Jul

22

Digging into the Archives: February 24, 2003 - Live at Liquid Cellar Bar and Bistro

Filed Under Music, The history of me 

With this Friday being the last time that I take to the stage in Orlando, I thought I’d share an interesting show that I had on my hard drive that I’ve debated releasing for a few years now… Everytime that I listen to this show, a smile creeps across my face at just skimming the set and looking at what I played and how I played it.

On February 24, 2003, I took to the stage at Liquid Cellar Bar and Bistro across the street from UCF. I remember that with their venue, they were just starting out their open mics, so I was given an opening hour long set there. At Natura a few months later, I would be given a similar offer before they got busier and had to cut it down. Not bad, to say the least.

Open mics are tricky things to do, I always thought. You have three songs to play at a place where noone really cares about what you’re playing and they’re just there to drink their beers and sit with their friends. Or, they’re in a band and looking for someone new for their band. Still, they’re not the best things in the world. I used to think they were, but I loved doing my opening sets because it was like weekly shows.

That was the case with this night. Being the opening act at an open mic night like this, I got to play what I wanted and not my three songs in 15 minutes and run off stage without people knowing who I am. And that being said:

1) Introduction - Again, here’s me separating out talking from the tracks. So if you want to loop me introducing myself? You’ve got thirteen seconds here to do so in.
2) “Consistency” - A cover of Ari Hest’s song, I enjoyed playing this one live for a while. It was always something fun to mess around with. And this is back from the days that I didn’t really adjust a song to my voice but just let it loose on what I felt sounded good. Boy, was I wrong.
3) “Grain of Salt” - This original was an interesting one. It was the first time that I started really writing solo and thinking of a band after the breakup of Mindflux. While I thought that I might find another band soon, I intended this to be the “breakout” song. I only played it for a few months, and I’ve since forgotten how to play it. Maybe I’ll relearn it sometime.
4) “Down (Alone Now)” - I wrote this one about a month and a half prior to playing it, and it was the big song that I always played at open mics back then. It was the first piece that I wrote in the breakup of Mindflux and I thought that this was the redefinition of me. From this one, I had the courage to write and start doing the music thing again, because I was fairly devastated at the breakup of the band. I started thinking that maybe I could actually go somewhere, and I tried to enjoy it with this one. By the way, the fadeout on this one? That’s all live, baby. No effects.
5) “Trying So Hard” - Most people know this one and have heard this one from me, but there’s something different about this one, and its why I wanted to share this show. This show marks the very first time that this song was played. At this point, I had written it just over a week before and I thought it was alright and somewhat catchy, but I wasn’t sure where it would go and how it would survive in the long-run. Of course, as most people know, this is “the song” for me. Its interesting to listen to it there and then think of how it’s evolved since then. Definitely a “collectors item” to hear.
6) “Couldn’t Stand the Weather” - With all of these generic pop-rock tracks that I write, you wouldn’t really know that I’m a huge fan of the blues and a huge SRV fan. I used to work this cover into my sets back in the day. While my voice wasn’t there for it, the guitar work always was fun to do. It was a nice change of pace from the poppy other stuff that I’m known for.
7) “In Too Deep” - A rock piece that I wrote just after leaving high school, its the oldest song of mine that I played that night. I wanted to bring it out and I enjoyed playing it. Has a nice twist with the pre-chorus and a strong “sing-along” style chorus.
8) “Waiting For Change” - After the breakup of Mindflux–which I know I keep referring to, was just about 3 months prior–I didn’t want to play “Second Rate Superhero” because I hadn’t taken it back and made it mine. I pushed it aside and ended up writing this track to use as my “big ballad” of the night.
9) “Radiance” - I loved playing this cover and closing my night with it back in the day. The closing track to the album of the same name by Athenaeum, it was the first song of theirs that I learned how to play. I loved closing off the night and just letting this one ride and pouring it all out into the music and just letting it all go.

So there you have an interesting diverse set with some tracks that you don’t hear everyday from me… Something not really what you’d expect, but I think the variety of it and my naïvety helped make it a fun little night there.

Download Adam J. Cohen - ‘February 24, 2003, Live at Liquid Cellar Bar and Bistro’

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    About The Site


    Thanks for stopping by, folks! My name is Adam J. Cohen, and I'm a guitarist/songwriter in Champaign, IL, recently relocated from Orlando, FL where I'm a UCF grad. Here, you'll find vignettes on my life, setlists and show reviews, and whatever else crosses my mind. Enjoy!