the happy and the sad...
yesterday is not really a day i'd like to repeat.
well, okay, i guess that's not true.
there were parts of it that were truly quite enjoyable. ;)
and i do love to perform.
so, fine.
let's not ever do two gigs at the same time again.
the back story: originally, the swing band was booked to play a valentine's dance in lake villa on the 13th, and another [somewhat belated] valentine's dance in fox lake on the 20th. well, whoever booked us in fox lake did actually book us for the 20th... and then sold tickets (and advertised) for the 13th.
long story short? when they realized what they'd done, they called holly in a panic to see if we could come on the 13th instead. alas, we already had another gig.
so we called in the reserves.
every.
single.
sub.
we.
knew.
(and a couple we didn't.)
miraculously enough, we managed to get commitments from enough people to form two complete bands and be two places at once. we are that good. ;) since we don't have any subs for singing, guy and i split our time. i started in fox lake, sang the first set, traveled during the second, and sang the third set in lake villa, while guy did the opposite.
everything was so perfectly orchestrated. we would have pulled it off with absolutely no problems whatsoever... except we were milling around the place in fox lake at 6:30pm (call time was 6pm for a 7pm downbeat), and we still didn't have a drummer. our sub---mike, who has played for us multiple times---hadn't shown up! bill had been calling him and calling him, getting more and more concerned because mike is usually very good about answering his phone and wouldn't miss a gig for no reason. by 6:40pm, several people were on cell phones calling everyone and anyone they knew who could bring a set and bang out a 3-hour gig with us. by 6:50pm, we had someone coming---ron, a friend of a friend of... someone---and by 7:25pm, we hit the first downbeat and were on a roll.
only twenty-five minutes late.
not bad, all things considered.
and ron? omg. the guy is amazing. when your drummer walks in and openly proclaims that he's 81 years old, you get a little concerned. well, at least i did. *shrugs* this guy didn't look at a chart all night, and he was 100% absolutely spot on. when it came to "Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend"---which is an original arrangement---he just told me to cue him for the 8-bar tom solo, and he was right there. after eight bars, he settled back down to being the backbone of the band. phenomenal.
talking to bill later on at the bar, we found out that ron had apparently played in vegas for somewhere close to 30 years. no wonder the guy was ridiculously good! i hope we keep him on the sub list!
of course, the late start made things a little nuts for getting to lake villa. guy arrived in fox lake before our first set was even done. as soon as we finished the first set and hit the break, i booked it out to my car and had a mind meld with speed racer all the way to lake villa. ran into the hall at lake villa, swapped boots for shoes, had enough time to drink a few sips of water, and went right into the final set there. thank God they took an additional break for their raffle and i was able to down a cup of hot coffee a) for the caffeine and b) to help relax my throat, which had definitely begun to tighten under the constant singing and the stress of running from one place to the next with no decent break.
the crowds both places were great. we had a goodly number of dancers out on the floor, and i even had the chance to improve my emcee skills a little bit. even if bill did ruin my perfect "we've got an app for that" segueway before we played "Blue Skies." ;)
and i finally got ellen to meet brett, even if they didn't get the chance to dance. ;)
i know, i know, i know, me and the yenta inclinations need to chill out sometimes. but he's such a sweetie, and i knew he'd be too shy to just go talk to her without a little help. therefore, i produced the help. :) and no, subtlety wasn't a factor in this. ;)
after the final stage strike, those of us who were hardcore (or just stupid enough to stay around for all the tear down and pack up ;) ) met out a bar, where bill bought us drinks and holly and i discussed how trippy the sink bowls in the bathrooms would be if you were drunk. ;) i truly, truly adore this group and everyone in it. (the permanent people, i mean. talented though he may be as a trombone sub, there's no way i will ever approach anything close to adoration for weird kenny. just no way.) and good times like that at a bar winding down after the success of one of the biggest endeavors we have undertaken? priceless.
