I've Ruined Her

When I met her, Mrs. L was considered a really nice person.
Then she spent years and years with me (a known smartass).

While we were driving somewhere the other day, I pointed out
a sign that said:

"Far from Jesus in Life? Far from Jesus in Death!"

I commented that I really don't mind being far from Death,
so that's OK by me.

Mrs. L commented, "Hmm...is that like fahrvergnügen?"

....yep.

The Flow

Cash flow, that is. Or lack thereof.

This sucks!!! A bunch of repairs, plus a general lack
of work, plus another week until some pay comes in.

And three doctor appointments on the calendar this week.

ARRRRRGGGHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry. Had to vent.

Anybody want to buy a six-string bass???

It All Comes 'Round Again

I've been playing a bunch of festival-type gigs lately,
where there has been little or no rehearsal and lots of
onstage improv. It's like the 60s...except I was too young
to be playing back then.

The other thing that is eerily similar to that beloved era
is the lack of pay for these types of gigs. Sometimes the
money is there, and sometimes no one knows anything
about it!

I had the gall to ask for money to have my band drive
90 miles with all our equipment and play for four
hours. The people running the event seemed
shocked!

Every show has been in hot and humid weather. It makes
tuning very "interesting" to say the least.

Whine, whine, whine. I just can't stop whining until this
damned humidity breaks!!! Back to talking about the weather
...ugh.

What's the Point? - Indeed

While searching for a stereo cable adapter
in my basement, I discovered a calendar from 1990
with notes about various activities back then.

Some of it is interesting - the rest convinces me that
keeping a running diary would be a horror show!

"Black Ice" was the name of the band I was in at the time.
"Glace Noire" was the name of the acoustic duo offshoot.

A funny thing about trying to book bands is that you
end up chasing after the people with the books until
it becomes a big game. It's hard to explain. Maybe it
becomes that "thrill of the chase" syndrome!

As Zappa once said, "Does this kind of life look interesting
to you?"

Feb 19 1990 - Chris & I worked on reggae tune (untitled) ;
instrumental tune (also untitled) ; Mike didn't show.

Feb 21 - Glace Noire - booking call - "Randy" not there.

Feb 22 - Return o' Mike ; showed Mike tunes from Tuesday ;
worked out bridge for instrumental ; improvised parody of
Police tune "Walking on the Moon" as "Stinking Up the Room".
Glace Noire booking - No "Randy".

Feb 23 - Glace Noire booking - No "Randy".

Feb 26 - Black Ice - More reggae tune ; Instrumental tune ;
Contempo Blues/Funk tune. Instrumental tune is called "PBJ".

Feb 1 - Black Ice -Lyrics for Contempo-Blues : "The Love You
Throw Away".

March 5 - Black Ice - New reggae - "Time Is"

March 8 - Black Ice - More of "Time Is" ; Bridge for "First Impressions".

March 12 - Black Ice - Mike doesn't show ; resurrect
Chapman Stick tune in D.

March 13 - Glace Noire booking - "Randy" is, of course, not there.

March 15 - Tune run-throughs ... nothing new.

March 19 - Black Ice - tweakin' o' de funk.

March 22 - Black Ice - lyrics for "Time Is".

March 26 - Recording "First Impressions" ... Gummy Bass,
acoustic guitar, lead & rhythm elec guitar.

March 29 - Black Ice - Recording "First Impressions" ... vocals
...the ill-cow vocal variations ; Glace Noire booking - "Randy"
is NEVER there.

April 2 - Black Ice - Recording "The Love You Throw Away"

April 5 - Glace Noire booking - "Randy" was ACTUALLY
there!!!! She said....to call Tuesday.

April 9 - Black Ice - Re-recording "First Impressions" ... Fender Bass,
acoustic guitar.

April 10 - Glace Noire booking - "Randy" says "maybe April 30....or
June."

April 12 - Black Ice - remodeled funk idea ; vocal tracks for "First"
for the second time ; call "Randy" after 8 re: 4/30 [but why bother?]

April 16-20 - Mike on a "business trip"...ha ha ha...golf 'n' quaffin'
'n' tennis, more likely!

April 20 - Call "Randy" yet again...I didn't remember, but it won't
matter!

April 23 - Call "Randy" yet again (again)

April 30 - Black Ice - new & review

May 7 - Black Ice - recorded version of "Time Is"

May 7-13 - Mike living the high life in Barbados while we
poor slime toil.

May 14 - Rap song: "Lickin' th' Ass of a German Shepherd".
This will NEVER make it out in public...EVER.

May 17 - Black Ice - working on new tune, as yet untitled.
Glace Noire booking - "Randy" not there, as usual.

June 4 - Black Ice - assembled rough demo for new drummer ;
hashed thru old tunes.

June 6 - Glace Noire - Mike sent out demo to "Brian".

June 7 - Black Ice - writing new section for "No Time".

June 11 - Black Ice - still more "No Time".

June 13 - Glace Noire booking - Called "Brian" - he says to "call on Friday" ;
Called "Pam" - she says to send another demo.

June 14 - personal note: "What's the point, anyway?"

June 15 - Glace Noire booking - Called "Brian" - he says to
"call next Wednesday".

June 18 - Black Ice - run tunes with drummer ; went well,
I guess....

June 20 - Glace Noire - called "Brian" - he says to "call tomorrow".

June 21 - Glace Noire - called "Brian" - he's not in ;
Black Ice - recording tunes w/ click track for drummer.

