One year ago today: June 28, 2013, the Lanai Kai.
Five years ago today: June 28, 2009, my crib hand.
Ten years ago today: June 28, 2004, Mars.
MORNING
And I mean early morning. Here’s luck for you, I awoke this AM with a fever and a “ferocious” sore throat. On this, gig day, and by 9:00AM it has progressed to coughing, post-nasal drip, sore joints, just about every symptom you do not want twelve hours before play time. See how the world mysticiously knows this is a particularly important gig? A steady booking is one of the few nice things left that could happen with this band. The upside? In the past I’ve done exceptionally well at gigs where I was not up to par.
What, I’m writing a unique blog and a plastic wiggly toy gets top story? Yep, one could say that. It has more to do with the novel way of looking at this “toy” as a potential answer to a robotics challenge. And once again, Bill, I’m not saying I invented the idea, only that I’ve never personally seen it done this way before. And you know me, I live in a cave. Actually a trailer court, but everybody knows that’s the next best thing.
I finally send a communication to the Dan Lewis who writes the newsletter, “Now I Know”. The offer/deal is simple. If he chooses, it will be the fist time in history I have given permission for direct quotes without credit. However, that man does an incredible job of research, never repeats himself, and totally understands how to avoid the cheesy “trivia” sites that duplicate their material. So I know he’s got a good sense of fair play.
AFTERNOON
Here’s some candid photos of the gig. These are stills from the Panasonic so you know who to blame for the quality. That’s the singer, me, and a guitar player left to right. Quick, pick the two most ridiculously photogenic. That’s the big screen bank we play in front of, which makes for a captive audience. Soccer. That’s some kind of sports game, right? Like with teams?
Plus, I had my first little squawk with this band. I usually catch a lift with one of the guys who lives just up the road. Well, today he wanted to charge “gas money”, which I don’t follow since he has to drive from his place anyway. It’s not like he picks me up or anything. When I mentioned I used my own gas to do all the one-on-one advertising, well, you can see there was a little discontent. It’s all glossed over now, but it brought to a head that there are unresolved issues. With me, the primary among them is that money flow out of the band, not into it.
The music itself was below par the whole evening. I attribute this to having too many songs on the list. Also, the band likes to play every tune back to back, no space between songs. I think there should be a minute break so people can talk, move, phone, or whatever. Then we would not be burning up so many tunes every set.
There is an aspect you might not like, but here goes. There are three and four piece bands that are not anywhere near as good as we are, but they are scooping the prime time Friday gigs. I found out the band last night was that Miami group with the lead, drummer, singer, and that dude who plays the standup bass. Word it however you want, these guys are not any good. I saw them at Churchill’s quite a number of times and they play same set list I did when I was twelve. “Gloria”, “Louie Louie”, “Last Kiss”. I’m not saying our band would get more work if we played worse but that’s one way of looking at it.
I tried to record some of the show with the Panasonic camcorder. The disk only holds twenty minutes and fully charged batteries barely last that long. Remember, this camera is brand new in the original box, so there are no defects to consider. Speaking of products that don’t go the distance, I took 12-hour cold medicine and it wore off in 8 hours. By last music set, I was barely keeping it together. I did get an extra crowd cheer, though, and that made my day.
I was so glad to get back here with a cup of tea and a good book. I partied for forty years and got more than my share, so it isn’t like I missed anything out there. But it still disappoints me that I don’t have the gumption to really get out there anymore. Hold on, let me rephrase that. I don’t know how I would react if there was ever a real party like we had back in my days. You know, single, good-looking women, something Florida has not seen in twenty years.
There was a gal caught my eye at the gig. Where I had to stand, she was precisely behind the singer. My bass style is largely visible. She could not see me, no matter how I tried to line us up, there was always somebody in the way. Soon, she got distracted. Like much music, my bass playing is most impressive when you first hear it. If I could turn that into always, hey, I’d be rich.
ADDENDUM
Good news. The band made the media, if only locally. For the first time since I joined up, a third party has advertised our gig in the local “New Times”. We took second place to the Friday band, but I will chalk this up as a win. As for my critics, well, until they get independently advertised (ha-ha, don’t hold your breath), I claim bragging rights to year’s end.
Did you see the quip about the Bengal tiger that dragged a boatman off in front of his kids? But humans are not that animal’s natural prey. This, folks, is what happens when you destroy the tiger’s habitat and force it into starvation. Yeah, we get it, they had to cut down the jungle to feed more people, which is strange considering their record of feeding their people. Maybe conservation is in order, both the kind in nature preserves and the kind that starts at home? Still, the poor kids.
And what’s this? Sinatra’s first New Jersey driver’s license fetches $15k at auction. This newspaper clip made me decide not to go to the movies this morning. I didn’t know Sinatra was one of the Jersey Boys. Hold that movie until I’m feeling richer.
Still, the win would have put her into the Miss America finals, so there are some political pukes involved and she is history. The age range is 17 to 24. The moment they changed awarding the prize from the youngest to the oldest (are these judges obvious, or what), the committees have been asking for this kind of trouble. If she’s feeling really, really depressed over this, I extend the invitation for her to spend the weekend at my place and relax all up.
For humanitarian reasons.
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