The SongHall Open Mic

Train ticket to the city: $31.50
MetroCard: $10
Pork-filled Dumplings: $8.66
Tip: $2.34
Breaking a glass and knocking someone else's wine down my pants while talking to the professional activities coordinator for the Songwriters Hall of Fame: Priceless
There are some things may help your career. For everything else, there's Steve Schultz.

Yes, it's true. I went to the city yesterday for the first SongHall Open Mic at Tom & Toon, just north of Times Square. It was nice to hang out, have some food, and listen to some aspiring songwriters. The stand-out performers to me (whose names I can remember) were Sandra Small, Draped in Green, and Adam Shenk. It was a very laid-back event, and toward the end of the evening I played "My Original Sin" and "The Hands of Angels" (a song that I had never played live before). At the end of the night, I was having a conversation with Peter Bliss, the professional acitivites coordinator for the Songwriters HOF. He had literally just finished telling me how my performance was the best he's ever heard me...when seconds later I knocked over a glass of wine belonging to Sally Morgan. The glass ended up broken on the floor, the wine down my leg. Seriously? I mean, seriously? Yeah. Seriously. But honestly, I've known Peter for almost a year, so I can't imagine any real damage was done. Just to my ego. ...Though as I write this blog, I'm realizing that I never offered to buy Sally another glass of wine. Oh, man. *slaps forehead* *sigh* This is why I hate Sundays.

Add to this the fact that I had to spend the rest of the night with a red wine stain on my jeans, and it was a perfect Costanza moment. Rock. On!