Guitar for the win: Street performance tomorrow

Christy, James and I are going to be playing guitar for New Haven's Flights of Fancy wine tasting event from 6-8 p.m. on Friday. (That's in 17 hours!) We're setting up everything -- the chairs, the amp, the mike, etc -- around 5:30 p.m. in front of the Willoughby's at the Art and Architecture school. I am so stoked. Here are just some of the classics to be performed:

Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue - Art Landry (1925)
Don't Touch Me - 3OH!3
Knock You Down - Keri Hilson
The Prayer - Kid Cudi
The Show Goes On - Lupe
You Belong With Me - Taylor Swift
I'm Yours - Jason Mraz
Wagon Wheel - Old Crow Medicine Show
Her Diamonds - Rob Thomas
Paparazzi - Lady Gaga
Let It Be - Beatles
Don't Know Why - Norah Jones
Fly Me To the Moon - Frank Sinatra

As you can tell, it's a mix of everything - pop, r&b, jazz, country, which keeps it fresh for us, too.

Our "band" -- currently unnamed, although I like Flying Tangerines -- has somewhat of a unique history. The day after finals ended, Christy, the seasoned vet in the group, gave me a two hour guitar lesson. I learned how to play C, A, Em, and G. From there, I turned to Youtube and James K. to learn the rest -- strum patterns, barre chords, vocals. I was voracious: 8 hours a day for the first week and a half, then 1-4 hours everyday for about a month. During that time, I told James F. I had been learning, and then taught him the basics. He took it up as completely as I did, and we spent many days on Cross Campus strumming and exchanging techniques. All three of us started playing together shortly thereafter.

In the beginning of July, my suitemate Zach forwarded me a contact of a New Haven group that was looking for live acts. Christy emailed them, they responded enthusiastically, and the rest is history.

The evolution of my guitar playing has been interesting, to say the least, and deserves a essay later. For now, the one-sentence synopsis: Two months ago, I had never played a single chord on the guitar. Tomorrow, I'll be playing (and singing, horribly) for 2 hours. If you're in New Haven, stop by for a bit!

Unless, of course, the weather intervenes. There's a 50% chance of thunderstorms. Cross your fingers...