The festival was well-attended, the bingo was called in three languages, and it is likely the success has now established a precedent. Too bad, because the 44 mile commute puts it out of my range. Mind you, it was with intense interest that dozens of tri-lingual church ladies watched how $100 worth of bingo gear can be turned into $500 in one day. They don’t need me any more. The local gaming supply store is going to be under siege by early Monday morning.
Socially, it was a bust, although I did get introduced to a lot of happily married ladies and the belly dancing show was “rather unique”. I guess I’m remembering Layella, the belly dancer I went out with in college. Suddenly, she now seems so slim and slender. The banquet food was authentic and very well-prepared, the band had an “Oot” rhymes with “boot”, a zither-like one-key instrument played horizontally like a steel guitar. And for which even Wiki doesn’t have a listing.
Wait, they do have a listing. It is called a “Kanoon”, or 79-string mandrel, reprinted here without permission. I got the other name from a usually unreliable source. So why didn’t I just go back and erase it? Blog rules, you know. The musician picks the strings like a harp on the right side and with his left hand taps or plucks the strings in a type of counter-point. Um, make that exceeding primitive counterpoint, but like Clapton lead breaks, maybe monotonous repetition is considered a style. By some.I won’t much go into the rest, as I didn’t really have a great time being there by myself. JP was always around before and we could ogle the babes or zip up the road to a club. It means little now, but there was a gorgeous single lady doctor there also by herself, and just my type. But I could see she was used to being assailed by the tacky pretty boys she seemed lonely. Even more sad, this was not a situation where I could introduce myself. And I could not get anyone else to do it for me. That part of the festival will indeed be long remembered.
I made it back to H’wood for the Saturday show with an hour to spare. I got from South Miami to Hallandale Beach on Biscayne, hitting only two red lights. On 36th and the one you can’t avoid, on 163rd. Due to the rain, everybody including the Third Worlders had to slow up just a little, and everything ran fine. It is not expected they learned by it. Oh, and to all you players who stayed home because of the rain, in the small group that showed, a stranger easily won the $100 powerball. You snooze, you lose. There has never been a cancelled show at Jimbos since I showed up five years ago.
Between the two shows, the weekend was the second most financially successful in my Florida musical history, let’s just say I made ten times what, on average, the Hippie paid. You have no idea what that was. Check in to see the results, it will be a good week, though far short of what I’d expect to make playing in a band again.
Last, don’t read anything into this, but have you ever noticed some rich people are cheap in their own weird ways? Try this one. They offer you a cup of coffee, but it is served in a tea cup, which is okay, but it is really a half-serving. Now, you did get a coffee, so they are not cheap, but wait. As soon as you are served, they unplug the coffee maker, rinse it, and put in back in the cupboard. What? Who packs their coffee machine away? Ah, suppose you wanted a refill. We’d like to, but you’ll have to wait while we set the machine up again, but it’s no trouble if you are sure you want one. Double ah.
Even Wallace would begrudgingly tell you one of the things we NEVER run out of around here is coffee. Are you sure you want to hear another song? See, I already packed my bass up in the case. But it’s no trouble if you are really sure.
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