4.18.07

Category: dribblings

where have i been? let me tell you, but first a Book Title of the Day: An Ex to Grind

last week there was lots of working and some Uru playing, but not much Uru playing because of the working. on friday i got a call from my old boss who knows some chick who sings in a band who was playing that night and needed a bass player to play with her, as she was doing a solo gig and wanted there to be something besides just her and her guitar. so of course i’m all, “are you out of your mind?” and she’s all, “come on, it’ll be fun.”

and what i have not told you is that the chick is in a country/bluegrass band and that the gig was in Middle of Nowhere Calhoun County. you can get there by first driving to Jacksonville and then turning left after the Sonic. then you drive o’er hill and dell, past the Shire, through a Stargate portal and arrive, magically, at the Rabbittown Cafe and Fiddler’s Hall. and i’m not making any of this up. that’s the actual name of the place.

here’s the reasons i gave for NOT going:
1. i don’t even play bass anymore
2. i was in a rock band. NOT country and def NOT bluegrass
3. since i’m not an actual bass player (more of a bass noodler) i find it very hard to play bass without a drummer.
3a. i can’t read music.
3b. i’m not a musician at all.
4. i don’t know country/bluegrass songs!
5. it’s ACTUALLY called a fiddler’s hall? there’s no way in hell i’m going.
6. and my best excuse was that my bass amp was locked up at the church and i don’t have any way of getting it until sunday. which turned out to be moot because the singer chick had a bass amp.
what are the damn odds?

so boss was all, “i knew you’d be a chicken shit about it.” and i was all, “Son of a…! FINE! i’ll go! but if i get raped by a hillbilly or a hobbit at this juke joint, OR bit by a rabid dog, IT’S ON YOU!”

turns out, the juke joint was very new and clean and served some awesome fried catfish and homemade slaw. the chick assured me that the songs were all G C D. so i felt a bit better about things until she capoed nearly every song. Woe is the long suffering of the bass player who doesn’t know shit about music. i only knew three of the songs, and by “knew” i mean “have heard them a couple of times” hee. so i kept up as best as i could.

i must say that the singer was very nice and very reassuring and very laidback and best of all, she could really pick that guitar. her singing was great too. and she was very good at playing/standing so’s i could see the fret board of her guitar. that greatly helped.

the whole place was laidback and it was pretty neat because when things would slow down in the kitchen some of the workers would come out (they all played fiddle) and they would play fiddle on a song or two and then go back to the kitchen to cook more food. then a guy came in and played banjo and a dobro.

i got to meet new people and eat some great food and i even had a good time. i guess it’s okay to step out of your comfort zone every once in a while.

so that was my Friday night.

Saturday was the Alabama Chocolate Festival in Rainbow City. i really think that “chocolate festival” is not really an accurate name. so maybe next year the city will get it’s act together and either actually have enough chocolate to warrant calling it a chocolate festival, or they’ll dump the chocolate and call it what it is, the Rainbow City Spring Festival.

see, when i think of “chocolate fest” i think of mounds of chocolate….tons of it. full sculptures made of chocolate even. what i don’t think of is a pudding eating contest (which FA participated in) and people selling M&Ms and Snickers. i’m sorry, that’s not a festival of chocolate.

don’t get me wrong, i’m all for a festival. just, you know, it is what it is.

dad wanted to go to the chocolate festival to see a bluegrass band that was playing around noon. so we get there and walk in and he says, “let’s go find the band.”
and i say, “okay, what band is it anyway?”
and he says, “some band called Distant Cousins.”
and i stopped and said, “wow, small world.”
and he said, “what? why?”
and i said, “i played bass with the singer last night.”
“what?! where?”
“some middle of nowhere place in calhoun county.”
“i can’t tell if you’re joking or not.”
“i couldn’t make up anything this bizarre.”
so i told him how i was challenged by the old boss and i think he was amazed i went. i think he was also sad that he missed it. “do you think they’re a good band?”
“i haven’t heard them all at once but the singer and the banjo player were very good. he has a ’29 Gibson banjo that he plays.”
“really?!”
“well, that’s what he told me. but i know dick about banjos. he could’ve told me it was a ’78 Ford LTD and i’d’ve had no choice but to take him at his word. why would someone lie about a banjo? who would know…or care?”

and that was my Saturday.

on Sunday i played bass on Uncle David’s worship team.

mr. fleegan and i played Guitar Hero 2 at liznchris’s house. that game should really not be that fun.

it was music weekend.

my pal suzie called the other day and said that one of her friends is having a hysterectomy and that she and the other girls were going out to the Villa for drinks on tuesday night as a good luck hurrah or somesuch. i met these other girls at a jewelry party that suzie had once. they are very nice ladies, but none of them drank booze at the jewelry party so i asked suzie if they actually drank alcohol or not. she wasn’t sure either.

turns out, they do.
also turns out, they’re a lot of fun.

so i’m Jaimie, Meeter of People and Week Night Partier. so if you need someone to drink with you any night of the week book me in advance my schedule is always full.

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