Irons In The Fire - Amended

Well, I was wrong on one thing - we are moving after all. Apparently Michelle and her fiancee got a thirty-day extension from the company we rent the house from. So we're moving at the end of July. So much for going up to Washington in July. Maybe in August, then?

But I wonder, who's going to pay the deposit for the pit bull puppy they bought for the kids?

Irons In the Fire

We just had a rather interesting day today. Joy and I were in the midst of getting a mini-storage unit to pack away things before we moved into the trailer when we got a phone call from Michelle, telling us that her purse had been stolen from her van with $800 in cash in it! Apparently, they talked the rental agency into disregarding the 3o-day notice of leaving. And they informed us that they would be unable to move until next February. So I guess that we're not moving after all.

Which may be a good thing after all. Thinking about it, I actually have five different projects going at this time. My new band with Dean Brownell has a name (Bridgewater - sounds like a condo development), and our first sort-of practice (the singer came in from Fallon, but the bassist was sick with the flu). Dean and I will be temping next weekend in Carson City with a band called Tight In The Corner, and there's my previously mentioned temp gig with Steppen Stonz the weekend after that.

I also have two bands scouting me as well. A band whose name I won't mention has informed me that the are considering firing their drummer, and I'm number one on their list. The other band may be even more promising: A country band with national potential. The group is Aussie or Kiwi, can't remember which right off hand, and they've just returned from recording demos and generally schmoozing in Nashville. One thing is for certain, though: I need work, and consistent work, and it needs to come soon.

But Joy and I are looking on the bright side of all this. Now we really don't have much to keep us from going on our trip home to Washington next month, barring our Explorer needing a brake job. I may have to borrow money from my Uncle Roger to get that done. We were looking towards actually spending time together by ourselves, but I think that we can deal with continuing to babysit two adorable little weapons of mass destruction for a while longer.

I also have to give props to my audience.

Yes, I actually have one, and it's not just Joy. So let me give a shout-out to my amigo Mark Twohey (as in tooey!) from Atomika, who gave big kudos to this blog and its insane ramblings. If you're reading Mark, thanks bro.

Doors Are Opening

It's been an interesting last few days. For the second time in my career an agent has died on me, and bands aplenty have been showing interest in my services. Aside from Dean Brownell's new project, I have another well-known band scouting me on the down-low, Dean and I will be playing a one-night fill-in gig, and I've just been hired to play the July 4th weekend with old friends Steppen Stonz at a tribal casino in California. I have a singer to break in on Monday, new heads to buy in the very near future, and lots of material to get familiar with.

Perhaps Cockbreath McPothead letting his ego loose on me was the best thing that ever happened to me.....

As One Door Closes...

Another opens. Joy and I are moving out of our house for a few months in our tent-trailer, then home to Washington state, with my money on going back to Olympia. Why we're not moving right now is because, other than the fact that we can't afford it right now, is that we're still waiting on two more tax returns and Joy's Social Security/Disability application being approved. I'm just frustrated by all this, and I've decided that moving to Reno was a bad, and expensive idea. I feel guilty, because we spent so much money to get here, and it's all come to naught. But in the long run, things will be better once we get home. I'm figuring that we'll be back in Washington by the end of the year, and I'll find work and/or gigs there without too much trouble.

The only thing that'll keep me here in Reno would be a gig or job of serious magnitude. Y'know, the kind of opportunity that means full-time work, and full-time money. I'll do my best to keep up hope, but I also need to be realistic. I just get the feeling that eight months from now I'll be either on the field or bench for my beloved Budd Bay RFC Buffaloes, resuming my role as the Les Nessman of rugby....

Author's Note: Go look up "WKRP in Cincinnati" on YouTube or Hulu, or whatever, and try to find the episode about the softball game. There's a reason why "WKRP in Cincinnati" is one of the rare TV shows that never 'jumped the shark', and this is one of them.

So, What The Hell Am I Looking For, Anyway?

I want to rock. No blues, no jazz, no R&B, no country, no crap. I know that real rock bands around here are scarce. Only about a half-dozen play on a regular basis in the area surrounding Reno, which includes most of California, playing tribal casinos spanning from the redwoods to outskirts of the Big Smoggy, LA itself. Some go to the far ends of Nevada, as a buddy of mine is playing as we speak in Jackpot, scarcely three hours southeast of Boise. A lot of my friends play regularly in West Wendover, on the border with Utah (FACT: Every major highway that crosses into Nevada, as in Interstates and Federal (US routes) roads, anywhere from 5 feet to five miles of crossing the border, there'll be a casino by that crossing, bank on it), nearly four hundred miles east of Reno. I played with Rick & Dana Cowen at the Riverside in Laughlin, which at 545 miles southeast of Reno is about as far away from home as I can get and still be in the Silver State. So traveling isn't an option, it's a necessity.

