I don’t think I’ve ever shared this song short of a few open mics. This was recorded recently at the Hotel Utah’s awesome open mic on January 7th 2013. (It really did take me 3 months to finish this post!)

Michael Beese was kind enough to improvise over it for me on his vio-fiddle thing.

Moving Slowly – Brent Shinn, Hotel Utah Saloon January 7th 2013 (Michael Beese – Fiddle) You can also hear more of my music on the site as well as an amazing archive of music from the performers as well as upcoming Utah related shows, tweets, and more!

The Hotel Utah is right in my backyard and I’ve been going there for lunch, dinner, drinks, and music over the last few years – I know some of staff very well and it’s a bit of a family feel for an East coaster like me with no blood relatives this side of the Mississippi: a place where everybody knows my name… (most everyone that is!) I think you tend to seek these places out when you’re in a situation like mine and so many other transplants here that can’t just easily make a trip whenever we want.

So visiting the open mic has been a pleasure as I’ve experienced it move from JJ Schultz to Brendan Getzell and retain that Utah aura that makes it feel like home. TheUtah.org is the counterpart to the open mic and an amazingly well developed site and an invaluable asset to the local music community. I think I played my first song there in September of 2010 as I was just branching out as a singer and it’s awesome to go back and listen to some of my older performances as much as it is scary! I know I’ve grown a lot in the last few years musically and singing isn’t entirely new to me, but it’s definitely new to me as a performer. I use their site as a benchmark of my growth and not always do I seem to make progress but I always learn from it.

I’ve met some wonderful people from the players to the people who help put everything Utah together. I’d like to thank them all for being who they are and being awesome plus inspiring human beings. Here’s just a partial list but one that’s more pertinent to the open mic.

The Hotel Utah Saloon

TheUtah.org – The amazing online counterpart to the open mic.

JJ Schultz – JJ was the host when I first started visiting the open mic and still drops in from time to time to treat us with his awesome songs.

Brendan Getzell – Brendan is the current host of the open mic and an amazing artist all around. Not just because he likes Tool, but ya know – he writes great songs and can sing his ass off. Witty and creative, Brendan was the perfect pick to take over from JJ and continues to make each and every open mic enjoyable and highly entertaining.

Bridget Canfield – Resident Photographer – Bridget has an amazing website and provides an incredible amount of links and information as well as her fantastic photography. She’s been a huge part of the music scene here in SF and still continues to help promote and connect people.

I’m a firm believer in supporting all that is local and especially music. I’m not a native to San Francisco but I’ve adopted it as my home and love it here still after 7 and a half years. I made this post to originally share my song but I thought I’d take it a step further to thank The Utah and help promote local music and inspire people everywhere to support local everything!

Brent