notes from saturday

• 7:00 AM is too early to wake up on a Saturday, but our band leader wanted us in Brooklyn by 8:30, even though our procession didn't start until 10. It was still later than I'm going to have to get up for where I'm going today...

• The band leader's son, our snare drummer, skipped the job to go to a walkathon, much to the chagrin of his father, who was futilely pacing when we got there as his son's replacement was a no-show. Ironically, as he told me, “I don't know why my son does this to me,” another musician drove by, one that he didn't book for the job.

• When the extra horn player walked up, our boss headed over and all I could see was a flurry of Italian hand speak. In the end it all worked out, because the snare drummer never arrived, and we had the same number of musicians.

• A procession with just a bass drum is very odd. It's a lot quieter between songs, and since our sole drummer was by himself in the back “row”, we all had a hard time keeping in formation, especially older guys like my dad who, once they're reading a music book, tend to not watch where they're going. I'm glad I have all the songs memorized.

• If I didn't have all the songs memorized, I would have missed a lot of ridiculously hot Brooklyn girls.

• It was cool after a flash rain storm last night, which was perfect once we got walking. We walked for nearly three hours before our first break, however, and the leader called out a lot more songs than usual to fill in the gap left by the snare drum. Also, normally, a snare drum rolls off a cue for everyone to start playing at once, but without him his father would just start playing something on his trumpet and the rest of us had to quickly join in. Things went amazingly well under such conditions.

• As we enjoyed water, orange juice, and cookies, the snare drummer compared notes with me about which girls I spotted along the way. “Did you see those two on the steps at that one house on that last block? NICE, huh?” Our friend Bill, a trumpet player about 80 years old, sighed that he missed out. Due to failing eyesight, he doesn't risk driving and my dad and I have been providing transportation for him to gigs. A few minutes later, Bill asked me how old I was and if I was planning to get married. “You shouldn't go through life alone,” he said. “It's a terrible thing. A terrible, terrible thing.” He's married, but I wondered if his stepson, who recently died of cancer in his 40s or 50s, never was. I asked my mom later and she said the son was in fact married. So I'm not sure how he'd know that being alone was such a terrible thing. I think he was just feeling bad about not being able to see the pretty girls the way we younger guys could.

• You know, as I work my way through Child's Play and it's sequels in between the madness of this weekend, I'm finding them to be a lot better than I was expecting, although my expectations were low to begin with. It's a fun concept and a maniacal and entertaining little character to watch. He's a lot like Scarface minus The Ventriloquist.

• We heard from a clarinet player at Saturday's gig that the budget was approved for our Summer band this year. I kind of enjoyed having Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday nights free last July for the first time in over a decade, but in the grand scheme of things I suppose it's good news. I may skip one rehearsal to enter a 3.5 mile race at Jones Beach. Three years ago I ran it for the first time and it was a great experience, but the last two years the race fell on the same Tuesday I had to be in Hoboken for a gig. This year that job falls on the following Wednesday, and I could miss one rehearsal from the other band. I'll probably be exhausted the next morning, but July will be crazy anyway and there's always August to recuperate.

• I'm taking a small vacation this weekend, and will actually be staying out of state overnight. As a result, I'm missing a job in the Bronx, but when I was told about it I'd already purchased the tickets for where I'm going. I don't like the idea of my dad driving there at night anymore than he does, so he's worked out a way to take a train into the city, meet some of the guys at Penn Station, and take a subway from there. I'm still going to worry though, the way my parents probably felt when I first started going off on my own as a kid. My mom meanwhile, says she has to worry about both of us.

• I'm going to sleep now. I'll be back sometime on Monday, at which time I'll post my links.