My truck will go into the shop next week to get the transmission and clutch worked over, at an estimated cost of just a bit over $800. Joy isn't happy about it, but what's more dangerous - the devil you know, or the devil you don't know? I could take the money we'd budgeted for the repair, plus whatever I could borrow to buy another beater truck or wagon, but how long would it last? What issues does it have? Beyond the transmission, I think I have some rumbling coming from worn wheel bearings, but Rick's told me that I could save a little money and have him do that work. My transmission, while not beyond his capacity to repair, is beyond the capacity of his tools, because he'd have to drop the transmission to do the job. But once it's done, I'll have my 30mpg truck ready to roll. Even without a gig it's a good thing, because my courier route still needs an efficient vehicle to get the job done. Oh, and Baby needs new shoes as well. All the driving I do basically means a new set of tires annually.

Sometimes I wonder what I've gotten myself into. But Joy is doing better, and likely to get her SS/D claim approved in the next few months, and her app for food-stamps (okay, it's a debit card now) should be up and running by the weekend. One of our tax returns should hit the bank by Monday morning, so that will help, and our 2006 return should be ready to go to the IRS pretty soon, then Joy can finish the 2008 return. She now has a doctor that takes her seriously, and seems able to comprehend all that ails her. Michelle and Bill have good jobs, and Cody and Ellie growing like weeds. Speaking of that, my garden is really rounding into shape. Beans, squash, radishes, cucumbers, tomatoes, carrots, peppers, all sprouting like crazy. The sage I planted last summer is back with a vengeance, so I'm trying again at putting an herb garden together. Joy wants to plant medicinal herbs, but she needs to get on that fast. I'll probably just get the seeds that she wants and do it for her.

So all in all, I guess things aren't too bad for me. And Joy and I are planning to take the babies up to Washington again at the end of July for Joy's family reunion up at the Bumping River again. We found out that Eddie and Melissa are coming home with Soren and their new baby boy Sascha (the exact spelling makes me wonder, was Eddie watching Borat?), and Joy is dying to finally meet them. And this will also include trips to Olympia and Port Angeles for my family, and some very special friends.

So this should be a pretty busy summer. I'm looking forward to it.

Jams

I've been hitting the local jam sessions lately, to play a little and to network with other musicians. There are a lot of us out here. In fact, Nevada has more musicians per capita than any other state in the Union. That had traditionally been because the casinos had employed full orchestras for their various shows, and these were some of the finest musicians in the country. As the times changed, the orchestras died out and were replaced by smaller bands. With the era of modern electrified instruments came rock, country, and R&B bands replaced small orchestras and jazz combos from the cabarets. In recent years DJs and ultra-modern dance music have replaced the bands, though the signs are evident that the bands are coming back. One way or another, it signals that there's always going to be a lot of musicians in the Silver State.

My favorite jam night is at a tiny restaurant/bar in Minden called Indigo. The guy who runs the jam, Dean, also runs other jams in Sparks and Carson City. Joy and I went to the one in Sparks, and I didn't like it all that much. So many musicians come in, you're lucky if you get to play two or three songs, and usually it's the same old I-IV-V blues progression with the guitarists noodling away like Clapton on PCP. And most of these guys are has-beens, never-weres, and burnouts, who have no real interest in anything other than noodling for their three songs. Dean told me that one night in Sparks, he had twenty drummers to deal with. At Indigo, I can play a real variety of music, and a lot of it, sing lead, and meet people who actually seem interested in the concept of playing music as a source of income. I was hoping to meet up with the guy who'd told me he was looking for a good drummer who was familiar with playing to a click-track, but he never showed.

But I didn't really mind. I just like to play. No clicks, no tracks, no set stops and starts unless it's a song we all know. Of course, that means dealing with players who have a hard time with the concept of 'one', as in "come in on 'one'". I've told Dean that I've fought the urge at times to step up to the front of the stage and conduct the band so they can all come in together. But even when it's annoying or even frustrating, it's still fun. Now if I can only make a little money through this......

Offers

Truth be told, I'm not in a position to just walk away when somebody says to me that they're looking for a drummer. But I've also been made offers that were totally bullshit, and needless to say it was very disappointing to see promises come to naught. So I'm out and about, and willing to listen. I can't tell you what's going on at this moment, but I was made an offer last Thursday at Indigo. At least I was informed of an opening with a band. One that wouldn't force me to deal with the fuckheads at the Atlantis. And thanks to the connections I've been building at Indigo's Jam Nights, I've also been able to get in position to do sub work when others are unavailable. We'll just have to see how things all break down from here. But a day-job is still very much in my future, so I shall just have to be patient, and let the currents take me where they may.