Mad Tea Party began our weekend in Greenville, South Carolina.
Now, I have friends who sometimes wonder on our lifestyle – why we choose to drive around and play late into the night at smoky bars, usually for minimal financial compensation. Well, friends, because it’s FUN (and we’re a bit nutty)! Of course its not always fun (far from it), but our show Friday night at Gottrocks certainly was.
Things that make for an enjoyable evening include good sound, nice people working at the venue, and an appreciative audience. We had all those things on Friday, AND the club gave us a yummy dinner and a motel room.
I can’t deny that Gottrocks is a typical bar in many ways. It caters to a wide range of people, no
t all who come out for the music. Some come for bar games or to drink and watch TV. In fact, we arrived at the venue to discover a huge 6-foot-wide television on the stage where we were supposed to be! Jason and I cracked up over this, because we unfortunately have played shows where we were up against TV’s – usually showing sports. Seeing a giant TV in our place seemed 
symbolic of mainstream American culture and priorities. Going to see live 
music (especially indie bands) is not a priority for most people, for a plethora of reasons (a topic way far too complex than I could possibly fully understand).
Anyway, Gottrocks has plenty of TVs (the big one was moved out of our way for the night), but that didn’t prevent us from having a terrific time. Mainly because we had a bunch of sweet fans who where there to hear our music. I think we played well. Folks were shy at first about dancing, but a woman brought in some hula hoops and things got more lively on the dance floor by the end of the night.
It was a treat to be treated well and to play a full night of songs. We’ll be back to Gottrocks sometime soon, for sure – TVs and bar games and all.
