Sunday, July 20, 2008

Randomness, I think...

(originally posted on 'The Beef, The Bass, and the Booze...' on May 1, 2008)
I just ate a whole lemon. By myself. Of course, 2/3 of it was consumed as part of two (2) massive hot toddies (I didn't say 'by itself')...
I really abhor being ill. Right after my birthday, I'd caught this nasty headcold-type bug, which mutated into a horrible sore throat bug (the painful swallowing, my head felt the size of Australia, etc.). It finally went away around the middle of April; just in time for our vacation, wherein we ventured out to Las Vegas, NV! Of course, once I got back, it was only a few days before I started having that rundown feeling again. Nothing hurts as much as it did a month ago (my throat feels a little sore; but only a little, like when you don't drink anything all day, +1), but I still hate it (hot toddies help - no, really - and they help you forget that you're, uh...forget that you're, um...yeah...).
I really should be practicing right now. We have a gig tomorrow (at some place called the Rock & Roll Grill); it's called "Punk's Alive", a 'punk festival' of sorts, with 8 bands and 2 stages, Our band, Stifler's Mom, is the ostensible headliner. And why do I use the word 'ostensible'? Well, The R&R Grill is an all-ages club that does not sell liquor. I'm all for that - younger folk need a few places to rock out to as well. Thing is, there's a 10 PM curfew for underagers in this city (I just found this out)...I don't think Stifler's Mom goes on until about 11PM...hmmmmm...this should pan out well...in addition to that, it'll be our first gig w/our new guitarist, Dylan. Dylan is a cool dude, from what I can tell (he is, after all the new guitarist, and there will be that 'getting-to-know-you' phase), and he sure plays a mean guitar (I'm not sure about his pinball skills). Here's the deal, though. we were supposed to have a full band rehearsal with him on Sunday night. Our drummer, Brian, never made it (he works in a hospital, on-call on weekends, and, uh, he got called in). Sooooo...we've all played with him as a band twice before (both times w/Bob, our soon-to-be ex-guitarist, playing as well). This ought to be interesting. At least we're not playing on Saturday. We would have, but none of us had actually seen the place (Mitch, our booking agent/singer, had made arrangement w/the guy over the web/phone or whatever). So after practice on Sunday night, I went there to check it out. I got there to find the parking lot completely empty (save my own increasingly vulnerable vehicle - not the best part of town), and a hand-lettered sing on the door which read, in part, "Due 2 liquor violation, we will be closed Friday, Saturday, and Sunday...Grand Re-Opening Monday, Apr. 28 2 PM". I looked at the hand-lettered-with-colored-pencils sign and thought to myself,' Is the owner a Prince fan?'; then I tried to peek through the windows. The windows were tinted all to hell, and I couldn't see a damn thing. I called Mike (our other guitarist - one of the coolest guys you'll ever meet, if you do indeed meet him) and told him what I saw, and we'd made tentative plans to go there the following day. Well, he called the following day not too long after I'd gotten off of work, and he told me that, since he was in the neighborhood anyway, he'd just go down there and call me to give a lowdown. Well...evidently, there were six (6) men in the joint, all in jeans and wife-beaters, all suckin' down suds...the owner comes out and is very officious - 'yes sir - how can I help you?' and all that (Mike was in his work clothes, which consisted of shirtsleeves and slacks - I suppose the owner thought he was from the city {all city employees are required to wear shirtsleeve and slacks, but no shirt}). Mike says,'I'm in the band'. The owner queries, 'What band?' And I'm sure you can imagine all the hilarity that ensues. Mike told him we were a Southern Rock band, just to make things interesting (we are NOT a Southern Rock band)...needless to say, we're not playing this place on Saturday...anyway, that's all for now...

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