So last night was another band practice. We’ve been kind of in a slump since our last gig. We had a great deal of momentum coming out of that gig. We played really well and made a solid connection with our audience. We had another gig booked a few weeks after that one. And then our keyboard player fell ill. We heard through his girlfriend that he wouldn’t be able to make rehearsal. And then another rehearsal. And at that point we were a week out from our next gig which we had to go and cancel.

We scrambled to try to get somebody to fill in, but keyboard players are few and far between, not to mention ones who can play the complex music that we play. Although our keyboard player is back, we are still looking for another one to come in and make the sound bigger as well as to make sure that last minute changes in health conditions won’t mean having to cancel a gig. We’ve been asking our friends and trolling Craigslist for new members, and we’ve gotten some interesting (and some hilarious) replies as well as responses from people who are into the music we’re playing and just want to be on our mailing list.  We also heard back from this amazing sax player who was in our very first jam session before we were even a band. At that point we were not up to his level but he was a great sport and had a lot of fun playing with us. Now that we’re practiced and gigging, he’s into playing with us from time to time which would be a really sweet addition.

So last night we were practicing. We have a show in 3 weeks and we’ve been working as hard as we can without having any keys. Our keyboard player did manage to get there last night, though a bit late. He called me from outside so I could let him in. When I opened the garage door, I noticed that the entire block was sealed off inside a police line. A cop came over and asked that we all stay inside since somebody just got shot around the corner and they were looking for the shooter, whose car was parked with the door wide open right behind my guitarist’s car. I told him that we were just doing a quick load in and he was cool about it. And then, like the egotistical self involved musician I can be sometimes, I asked a guy who is working on immediate issues of life and death how we sounded from out there. He smiled, gave a thumbs up and said “alright.” We got back upstairs and dedicated the next song (Deep Purple’s Child in Time – definitely apropos of the situation downstairs) to the boys in blue outside, and by the time we were done all that was left on the street was a little bit of broken auto glass where the shooter’s car was parked.

Here’s a blurry cellphone shot of the police tape right over the hood of my car.

By the way, in case you were wondering, we sounded great! Our next gig is going to be a lot of fun – Friday, June 18th at the Baltic in Point Richmond.

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