September 19, 2005

10:25 p.m.

The Day after Philly

I'm typing this on my palm while my computer defrags. I forgot how long it's been since I cleaned house, virtually speaking.

Meanwhile we just got back today from our down south stint; it was a pretty good weekend; didn't make my $$ quota but the gigs were good and we picked up new fans in two states. Also tried out a new song three times, which is almost slightly together.

Then we got up bloody early to drive back from Philly today, so we could be home in time for a 1:00 radio interview from Missouri. The DJ was a little late so I actually got home in time for it, though I'm almost an hour east of my mates. They're really pushing this gig with a lot of advertising and radio support; I hope people come. It's in a big arts center, next Saturday, in an area where we are totally unknown. We're spending our entire fee, and then some, on airfare because we couldn't get anything else out there for the weekend and it wasn't worth driving all those days. Our plane leaves Saturday morning at 6:30! I'm not even THINKING yet about what time that means we have to get up.

This is when I think of all the people who have said to me, "I wish I had done what you're doing," and I laugh.

But truthfully, I wouldn't have done anything else, for these years. I'll have to do something else later, I imagine, but let us celebrate the resounding moment while we can. It'll be brief enough.

Carol is delighted with her brand new, replacement keyboard, and is enjoying telling our audiences how "my keyboard got toasted at the festival," leaving out the rest of Chris's and my equipment that also cooked, as though the synth were the only important part. Carol has an "all about me" side that annoys me sometimes. On one of her albums she thanks her family "for letting me be the musical one." (Her sister also played piano, I believe.) And she does lots of attention-getting things, which I usually ignore. In spite of this, I can't think of one person I'd rather be singing with. We complement each other so well and our strengths uphold each other's strengths. It seems bizarre that we even found each other on this earth.

And as we pass our fourth year in this band, and our twentieth year of knowing each other, I'm amazed at how people can continue to grow as they work together, finding new inspiration and building on the old without losing the thread of history.

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I wonder if I'll ever know another relationship like that.

My actress friend Joan left me a message this weekend, severely apologizing for not returning any of my calls for a while, but explaining that she was "Heppy! Heppy! Heppy!!" with her new boyfriend and was spending all her non-production time with him. She's been doing eHarmony for months and months, and had a few terrible turnouts, but she stuck it out and apparently this guy is something special to her. I'm glad. She's the funniest person on the planet, and has been through a hell of loneliness in her adulthood. (The most major relationship I've known her to be in turned out to be with a closeted gay guy.) Anyway, I miss her but begrudge her not her bliss. We'll try to get together next month, if I can pry her out of the sack with boyo.

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In other news, I've put up a little Reiki page on our band's website. The fonts don't come through so I redid it in a photoshop document which I'll send to Chris and hope he can load that as a picture. There was much cursing involved in this, as I don't know the first thing about photoshop (LE even) and am always feeling my way awkwardly through it. I managed to do this simple thing, though, so I hope it'll work.

And when I got home today there was a big envelope stuffed so tightly into my mailbox that I almost couldn't get it out. It turned out to be a surprise from Dar -- if you remember our predilection for all things rodentia -- imagine my delight on receiving a copy of the World Encyclopedia of Cheese! One of his accounts was letting it go, and he snagged it for me. This is a very tidy older lady who keeps everything that might have a use, and if she's done with it and it's still useful, she'll quietly leave it downstairs in the laundry room for anyone who wants it to pick up. I gather Dar has found all sorts of little freebies down there over the years, and it was with great restraint that he managed to wait until this book arrived here without saying anything about it.

There are a zillion kinds of cheese described and depicted in this book but, alas, the Bucheron in my fridge was not among those so named.

(Power of suggestion -- had to go and get some cheese and crackers.)

...Oh, cracking cheese, Gromit!

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Balls, I'm out of wine. How could this happen?

Tomorrow is laundry day. It's also pick up new piece of equipment day at Guitar Center; I'm trying out a new toy. I run my guitar through an A/B mute switch, then a little preamp (equalizer and volume), then into the direct box. The preamp is very old and has started making noise when I hit the mute switch, so I need to replace it. Chris and I have been talking about getting a rig that contains a preamp, plus preset volume controls so I won't have to be adjusting between guitars, plus a tuner and DI. So this item he found would replace all those boxes plus the on-board tuner that clips onto the headstock (which is a nice tuner but doesn't read the low string well at all, and sometimes is fussy about a C). It doesn't contain any effects, and I'd like the use of a chorus, but I could add that on the side. This would make setup quicker, give me more detailed EQ control, and allow me to do things like boost the volume at the end of Ghost when we go into the jig and I'm playing rhythm. I could have several volume and EQ presets for each guitar, assigned to specific songs or venue settings.

So. I'll pick one up tomorrow for a price Chris negotiated, and try it out. I can return it in 30 days if it's not the right solution.

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In the larger scheme of things my hair is still really short, but it's so long to me that I feel like Phyllis Diller. I'm rather enjoying the moppy look.

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I spoke with Steve today, who is doing very well. His agent accepted his novel manuscript, and has asked for eight more copies because everyone she's approaching wants it. I'm completely unobjective as to whether it's good -- plus I haven't read the final edit -- but she's so supportive and enthusiastic about it, it's really helping him stay motivated. He's doing very well overall. The film series is going wonderfully and he's about to do a music video for an amazing guitarist. Last weekend the theatre showed "Heir to an Execution," which is the movie made by the daughter of Ethel Rosenberg (might possibly be granddaughter but I think it was daughter), who you'll remember was convicted, with her husband, of espionage against the U.S. in the 50's, and they were both executed. It was hugely controversial. The daughter went back and found all these people who knew them or were involved in the trial, and she made a documentary of her research of her parents' lives and of the case. I think the film came out in the 80's. Anyway, the guest speaker on film night was (mumble mumble, I can't remember his name) the third witness in the Rosenberg trial. He's 89 now! He said they were incontrovertibly innocent.

(By the way, the series, "Angels in America," which the band watched in Maine last month on DVD, features the ghost of Ethel Rosenberg, played by Meryl Streep. See this series; it's utterly fascinating and incredibly acted.)

It seems like such a long time ago that I used to go up to visit Steve and sleep over at his house. How quickly I withdrew from that, when the time came. I'm still so relieved not to be that tied to anyone now.

Enough, I suppose. Computer is defragged. Now it's scanning for alien particles. This stuff takes all night once you start. But meanwhile maybe I can find a book that will grab me. I've only started about three of them. Trouble is, after Harry Potter, nothing seems very exciting.

I have post-Potter depression.