Oh, how I love these shows. It’s been a while since Julia and I got to perform as Intimacy for Rogue Burlesque. So low stress, such high energy, it’s hard to not have fun at Middlesex with these lovely ladies.

We’ve a routine that’s been tweaked at least half a dozen times. Originally conceived for Madame Tullule’s Grand Fiasco, where Julia was half of a Conjoined Twin and I was the Alligator Boy, this piece has been set to Bond, Emperor Norton’s Stationary Marching Band, and then Bond again. We’ve taken it to Oberon in Cambridge, the Somerville Armory, and Temple at Underbar in Boston. Every time we perform it, something else gets changed. We built a number that can grow with us, that can grow with us as we become better acrobats. For this performance we added in the first piece of geometry we’ve done on stage, a set series of arm and leg motions that form changing patterns in the air around us. Intricate material, and with any luck as compelling to the audience to watch as it was for us to learn.

The performance went wonderfully. The crowd was responsive, and everything seemed as though it went as it should. People “oo-d” and “ah-d” at the proper moments, and it felt like we put on the show we meant to. The last time we’d shared the stage with the ladies of Rogue Burlesque we had been performing a shibari-bondage-acro routine that, while good for what it is, doesn’t really impress on the technical skill of our tricks. It relies heavily on our stage presence, acting, and how gosh darn sexy we are together. It’s nice to revisit that stage with a more advanced piece, and know that we’re just getting better as time goes on.

In guitarists particularly, that is a rare combination indeed.

And so as we say our goodbyes, Boston loses it’s best piano-rock band for a few months, and we beat a strategic retreat into the studio to finish the upcoming album. Or at least Jeff does. He is, I believe, heading out west to California this coming weekend to finish up the vocal tracks, throw down his fantastic keys, and make sure everything in post happens just so. I’ve had the luck to hear some of the rough mixes that we recorded here in Boston, and I couldn’t be more excited about the prospect of hearing the finished product in a few months.

Plectrum Entertainment was the organizing force behind the show tonight. Dear God was it nice to leave the bulk of the leg-work up to those more qualified to perform it. Opening for the night were a trio of singer-songwriter types playing one right after another four times through. Honorable mention goes to the Dave Matthews Band inspired rendition of Kiss the Girl from The Little Mermaid as performed by Jason Labbe.

So very many thanks to those friends who came out to support me and the music I play. I know most of you who were there know me primarily from the spinning and circus scene, so it truly feels wonderful to see you out in the audience supporting my other creative endeavors. I’ll hopefully see you out again, when Jeff Michaels (band) is back on stage again!

I love these gigs. You know, the ones with no stress and TONS of talent. Kat Webb is a wonderful R&B and soul artist from New York, who came down to Boston for a gig with Spectra Events, and needed to find herself some local musicians to flesh out her sound. One craigslist ad later, and I landed the spot.

It was truly wonderful to get to work with someone with this level of professionalism. Up front. No BS. Organized. It was fantastic. We met up at JamSpot in Wakefield with the other two musicians she’d found. Two Berkeley alums, playing keys and drums respectively. The rehearsal space was paid for, the tunes went down without a hitch, and we booked it back to Church of Boston with plenty of time to spare before showtime.

Good show too.

“Spectra Events hosts Renaissance, a monthly showcase of women and trans people of color musicians and artists, featuring sounds from big band jazz to soulful ballads to spoken-word, gospel drag to classical guitar. This show is for the grown ‘n’ sexy, the street artist, the bohemian, and music lovers everywhere. Renaissance is more than a live music show. It’s a slow dance, a passionate love affair, red silk sheets, pulsating hips, heartbreak, love, fire. It is sweat, soul, and movement. Renaissance is black feminist sex!”

I’m proud of the work we did, it takes a certain caliber of musician to be able to pull a performance ready set together in a single three hour rehearsal, and I like to think we did an admirable job of just that.

But really? Hawaiian theme? I strung long strings of fake flowers in, around, and through the mic cords to make everything more “festive.”

That said, and all other things being equal, it was a good night. The bar gave us a bit of whiplash. I don’t know about you but I’VE never seen an open bar that clams up after the first fifteen minutes. Glad I took the opportunity to steal a double of Grand Marnier before they came to their senses. It was also interesting to witness the complete lack of corollary between the quality of our playing and the apparent amount of fun the wedding receptionists were enjoying. We play Beatles: Nothing. We play originals: Nothing. We play Katy Perry’s California Gurls (yes, correct spelling), EVERYone comes out to the dance floor. Lesson learned I suppose.