Herb "The Nerd" Midgley .. or .. "How The Nerd Saved Open Mic The Day After Christmas"

Having Open Mic the day after Christmas was a crap shoot. On one hand, I thought maybe nobody would come, and on the other, I felt responsible to keep it up each week to maintain consistency. It's not a pillar of the musical society of greater Nacogdoches or anything. Music doesn't die if we take off a week or anything. I know that. I just want to do my part to foster live music.Enough of my philosophy. This blog is about Herb "The Nerd" Midgley and how he saved Open Mic last Tuesday.Vicki, Adam and I got to Casa Tomas early (David was sick and at home recovering). We set up, and around 10 PM, I played a 4 song set to a very talkative crowd. The room was full, but due to the holiday, the present crowd wasn't there to listen to music. They were there to party - and they did. Who can blame them really, I mean, I like to party.Adam was next, and his set, although really amazing, endured similar inattentive people. It was rough, and I was worried that the entire night was going to be like this. We didn't have a lot of folks on the list, so I was happy to offer people 4 and 5 song sets for a change instead of the normal 2 songs they usually got. It was frustrating me that their sets were going to be mostly ignored and talked over.Herbert walked in the door, signed in and dog-eared me to let me know that the sound was kind of loud. I smiled and let him know that I was trying to quiet the crowd a bit. I think that tactic just made the crowd talk louder. I'd turn up, and they'd turn their conversations up. At one point, the people at the next table were basically yelling at each other. "I don't know why he thought I'd get in that dirty ol' truck of his. It smells like Jack in the Box and deer guts." Which is an unfortunate new sandwich they are serving on Ciabatta bread now. yum . . .Anyway, that's the way it was at The Open Mic last Tuesday. Loud crowd, but loud in a bad way. That is until Herb got up after Adam and put the crowd in its place. I've never seen him (or anyone for that matter) act this way, and if you know Herb or have seen him anywhere, you'd think it wasn't in him to erupt in anger on the microphone. He was yelling. He was saying things like, "I'm Herbert Fucking Midgley and I'm not a juke box you can talk through!" "There are great people here. Great singers! I'm no singer, so it's no big deal, but people like Adam Lamar deserve to be heard!" He was hot, and in-between each of his songs, he started his rant all over again. Fortunately, the audience slowly began to pay attention or leave. He yelled so much, that he was losing his voice. It was great, and I did nothing to stop him from venting. After Herb was finished with his music/tirade, the entire night was awesome. Good music, good audience, and alcohol. All thanks to the verbal abuse of an angry nerd with a microphone. In the words of the legendary Tom Daniel, "Nobody wins an argument with the guy on the mic." (something like that) Thanks Herbert for saving Open Mic last Tuesday. It would not have been great without you.If you have never seen or heard the unique-ness that is Herbert Midgley, then I suggest you grab your beverage of choice, drink down two or three of them, and check out his stuff online. His song, "I'm a Nerd" is certainly a local cult hit ("Princess from G-Force. She is my girlfriend"). He's tenacious, enthusiastic, and each week he cranks out something new that he's written about some girl.I've moved Herb into my top friends so you can link easily to his myspace page ( www.myspace.com/jeromymusic ). His web page is below, and his new video "The Electronic Nerd" is embedded. Friends, let me introduce you to Herb "The Nerd" Midgley. Enjoy.EDIT I just realized that I recorded Herb by accident. Here's the link. Holy Moley. It's better than I remember.www.jeromy.tv/herb.mp3http://www.herbertmidgley.com