June 22 - Glace Noire - called "Brian" - he says "we're not
doing that format anymore...but call me in a month, maybe
we'll have something"... [yeah, okay]

June 25 - Glace Noire - Mike and I draw a cartoon of the two of
us "waiting for Randy to answer the phone", aging from young
men to skeletons in 6 panels. I drive into the city and hand-deliver
it to "Randy". She is amused. Kind of.

June 28 - Black Ice - Mike on vacation AGAIN ; recorded "Recline".

July 4 - Black Ice - instructed to drop a cassette in a mysterious
mailbox ; I do.

July 5 - Glace Noire - "Randy" not in.

July 6 - Glace Noire - "Pam" not in.

July 10 - Glace Noire - "Pam" too busy to talk to us.

July 12 - Black Ice - run set ; Glace Noire - "Randy" "didn't
listen to the tape".

July 23 - Black Ice - taped set using click track for drummer.

July 24 - Glace Noire - Called "Pam" - not in.

July 25 - Glace Noire - Called "Randy" - not in.

July 26 - Black Ice - no Mike - worked on new ideas.

August 1 - Black Ice - Chris quits to join another band.

August 2 - Black Ice - Mike books a gig, unaware that Chris has
quit. Chris agrees to do the gig.

August 7 - Black Ice - rehearsal - me, Mike and new drummer.

August 11 - filled in with Chris' new band.

August 13 - met Bonnie Raitt outside the Boston
Four Seasons hotel.

August 15 - Black Ice - ran thru most of tunes with full band.

August 21-24 - ran up to the Vermont woods with
the singer's sister...

August 26 & 29 - Black Ice - "rehearsal OK".

September 2 - Black Ice - drummer calls to say he "can't do the
gig" scheduled in four days ; we call all the drummers we know.

September 3 - Glace Noire - Called local radio show - told to
"call tomorrow".

September 5 - Black Ice - Rehearsed a drummer for one hour,
he heard MOST of the material for tomorrow's gig.

September 6 - Black Ice - final gig ; net income after
expenses: -$32. (We do this cause it's FUN!)

[Looking back, perhaps we shouldn't have given away
the "band fez" to a bouncer after the gig...maybe we
could have auctioned it off and had a shot at breaking
even!!]

And I still can't find that stereo adapter.

A Recommendation

I played at an outdoor festival Saturday afternoon.
It was an interesting experience, at least in part
due to the humidity affecting the intonation of
the instruments!

There was a bluegrass trio rehearsing in the
parking lot before their set. They were doing a
song about "cocaine being the ruination of me"
or something like that ... it was actually very
good, as were they, but when they surveyed
the youth element in the crowd they scratched
that number from their list.

I played with a singer/songwriter and my
brother (which almost NEVER happens).
We had run through the songs exactly one time
a couple of days before, but we did OK.
"We fooled 'em", as my old friend Gene
Sibley would say.

One of the songs was almost Captain Beefheart-ish.
It was fun.

I would have liked to hear more of the other performers,
but I couldn't hang around - I had to pack
up and drive to Maine for a gig with my band.
And when I say "drive", I mean "sit in traffic for a
couple of hours on Route 95".

When I finally made it to the place, I tried to catch
a little sleep in the car. I CANNOT do it. My
wife can do it ... my son can do it ... not me.
So I did the only logical thing: I ate a burrito and
walked around town until gig time rolled around.

In the crowd that night was a guy I hadn't seen in 10 years.
He had no idea I'd be there, he was just in Maine on
vacation. What a weird coincidence. But, a good one.

Then I drove the 90 miles home at 2 in the morning.
As we say, "We do this 'cause it's fun!"

(I know, "Waah....")

Oh, yeah ... recommendation ...

At the festival, I ran into a singer/songwriter I had met
a couple of years ago. He was good then, and he's
good now! Check him out. His name is Carl Cacho.

And now to reheat the pesto ....

Jive 8

Warning: if you don't like cynicism, move on!!!
But if you didn't, why would you be around here
anyway?

Lots of gushing going on about Live 8. So I guess
the only relatively "safe" place to voice my honest
opinion is here, on my own blog. That way I will
only annoy about six people.

I thought the whole thing was a big joke.

"We can make poverty history!"

Really? Is that in the interest of ANY leader, anywhere?
Political leaders have used peoples' economic situations
to manipulate them since the first vote was cast.
"Vote Thog - he have more stones!!!"

When I saw the list of performers, I figured they all said,
"HEY! A charity concert! And a camera hasn't been on me
for five minutes!! I MUST be there!"

Same faces. Who cares? Twenty-plus years, and U2 are no
better than when they started (uh, oh - here come the flames!!).
I liked them when they came out....I just didn't know they'd
never progress once they got the money. I thought maybe
"The Edge" would take some of his royalties and maybe
get some guitar lessons, instead of relying on his echo-box
to play 3/4 of the notes for him (here comes another blast!!!!).
Oh, and are they unable to afford razors, soap or shampoo?!?
Or is that look just part of being "filthy" rich?

Some people are saying the concert will "raise awareness and let
the world leaders know how we feel". Trouble is, world leaders
don't care how we feel. They probably don't even know the
concert happened. Hell, they couldn't tell you how much a loaf
of bread costs - they haven't had to buy one for themselves for so
long (if ever), they have no clue about such things.

But we showed them. We reunited Pink Floyd. If we can do that,
well ....

You know, if only the Beatles had done that Boat People benefit
in the 70s, maybe we could have avoided ALL the world's problems.