Working in the deep south

There was some drama this weekend at a gig I did in the deep South, as one of the other fly-in piano players was asked not to perform on Saturday night because his vocals are just too weak, and he is very difficult to understand. It sucked for him, for sure. He's been doing dueling pianos for over 10 years, and the past 3 years he's had to have several vocal surgeries, and his voice is a shadow of what it must have been before. Anyway, he was a total professional about it, and my remaining partner and I did the entire gig, with a bit of help from a local trainee who was understandably nervous, but made up for it with enthusiasm and got the job done. Meanwhile, me and my remaining partner put on an amazing show doing our 2-way, which was immensely satisfying to me. It was a packed house, over the fire code limit for sure. They were the type of audience that gave you so much love and enthusiasm that you feel like a rock star. By the end of the night 2 fights broke out just in front of the stage, but even with that, it was such a great night for us and I that it all was good. Because we didn't have to split the tips 3 ways, we each made more in tips, plus extra money from the house for having to play without a third, in addition to our regular salary. While feeling bad for our third partner, Jonathan, that was sidelined, I couldn't help a guilty feeling of glee as well. Jonathan has always been generally nice to me, but I've always felt an underlying current, subtle perhaps, but undeniable, that he was the experienced dueler and I was the upstart, with so much to learn. So as I said before, it was satisfying to put on such a well-received show, even as we were handicapped with losing the third man, and knowing that Jonathan was watching us do it. Don't get me wrong, I don't want bad things for Jonathan, truly I don't, and I hope over the next year or so he is able to rehab his voice. Loosing your voice is a danger of this profession, and it's one of the reasons I am glad I don't have to work 5 or even 6 nights/week like some of the house players I encounter in my travels.