By mid-afternoon I’ve got Wallace’s room cleared out and basic accommodations set up to try the first night’s sleep in the Florida room. The experiment to sleep tonight is qualified by the fact it is July, not April as when I last crashed in a Florida room. Once I put in a closet dowel, the rest of the finish work can wait. The new bedroom is modeled after a Venezuelan hotel, only a little fancier and with a microwave. Things will move fast when Wallace gets here. One sure does require a siesta working in this climate--and I mean a full hour’s uninterrupted nap in the afternoon. I gave Cracker Jack, the caramel coated popcorn snack, one more chance. It has really gone downhill. I believe I reviewed this product just a few years back but I was not sure I hadn’t gotten a bad package. Nope. They cheap right out on the peanuts. It is clear instead of mixing the ingredients together, they dump the few measured peanuts in the bag first and then pile on the popcorn. In the old days, the peanuts were often clumped together with the popcorn. The packaging still pictures that traditional product showing peanuts embedded inside popcorn balls. The current offering now seems to have a computer-controlled exact amount of sprayed-on caramel per popcorn puff. And the whistle that said “Made in Japan”? Forget it. Now you get a sticker for a sports team. Mine says “Chicago White Sox”. Golly, what a surprise and yippee, already.
A milestone is passed. I was able to nap in the Florida room in comfort. This was a cloudy day, so don’t mistake this short sleep with success. It is still a mystery whether a Florida room can be made sleep-able without expensive air conditioning. Cloud cover and night provide a significant barrier to the greenhouse effect, but if I can snooze now, I’ll be motivated to complete the insulation much sooner. Right now, there are plenty of leaks in the circulation. I estimate it will cost just $17.90 per month to “operate” that extra room with fans. This calls for a celebration so I put on an extra pot of coffee. Where’s my guitar?
My newest addition is “Good Time Charlie’s Got the Blues” from way back. I did a lot of mechanical work on the bass, including repositioning the strap buttons. That tune stuck in my brain until I invented a new bass riff, kind of a fake between blues and the jazz-like hodge-podge of the original. I was listening to the local rock station (93.1 FM) and was reminded why rock music fell out of favor with me quite a long time ago. The lyrics changed to meaningless drivel, backed up by standardized howling and repetitious guitar riffs. I feel the song that changed things was “Iron Man”. I grew out of the castles and dragons stage before I was eight. Lyrics make a huge difference, for instance, I think “Californication” is hilarious. Of eighteen songs I reviewed, only “Good Time Charlie” made the grade.
No word on the gig tomorrow afternoon and I don’t know the address. There is a barbeque most of the day at Jimbo’s. That means I’ll be playing regardless of what else happens. I hope Wallace shows up early morning or late afternoon, or how am I going to get him a key to the place. No worry, he knows his way around this town and we can always meet up at some familiar joint later on.
