It was about as usual a day as you’re going to get. I downloaded what little Halloween music I could find and didn’t use it in the end. The party was full of women dancing and a few of the regular men up at the bar. So I got away with playing a ton of easy dance and country numbers. Still, I put in a five hour evening with only a few breaks. Speaking of music, Cowboy Mike was in touch. Several people have mentioned another musician in Jimbo’s asking about me. Now we know, it was Mike, which doesn’t make sense because he has my phone number. He has apparently arranged to play there on Thursdays. I wish him the best of luck but also hope that nothing he does infringes on my space. Since Karaoke Ron passed away, I’ve been leaving my PA system (minus the cables and mics) half set up over there. No, you cannot borrow it and I would hate to have to start moving it around again. Yet I don’t see where else he could set up. Nor do I know if he has all the equipment needed to carry off a full show as a single.
Mike says he’s got a set. I hope he means a four hour set, not the 45 minute one from last year. Like a new barmaid or car salesman, he’ll make the best money in the first two weeks he’s there. Novelty has its attractions. I purposely turned down that Thursday slot because that is one tough crowd. I’m amazed that I still have any drawing power after nearly 18 months at the same gig.
There are 110 tunes on my list, and I ran out of material tonight. Mike and I were never able to get beyond 12 tunes. There are two ways out of that. One is to kill time talking between tunes. That fools nobody. The other is to drag each song out with a ten minute lead break. That annoys everybody. Again, I wish him the best. He’s invited me to come in, which I will do without my bass.
The Halloween buffet was great, with a cake shaped like a black widow spider and sausages that resembled ghost spirits rising of the ground. There were some new people in and one of them was Ed Monroe. He is an excellent singer. Turns out his
The Ed from tonight sang a couple of excellent a capello tunes with damn good pitch. He wants to jam where I would prefer to rehearse a half-hours music and test the audience with that. His material was great but I noticed errors due to unfamiliarity with some of the standards. Practice remedies that. He is an older guy, 57, but with a full head of wavy blonde hair. I’m asking myself if I’m ready for the quirks of a singer in the band. The most I can play is twice a week and hauling equipment is getting unpopular with me. (This episode of Ed singing was the source of his contention years later that he taught me how to sing. Folks, I taught myself how to sing.)
Later. Tonight’s gig was also great. It was spiced up by five or six new tunes at the beginning to get the regulars into a listening mood. By midnight I had the dance floor packed and thereafter most of the joint singing along. I’m the first to admit I play a lot of “chick music” and it is sometimes comical to hear these light and sweet voices along with some of my numbers. For instance, “Spiders and Snakes” (which has become the definitive Jimbo’s theme song). All of a sudden you hear women singing the part “You fool, you fool.”
Also, I scored another winner with “Party Till the Money Runs Out” first time on stage tonight. Except for the first verses, the words are so hard to hear I have to fake it. The Bo-Diddley beat gets them dancing. I must have mis-heard the words years ago when the Hippie did a few bars, so now I get “you don’t know who your real friends are till you party till the money runs out”. Filled up the tip jar with that one, I did.
You want to know what is really scary? Dean Koontz has another book on the bestseller list. "The Darkest Evening of the Year" at number 3. If that doesn't scare you Danielle Steele is number 7 with "Amazing Grace" and Stephen King number 16 with "Duma Key". Most other authors are unknown and not one book on the shelf was non-fiction. Eerie, isn't it? If people like this making the bestseller list doesn't make your skin crawl, then it's on too tight. I mean, have you ever actually read any Dean Koontz? Actually anybody with more than a grade four education would have trouble reading Koontz and Steele because your mind would too easily wander. But they're rich and we're not. (Of course, all these people combined don't hold a candle to the bestseller of all time, the Harry Potter series at 375 million copies.)
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