On drums...

You'd be hoping. The last thing on my mind was recording the session. The guy who was supposed to do lighting got sick and canceled that morning, so my friend Phil, who took the group photos, and who was going to be shooting the band on stage, had to take over the lights. So not even a pic other than unauthorized snapshots.

Thanks for the get-well wishes. I'm working on that. I crawled off to bed afterwards, while Lily went out and was the toast of the town, wined and dined and feted... and by the time she got home, she really wanted to talk. So I had to wake up and listen. Finally got her calmed down and me back to sleep. At 5 AM, my cell phone started ringing, repeatedly An old girlfriend calling, so I heard a lot about being awakened by the old girlfriend, along with more renderings of the evening before.

The phone rang again at 7. Same person. I guessed she was in some sort of crisis, so I called her back, and did my very best to give spiritual counseling to someone who had had too much to drink and pulled an all-nighter.

That's enough from the diary. Thanks for the congratulations on survival; even I feel as if I deserve some credit, although I accept none for how well it went, which was, as Lily likes to say, "Oddly Godly."

Yes, Roland, it went much better than my health suggested it should. It was kind of a big deal getting through the night. It was the first time I have ever experienced playing while really out of sorts.

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Gregory

Nothing like a long gig to make us feel old! And nothing like a GI bug to sap your energy.

But those are the gigs that you remember... with the good stories attached. Hope you get some rest, eventually!

- D.

"Feel old": you put your finger on it there, David. I got in bed at 9 last night and got out at 7 this morning, just because I was getting sore lying down.

Feeling better today, actually had some coffee and it didn't taste like poison.

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Gregory

Sounds like you pulled it off despite some adversity, good one! Wish we had some pics so we could see the place with you r kit in it!

I remember a gig where we all had buckets on stage because of some stomach bug, with the prize of you get to drive for the next week(no breaks)if you used it. Remarkably they all stayed empty

Greg you have any more coming up?

That made me laugh, Tim, hard as it is to picture the buckets on stage. I would have pealed rubber to get outdoors quick, had I thought I were about to cross the Rubicon again. A public review of my breakfast goes hard against my nature.

That was the big opening event and, yes, we have a few more gigs lined up - and inquiries, after Saturday night, about some more.

As of yesterday, Travis, our guitar player, is history. Some pretty young thing with singing ambitions, looking for a guitar player, turned him into Pepe Le Pew by batting her eyelashes. She made a bee line for him, back stage, at intermission. When Lily and I realized she was poaching, we demanded a commitment from Travis and he refused it, so toodle-oo for him. It is a shame for him, because while he is talented, he's raw and not at all a developed musician - and certainly not competition for a girl who thinks she's hot. But there's only so much advice you can hand out when a guy's brain melts into his shorts. One gig and he's got a groupie.

Last night we spoke with another guitar player; this guy I've known a long time and I know his mettle if not his licks. I had no idea he would be interested in playing with us, but heard our concert and was very enthusiastic when Lily asked if he'd like to play guitar. And get this: his best friend and jamming partner is a double bass player.

Cliff has, over the years, pushed me to advertise for musicians in the area. I have always told him there is "nobody around here that I don't know," but I was wrong about that. Whether or not they could have been can be stirred by advertising, I don't know for sure, but the right alignment of stars sure has brought a few out.

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Gregory