Like a bad dream

So I'm doing this gig last night, across from a veteran of almost 20 years, someone who I respect and who can get me lots of work in the future. They've paid a lot of money to fly me here to perform for 2 days and have put me up in a downtown hotel. It's near the beginning of the night when the entire room is still paying 100% attention to the show. My partner throws over a request for Billy Joel's "Only the Good Die Young," a song I know well and have performed hundreds of times. I play the right hand introduction perfectly, but instead of landing on an F as the ultimate chord of the intro, I land on a C, which puts me in an entirely different key. So I start singing the verse, but my chords are not matching up to what I'm singing. Not even close. So after about 3 or 4 lines, I had to stop cold, and sit and figure out what's wrong. After about 15 or 20 inexorably long seconds, I still haven't figured it out so I decide to start the intro all over again, in the hopes that I will figure it out as I go along. There is sweat pouring off of my forehead and into my eyes. My face is buried in the piano yet I can feel my partner across the stage from me, wanting to be helpful but not knowing how, and of course the audience just watching to see how this will play out. Somehow my hands land on the correct chords this time and I'm off and running, and then do the song absolutely perfectly.

The rest of the night went great and I'm sure that little moment was forgotten about by everyone except me. You can never ever get complacent with this gig. I have about 200 songs that I consider memorized, and even though I have been performing every weekend, I still must (and do) practice all of these songs on my off days to keep them fresh in my memory, and yet still, some aren't there when I need them.

More apartment drama

Well after 3 weeks, my new roommate has decided to end our arrangement. Something about his partner's mother getting into a car wreck, and his partner needing to buy her a new car, so he can't afford 2 rent payments...blah, blah, blah. It really pisses me off because he knew that I was looking for a longterm commitment and before I met him I had already turned down several offers for short-term rental of my apartment. But, he gave me 30 days notice as he is required, so what can I say. Somehow I knew this situation was too good to be true. At least I haven't moved the piano back. So now I'm putting the apartment back on the rental market, and also searching for another part-time roommate. A major drain of time.

This weekend I'm back in the midwest, near Chicago, working two nights. I realized my September calender is not yet booked, so I sent out a couple of emails today, trolling for work. In other random news, I'm toying with the idea of taking a couple of weeks of in Dec and going to the Philippines.

About 13 days ago I got some kind of virus, and last weekend I dealt with some major intestinal problems while working in KS. I don't think the virus has actually completely left my body, even though I'm feeling much better.

One last note. You don't arrest someone in their own home just because they are indignant and raise their voice. I don't care how right the cop may have been up to that point, but once he determined that Gates was the owner of the home, he should have respectfully removed himself, no matter how angry Gates was. I don't believe it was a race thing. I think it was an ego thing. This is why I really detest most cops. So many things turn into pissing contests, and if their ego is threatened, they use the power of their office to make themselves feel better or more powerful, with total disregard for what is best for society at that moment. By their very actions, they create many of the problems that we pay them to solve. And they do it in a way that, at first glance seems correct (sort of like passive-agressives), but underneath is a seething cauldron of arrogance and complete lack of respect for the very society they swore to serve. They should take lessons from flight attendants. These folks know how to handle difficult people without anyone getting arrested.

workin'

This past weekend I worked in the Chicago area with guys I've never met before. Both shows went really well, and I came away with a couple things. First, a continuing sense of satisfaction at seeing something that I've worked so hard at, really come together. Second, and probably more important, was a more specific sense of some of the weaknesses of my show. Both of these things have inspired me to continue my work in refining my act.

I returned to New York, and spent a couple days in bed with a mild fever and some rapid trips to the bathroom. I swear it's all this flying I do, being couped up in that recycled air with 100 other bodies, carriers of God knows what.

Today I fly back down to Kansas City, where I'll be working for the next three nights. Current songs I'm learning: Walk the Dinasaur (1987 song used as a staff-dance-along showtime, and also featured in the new Ice Age movie), Bennie and the Jets (crazy difficult synchopation), Fat Bottomed Girls (a Freddie Mercury anthem to pedophilia and fat chicks--check the lyrics yourself), and Hallelujah (a Steven Lynch song about big titties).

kicked out

Everything is going smoothly. I have a paying roommate in the midtown apartment who seems to be pretty easy to get along with, although we haven't stayed in the apartment together yet. The plan is that I won't be there when he is, and vice versa. Meanwhile, I've cut the telephone service and the cable service to the apartment, and renegotiated the internet, cutting my monthly expenses by about$85. If I want to watch a TV show, I can do it from my computer, online, and the roommate says that he doesn't watch TV.

I'm trying to work out my travel to and from the job I have this weekend near Chicago. I had put off buying the ticket and now it's much more than it was when I negotiated my travel expenses. The problem is the flight back on Sunday. So I've booked the flight out to the job and will wait until midnight Wednesday when all the airlines release more seats to try and book a flight back. Another option would be to stay and explore Chicago for a couple days, but of course that would cost even more, but I could justify it as a vacation rather than a business expense.

Yesterday I was way uptown in the apartment that still houses my piano when I got "kicked out" by my roommate at 12 noon because due to an incoming hookup he had. I decided to go to the gym, which I haven't been in over 4 weeks, since I got really sick with a cold. After a good 90 min workout, I was told I still couldn't return, so I walked over to Inwood Hill Park and meandered down through upper Manhattan into Fort Tyron Park, finally landing back at the apartment at 5:00pm. It was a glorious day, perhaps 78 degrees, sunny and breezy. I was happy to be outside all day, but of course I got no practicing done whatsoever. 10 min after I returned we were both invited to an outdoor concert down in Central Park. Then we ended up in a beer garden on the upper east side, and finally I arrived in my (piano-less) midtown apartment at 9:30pm. A good New York day!