One year ago today: March 21, 2017, on guitar player IQs . . .
Five years ago today: March 21, 2013, the mother of all addendums.
Nine years ago today: March 21, 2009, the meaning of THRUSH
Random years ago today: March 21, 1982, the stats haven’t changed.
I’m more interested in hot dogs now than I should be, but the very chance that some of these people are not lying [about making $100k per year] is incredibly tempting, if only as an experiment. For me, it fits into a larger picture that’s been around forever. That old guy we met who owned three carnival rides and only worked summers? That had profound impact on me because when I finally got a job that paid enough, you were given only two weeks per year to go enjoy it. There’s also the accounting classes and my standing joke that most people’s lives would have been more interesting if they had run away with the circus.
Even preliminary calculations show that it costs several thousand dollars up front before you move a single hot dog. The disincentives built into the American so-called free enterprise system are well discussed in this blog. While there is nothing stopping you, every department that possibly can tries to get a cut of your action. And entitlement-wise, it has been forty years since it was a wise idea to let the government know you are capable of running a small business. Unemployed? Go to the small business department, see if they’ll give you a loan. You only get free unemployment if you are a total nincompoop.
I would not forgive myself if I don’t take a good look. You know, there is something. Years ago I discovered I might qualify for a pension supplement, and had planned to use that money to operate a car when I got old. It will involve turning the shed inside out, but I know exactly where that application form is stored. The reason I didn’t complete it is I wound up having to get a car years before I’d planned. I’ve been moaning about the cost of the car anyway, so this represents an opportunity. Let me fire off that form and see if I get any money. I’d be applying early but what if it is a couple hundred bucks a month? That would be more than enough to embark on the great adventure—and on a significantly firmer footing than what I’ve been reading.
I wrote a lengthy e-mail to Elliott, out on the west coast. Mostly concerning business, and the only business around here is the hot dog cart. That is meant as a criticism; that I seem to be living in an area where everybody is struggling and living off credit cards. You can tell who the retired people are by walking into a bar in the middle of the afternoon. If I want to talk business, the nearest person is 3,000 miles away. Around here, there is more theory than practice.
I already have all the employer numbers and tax registrations needed and the idea is appealing if only to see what comes of it. I’m nearly done the thinking part as far as startup. I understand the cart is a small mobile kitchen and may have other uses. I’m not above going for publicity or helping out in a disaster—if the effort is recognized. I was explaining to Elliott that there is a market to rent these carts out, apparently the going rate is $100 per day, and that I would not rent unless I knew “500%” how everything operates myself. Right now I would not know if it came back with missing parts. Elliott is totally for the idea, he says do it even if it flops. And we agree $100 for one day doesn’t sound like enough.
But if one takes a good look around at what is going on out there, the day is fast approaching where an extra hundred bucks will be more than welcome to most people. An entire third of the population cannot afford to retire and your average job these days doesn’t pay a hundred a day. There’s a little more to it than that. I have the money, what I don’t have is a firm decision.
Inside a ferry boat fuel tank.
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How did rehearsal #16 go? Consider it a dress rehearsal, since the next time we play will be live on stage. That’s a confirmed go, ready or not. And she isn’t ready. But progress, while not spectacular, has been impressive. That is evidence how a gig provides incentive like no other. I know the milestones and stage time is imperative to get this band going. It will be some kind of record for putting a Florida band together where most of the material was learned from scratch since we met. Other bands take months except when all the members already know the same songs. There’s already too much of that nonsense going on.
This photo shows the pavilion where we’ll be playing. That black object on the back wall is an oyster table that moves out of the way. She has six or eight family members who want to show up and the pub itself seems to have the usual ten regulars, with their ball caps and keychains on the belt. That’s virtually ideal for them and us and the house gets free entertainment. I don’t have to advertise, the word has gotten around already to everyone likely to be there.
I’m not ready either, but that applies mainly to the lyrics. Originally, Lady Nik was to supply some of the vocals, but I have yet to hear her sing anything. As mentioned, most of the material is recently learned and I don’t have a lifetime of experience memorizing song words. I have my binder, but just as often lose my spot after a difficult bass passage. My prediction is that no matter how it goes, she only needs around a hundred hours of stage time to turn this into an incredible little duo. I say incredible, because we may be a duo, but we are not, in the strictest sense, at all playing duets.
So stick around while we get this all-important first gig out of the way. To urge things forward, there was another report of a disaster band at the St. Pat’s festival downtown. A keyboard player who used auto-fills and built-in drum beats. Along with a fiddle player and something else I forget what they said. A saxophone maybe? But it was by all recounting, an utterly terrible experience. We’ll do better than that.
ADDENDUM
The new James Bond actor, what’s his name? The one that takes so much getting used to. He is, in the end, an incredibly talented actor. But I only watch the movies when they are free or cheap. However, this scene caught my attention. I don’t know if it is the camera angle, the hair color, the lighting or what. But with a little imagination added just before you take a second look, and there he is with my ex-wife.
Same hairdo, same expression, same everything until you notice her nose is a little bigger and she has dark eyebrows. Yeah, well I didn’t notice and I was thinking “git yer hands off her” until I collected my thoughts. My ex is now twice the age of this gal. But it was the Indy 500 down memory lane for a split second until I recovered.
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