you’re reading this and you’d like one, they’re only $5 to cover the cost of buying more CD-Rs.  The tracklist is split into two parts: the first five songs are acoustic and the second five are a “band.”  Here are the tracks:

Going to Portland
Susan (is it true?)
“Vino” [tentative title]
Here, I Found Your Stupid Bike
When I’m Equity
Mary! (Get Frisky!)
Is This Bud or is This Leaf? [pot-centric Clash parody]
City of Trees
Singing My Song
Get Stoned Together

Anyway. I always feel a little awkward at these types of festivals because I don’t smoke pot.  I do work at a medicinal marijuana clinic, yes, but I don’t feel particularly connected to the movement.  Yes, I think it should be legal but I have other things to deal with, such as making money, playing music and acting in plays.

I write that mainly because, despite statistics that might say otherwise, I feel like most people, when told that I work at a medical marijuana clinic, take that as a negative thing.  Much like when I tell them that I got my undergraduate degree in theatre, they both inspire the question, “But what are you really going to do with your life?”

The truth is, I make more money at THCF (the clinic in question) than I ever did in Boise.  Ever.  And despite its dysfunctions and other things about it that sometimes piss me off, it’s really an easy job.  So there.

Sorry, sometimes I go off on tangents because my job makes me feel defensive!

One of the hardest parts about playing this gig was trying to figure out what to play.  I ended up throwing in the old standards (Kittens & Puppies, Stupid Bike) because people like them, K&P especially.  I always get compliments for that song.  It’s funny because I wrote it in five minutes to cheer up a friend of mine.  I guess I could take hours and hours of songwriting classes, but I doubt they’d ever get me to write a song that quick, that makes so many people laugh.

I originally wasn’t going to play it because it contains the dreaded F bomb, and Hempstalk is an all ages event.  But after listening to Sandpeople, who played before me and spoke profanities like they were breathing air, I figured why the hell not do it too.  I hope those two toddlers towards the front weren’t horrible offended.

As for the other songs, “Going to Portland” is an obvious song about going to Portland.  It’s also about a girl who apparently hates me now, but that’s a story for a different blog.  It’s a good opener I think.  “Susan (is it true?)” is about a comic book nerd who wants to send a love letter to this girl but doesn’t.  Who sends love letters these days?  Love texts are more like it.  Love e-mails.  Love … Facebook messages.

And I sang “The Sign” because it opened up my eyes.  End of story.  (Though, judging from the video, no one knew this song. It boggles my mind if that is the case.)

Wow, that was a lot about me and not a lot about the venue itself.  Kelley Point Park is located where the Columbia and the Willamette rivers meet, and it is beautiful.  There was a bit of a walk just to get to the park itself, but the walk was on narrow paths surrounded by tall trees, with the sunlight filtering through the trunks.  Gorgeous.  The park itself was just as beautiful, lush and green, and with all the booths and people it was like walking into a little nestled village.  Perfect for hippies!

There was a nice little crowd by the time I got on stage, friends and some new folk, which is always good.  The sound was great and people seemed to enjoy themselves.  That’s all I’m after, people’s enjoyment.

There is video of my set captured by my very own brother, and some photos flying around the intertubes, which will all find their way to this website.  I’m still dinking around with Wordpress and will at some point make this site look less gray and more colorful.  Maybe.  I also have at least one potential date for a future gig with my friend Charlie in November.  Hopefully in between then and now will be open mics, the stories of which will be graciously reprinted in this blog.

I’m also thinking about doing some “shows” on ustream, or similar video outlets. Since I can’t really play music outside of Portland right now, it seems like a cool way to play a show for friends and fans.  What do you think?

Take care!