although while it was inarguably a fantastic success (mostly due to all the behind-the-scenes front-end work that a select few of us did), we did agree not to make this a habit. ;)
and i realized that last night, rebecca---our alternate keyboard player---is the first person other than myself to have ever played my keyboard. i mean, aside from my uncle and a few others just plinking on a few notes when i was showing off my "new toy" a year and a half ago. (obviously, i volunteered my piano for the cause, so long as it ended up at the same final location that i did so i could pack it up and take it home with me from there.) it was nice to have several people compliment me on how awesome my keys were. :D
so it was a good, good night, even if significantly stressful.
the sad part came later today, when i checked my email before taking a nap (last night really knocked me on my ass; i couldn't stop yawning all morning). bill sent an email to the band: mike didn't show up to the gig because while getting ready that evening, he had a heart attack.
and died.
yeah.
i think i'm still in shock.
as soon as i read the email, i had to call jud, who had accompanied me for the evening and graciously carried all my shit in and out of varying venues and helped me set my keyboard back up at 1:20am this morning when we finally got back to my house, and therefore knew all the drama that had occurred. i was just... absolutely in shock. mike was a great guy. i'd seen him just the week before. and the thought of him suddenly not being here anymore---and going the way he did so suddenly---just makes me sick.
i've asked bill to let me know about the services when he hears, as i would like to attend and pay my respects to mike and his family, and jud has said he wants to accompany me. with all the time spent in this group, they're a family to both of us. and sure, mike hadn't been around regularly for some time, but he was dear to us. and he was a close friend of bill's. and while he's occasionally a pain in the ass diva---he's a trumpet player, what do you want?---we love bill too. ;)
so if for any reason, you think of the tuminello family, say a prayer. or keep them in your thoughts. whichever you are most inclined to do.
oh, and my aunt robin. who goes in for major surgery tomorrow.
i've heard bad things like death happen in three's, and there have already been two. i'm reasonably confident she'll be okay, but am still secretly terrified of getting "that" phone call tomorrow afternoon. i don't know that my grandmother would survive losing another daughter.
and one more thing... i have an interview tomorrow at 9:30am.
so cross fingers for that one to, eh?
well, okay, i guess that's not true.
there were parts of it that were truly quite enjoyable. ;)
and i do love to perform.
so, fine.
let's not ever do two gigs at the same time again.
the back story: originally, the swing band was booked to play a valentine's dance in lake villa on the 13th, and another [somewhat belated] valentine's dance in fox lake on the 20th. well, whoever booked us in fox lake did actually book us for the 20th... and then sold tickets (and advertised) for the 13th.
long story short? when they realized what they'd done, they called holly in a panic to see if we could come on the 13th instead. alas, we already had another gig.
so we called in the reserves.
every.
single.
sub.
we.
knew.
(and a couple we didn't.)
miraculously enough, we managed to get commitments from enough people to form two complete bands and be two places at once. we are that good. ;) since we don't have any subs for singing, guy and i split our time. i started in fox lake, sang the first set, traveled during the second, and sang the third set in lake villa, while guy did the opposite.
everything was so perfectly orchestrated. we would have pulled it off with absolutely no problems whatsoever... except we were milling around the place in fox lake at 6:30pm (call time was 6pm for a 7pm downbeat), and we still didn't have a drummer. our sub---mike, who has played for us multiple times---hadn't shown up! bill had been calling him and calling him, getting more and more concerned because mike is usually very good about answering his phone and wouldn't miss a gig for no reason. by 6:40pm, several people were on cell phones calling everyone and anyone they knew who could bring a set and bang out a 3-hour gig with us. by 6:50pm, we had someone coming---ron, a friend of a friend of... someone---and by 7:25pm, we hit the first downbeat and were on a roll.
only twenty-five minutes late.
not bad, all things considered.
and ron? omg. the guy is amazing. when your drummer walks in and openly proclaims that he's 81 years old, you get a little concerned. well, at least i did. *shrugs* this guy didn't look at a chart all night, and he was 100% absolutely spot on. when it came to "Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend"---which is an original arrangement---he just told me to cue him for the 8-bar tom solo, and he was right there. after eight bars, he settled back down to being the backbone of the band. phenomenal.
