I remember in my late teens I used to perform at open mics to "warm up" before I started getting on formal stages and doing paid performances. It was my way of overcoming the dreaded stage fright, as well as teaching myself how to interact with an audience. It's worth mentioniong, I am exclusively a singer and producer. I play a little bit of piano by ear, but I am nowhere close to being able to sing and accompany myself in a live setting. And hence, I would sing these open mic sets to a backing track I produced, by playing them out of my phone.

So I was at this open mic for what I think was my second ever performance, and my cousin let me borrow a cable he had so I could hook up my phone with their PA system. In retrospect, I should have tested that cable. But amateur 18 year old me didn't. Of course, the cable barely worked. I had to hold it on the tip a certain way or it would fade out on one side and make a nasty clipping sound. There was a piano and guitar there - but, I couldn't play them! So, for my whole 15-20 minute set I desperately clasped onto this broken cable for dear life. It only clipped out two or three times, luckily! But man - my hand was shaking for an hour after, and my hand was sore for like a week. Just because of this cursed wire.

I've since learned to ALWAYS test what I use. Boy, I sure don't miss those days. That's how you learn though!


Cheers,
Deryk