Monday, we had our Chatauqua. When I say "we", I mean, not our little community, but the *metropolis* that is our county seat. As director of the upcoming play, I had skits to perform to promote the play. But at the very end was my big musical "debut".

To this point, I had only played to groups larger than my small circle of friends, once, in my aforementioned performance at the Woody Guthrie center. The plan was initially for me to join in with "Roll on, Columbia", which I have ppretty much mastered aat this point.

As the day dragged on, performances ran long behind schedule, and they decided to basically scrap the Woody Guthrie tribute, save a performance of "This Land is Your Land". We discussed it amongst ourselves, and I was able to get "Roll on, Columbia" thrown back into the mix. Because we had no other musicians, however, I was also asked to join in on "this Land is Your Land". While it's an easy arrangement, I had no music for it, and had about 5 minutes to practice before going onstage. With butterflies in my stomach, I hit the stage, and had difficulty getting my voice right in the first two verses of "Roll on, Columbia", but hit my stride by the third verse. I managed through "This Land is Your Land", missing only a couple of chord changes, but all in all doing a passable job.

The only problems I have in playing right now are problems that can only be remedied by playing in front of others (nervousness, etc). That and that danged ol' "F" chord (which is getting better, thanks kingbee and UBob for the tips). So I'll keep you updated as events progress.