It turns out Wallace called the office and told them I was “100% responsible for the rent”. Allow me, I’ve been waiting for my turn to say it, “Do you have that in writing?” Ha! What’s more, I saw the title and it is still in his name. So much for his claim that he transferred the property to his daughter. The office has to approve any such transaction anyway and they would not. Just over the way I’ve found a place that actually rents for less than the cost of the pad. It has two bedrooms, the second one so small it is really an office. Since the recent zoning meeting, the house values here have plummeted to 25%. Everyone was aware of that possibility but the plan was to share the rent here until buyout time. That is unlikely to happen now. The other park is owned by a different outfit, a much smaller company. The cool weather people are just starting to show up again, so be alert for more bargains.
Jagger played his second live gig tonight and finally made some cash. Shall we say it was six times what he made last week, and he definitely is developing a fan club. His guitar is not the best but we are managing. Remember that we have not yet begun to look for places that want our brand of music. We will need to expand our song list by double. Except for two Canadian girls, the place was pretty much empty because rent is next week, and also a popular owner from the Wayside, a pub up in Dania, passed away suddenly this morning.
The show is progressing as I expected. People have an ingrained tendency to regard to give the guitar player top billing. I don’t mind since the alpha females in the crowd always know better. My delivery is becoming more confidant but I still have trouble because it turns out I tend to like tunes with a lot of lyrics. Our most novel arrangement is “Party Till The Money Runs Out”.
Jagger is generations removed from what we play; his favorite groups are Blink-182 and Flogging Molly. I’ve listened to some of their productions but not often enough to begin to like any of it. My incentive to Jagger is that if he hunkers down and learns a full two hours of our material, I will learn a couple of his tunes. Like all who took guitar lessons, Jagger can play the intro and lead breaks to many old Stones hits, but not necessarily the entire piece of music. Right, Marty Stewart of Tsawwassen, wherever you are? (Tsawwassen, that T-S-A-double-double-u-A-double-ess-E-N.)
We used to play that party trick where he’d be at a rave in Detroit and call me in Spokane Valley. He’d just had someone pick a card from the deck and from two thousand miles away, I would guess which card. It’s an old trick, remembered mainly because the last time I talked to Mary back in the 80s was when he used to phone at three in the morning. He finally married a born-again gal from Winnipeg, in Canada. Never met her.
What? You want to know the trick? What time is it? Yeah, okay. Pay attention because you have to imagine the half of the conversation the chump can hear. In a prearranged sequence, Marty has the chump who drew the card standing beside him. He phones me and asks, “Is the great Swami in?” This tips me off the game is on.
I begin to say, “Spades, Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs”, and on the correct suit, Marty says, “Okay, I’ll wait.”
Then I begin to name the cards, “Ace, two, three . . .” and so on, until Marty says, “Hang on.”
Next he hands the phone to the chump whereupon I say with my worst Urdu accent, “I am thinking your card is being the seven of diamonds” and promptly hang up. Are you sure I didn’t tell you this one already? Let me check. My records say no. But it is a classic that can really fry brains already on a mixture of booze and pot, for which Detroit is well-known.
Last, a word to the wise--practice, practice, practice. Just because you see me make it look easy on a computer, don’t make assumptions. I have been complimented by highly-knowledgeable people for the apparent speed and ease of my usage but they don't know I used to teach this stuff. Most of you have not. I'm referring to the work done on the computer before you see me on stage with a tiny MP3 player. You don't know many steps or hours it took me to get there. I’ve replaced everything in my act except the guitarist whereas three years ago I didn’t know how or where to begin. And unless you are a fellow musician or paying student, I’m not talking.
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