Jasco is a guitar player from Colorado. This is from a series of newsletters titled "Jasco's Jive" was originally written by Jasco as a promotional tool for various music projects he plays in. They have been edited to omit most information about gigs that are now past. www.jascoguitar.com

End of year 09':

It’s not often I feel intimidated while playing guitar. I’ve played a lot of big shows with big names, and feel confident with my guitar skills. However everyone once-in-a-while some unexpected situation happens that instills me with a little bit of stage-fright.

About a month ago I was doing another acoustic jazz trio gig at the Boulderado hotel. We set up in the lobby and play for a couple hours for people checking in. Background music for atmosphere mostly, and hardly a gig where one would expect to be nervous while performing. This night, there was a group of young adults sitting in the lobby having a couple drinks, chatting, and listening to my band.

As we began to play I was struck by the fact that one of the young ladies in the group looked very familiar. After a few songs I realized that she was Imogen Heap, a great musician in her own right, and singer for my all-time favorite guitarist - Jeff Beck.

The unexpectedness of this made me a bit self-conscious while playing, and it also reminded me that no matter what the gig, you should always take it seriously enough to play your best, because you never know who might be listening.

For those of you not familiar with Imogen, here’s a video example of her constructing a song with a looper (electronic device that plays back echos of a performance to allow a soloist to accompany themselves several times over.)