Good morning! 9:54, 49 degrees on this last day of the workweek. One musician friend complained about retirement that you never get a day off. I love retirement because you get every day off. It's tough sometimes saying no, but you gotta do it.
One musical situation I had to extricate myself from was a Singer/Trumpet Player who ran a small band doing basically Easy Listening stuff. He was not a skilled singer or trumpet player, but he did get good people to play with him. This was a big incentive for me. But he'd always stick me with teardown after the job. And he'd often get a snootful while we were playing, which could lead to some untoward remarks.
There was one occasion I was witness to, where it was made right in front of his microphone. It was a salty remark, and had to do with a very attractive young lady tending bar. My face was probably some deep shade of red. I turned to the bass player and said, "do you think there's anybody here who didn't hear that?" "They're too loaded to care".
That wasn't my last gig with them, but eventually I had to beg off. And I'm a lousy liar, so I had to just tell him I didn't want to do it anymore. That was tough...
Anyway! Music news. It's been a year to the day since I've played anywhere outside these 4 walls. Whenever it reopens I have a Robbie's gig coming. That was the last place I played, and will likely be the first place I play coming back.
Always a good time. I enjoy playing Jeopardy with the regulars at the bar, seeing various folks, and of course making music. The second set often has some guest players- and one aggregation consisting of myself, Frank Parker and Mark Russillo, which I call the Men Under 5'8". And I love selling CDs, which I do at half-price at Robbie's. Got a few new ones to hawk.
For the present, I'm still hanging here at home until at least the 30th. That's when I'm supposed to get my second vaccine. In the meantime, still working away here in the Lab. One of the tunes I want to do is a minor blues of mine called AB Positive. It was written for bassist Andy Burtschi, who has played on four of my recordings. It's also the tune du jour for today, from a CD of mine called Bird's-Eye View. Perry Rask on alto saxophone, Kevin Hart on piano, me on guitar, Andy on bass, and Brian Justison on drums. Darrin Holthaus and Cassie Hart are also on the album.
And that's what I've got for you today. A musical anecdote of sorts and a tune for your listening pleasure. Thanks as ever for stopping in and wading through all this. I do appreciate it! Happy Friday to you! I'm outa here. More later. PS Today's pic is Dan Rivero, Wayne Carter and myself at Robbie's. 