talking to bill later on at the bar, we found out that ron had apparently played in vegas for somewhere close to 30 years. no wonder the guy was ridiculously good! i hope we keep him on the sub list!
of course, the late start made things a little nuts for getting to lake villa. guy arrived in fox lake before our first set was even done. as soon as we finished the first set and hit the break, i booked it out to my car and had a mind meld with speed racer all the way to lake villa. ran into the hall at lake villa, swapped boots for shoes, had enough time to drink a few sips of water, and went right into the final set there. thank God they took an additional break for their raffle and i was able to down a cup of hot coffee a) for the caffeine and b) to help relax my throat, which had definitely begun to tighten under the constant singing and the stress of running from one place to the next with no decent break.
the crowds both places were great. we had a goodly number of dancers out on the floor, and i even had the chance to improve my emcee skills a little bit. even if bill did ruin my perfect "we've got an app for that" segueway before we played "Blue Skies." ;)
and i finally got ellen to meet brett, even if they didn't get the chance to dance. ;)
i know, i know, i know, me and the yenta inclinations need to chill out sometimes. but he's such a sweetie, and i knew he'd be too shy to just go talk to her without a little help. therefore, i produced the help. :) and no, subtlety wasn't a factor in this. ;)
after the final stage strike, those of us who were hardcore (or just stupid enough to stay around for all the tear down and pack up ;) ) met out a bar, where bill bought us drinks and holly and i discussed how trippy the sink bowls in the bathrooms would be if you were drunk. ;) i truly, truly adore this group and everyone in it. (the permanent people, i mean. talented though he may be as a trombone sub, there's no way i will ever approach anything close to adoration for weird kenny. just no way.) and good times like that at a bar winding down after the success of one of the biggest endeavors we have undertaken? priceless.
although while it was inarguably a fantastic success (mostly due to all the behind-the-scenes front-end work that a select few of us did), we did agree not to make this a habit. ;)
and i realized that last night, rebecca---our alternate keyboard player---is the first person other than myself to have ever played my keyboard. i mean, aside from my uncle and a few others just plinking on a few notes when i was showing off my "new toy" a year and a half ago. (obviously, i volunteered my piano for the cause, so long as it ended up at the same final location that i did so i could pack it up and take it home with me from there.) it was nice to have several people compliment me on how awesome my keys were. :D
so it was a good, good night, even if significantly stressful.
the sad part came later today, when i checked my email before taking a nap (last night really knocked me on my ass; i couldn't stop yawning all morning). bill sent an email to the band: mike didn't show up to the gig because while getting ready that evening, he had a heart attack.
and died.
yeah.
i think i'm still in shock.
as soon as i read the email, i had to call jud, who had accompanied me for the evening and graciously carried all my shit in and out of varying venues and helped me set my keyboard back up at 1:20am this morning when we finally got back to my house, and therefore knew all the drama that had occurred. i was just... absolutely in shock. mike was a great guy. i'd seen him just the week before. and the thought of him suddenly not being here anymore---and going the way he did so suddenly---just makes me sick.
i've asked bill to let me know about the services when he hears, as i would like to attend and pay my respects to mike and his family, and jud has said he wants to accompany me. with all the time spent in this group, they're a family to both of us. and sure, mike hadn't been around regularly for some time, but he was dear to us. and he was a close friend of bill's. and while he's occasionally a pain in the ass diva---he's a trumpet player, what do you want?---we love bill too. ;)
so if for any reason, you think of the tuminello family, say a prayer. or keep them in your thoughts. whichever you are most inclined to do.
oh, and my aunt robin. who goes in for major surgery tomorrow.
i've heard bad things like death happen in three's, and there have already been two. i'm reasonably confident she'll be okay, but am still secretly terrified of getting "that" phone call tomorrow afternoon. i don't know that my grandmother would survive losing another daughter.
and one more thing... i have an interview tomorrow at 9:30am.
so cross fingers for that one to, eh?