My Google calendar is covered with colors: so much red, yellow, and blue. And more and more events are being added by the day. But I keep telling Leo we need to "work smart, not hard" and last night's gig was DEFINITELY an example of working hard, not smart. I knew it would be. Look, I am NOT a negative person. I am an extremely positive person, and me and the Lord got an understanding. But I had a hard time buying into last night's gig b/c of the evidence, and the evidence was what Rozzy had told me about Sunday nights at this particular place and he was 100% right! I managed to bring out 9 wonderful people to see us play: Stefano, my cousins, my brother and his 2 friends, Phillipo, and Aaron and his (latest) girlfriend. George brought 4 people. Leo brought maybe 9-10 and then there were just a smattering of others. It was so extremely disappointing and Leo had to drag out the venue's heavy ass amp and speakers and we played outside on the big deck far away from the modest audience and it was hot, sweaty, muggy, and mosquito-filled, and for what, man? Well, I got fed for free and so did Mr. Wonderful and I think maybe my cousins too. But that is IT. We made $0.00 besides. See, George and Leo are of the mind of, "Let's try a venue once just to see, and if it's not a success we just won't play there anymore." Well, I'm of the mind of, "Uh, how about I talk to our friends who have been there, done that, like Roz, Aaron, etc. and see how it's REALLY gonna go down and if that place isn't worthwhile, let's NOT WASTE OUR TIME."
So last night it was obvious we weren't into it. Leo had invited this harp player who's jammed with us in the past and he played pretty badly on a couple songs. At one point Leo turned to me and asked what I wanted to do and I had absolutely no opinion--I didn't want to have to think at all! We played one set and we were done, thank God! Later Leo and I were texting and I said I do NOT want to do this gig on Fri. Oct. 8 at this place that is just too small and that Rozz had also confirmed probably would not be a money-maker and Leo finally broke down and agreed to cancel it. Besides, I want to work security that night anyway at Greek Fest, which will be fun and I will get fed handsomely! (I can't work it Saturday b/c I'm supposed to be playing a benefit w/Sundance and Aaron.)
This week is definitely a bad one in terms of me not having any time for anything. I actually have tonight free but I have got to do things like: pick up my meager groceries for the week, do laundry, FINISH that damn Personnel report, and I have GOT to start cleaning/tidying up my house for the appraiser who is coming this Friday! (I'm refinancing; see the Latina Personal Finance blog for more info.) Tomorrow night I need to get back on shedding this Sundance material and I also just need to practice, generally speaking, for this coming Sunday's IBC performance. I want to experiment with some fun bass lines for some of our songs since we're just a trio and therefore I need to shine a little more and have more personality w/my bass playing on Leo's songs. And I sooo want to be selected to progress to the finals!!! Everyone knows how competitive I am! (Side note: one of the judges for the IBC is the legendary Roy Head--Sundance's dad! I'm tempted to introduce myself to him and tell him who I am, but actually I don't want any kind of unfair edge. I want to make it to Memphis on our own accord!!!!!)
We had a rough night last Fri. night. I'm not sure how much detail I want to get into, but George--who is always happy, always cheerful--was all of a sudden depressed and suicidal. Leo sent me a frantic text to call George and tell him I loved him, try to cheer him up, etc. We had rehearsal scheduled that night and so I was a little freaked out. George was doing very badly. He asked to borrow my gun so he could do himself in. It was traumatic and upsetting and I had to get some advice from Brandone, who was extremely helpful to me. I called George a couple of times throughout my workday to check on him. Leo went to pick George up since he was in no shape to drive (he was on Xanax and beer) and I even left Job #2 early to go be with them. Actually I had gotten a secret phone call from George's wife who had snuck my # out of George's phone w/out him knowing, and she told me what had happened and it was really horrible, indeed. I picked up a box of wine on the way and when I got to Leo's house the 3 of us just sat outside and drank and smoked and talked. We really needed to rehearse but it didn't even matter, all that mattered was being with George and showing him that we loved him and cared for him. I shared my pipe with George and promised to get him one of his own for his b-day which is next month.
I guess we cheered him up after a couple of hours b/c we even went inside to jam on just a couple of songs and that was encouraging, that he finally felt like playing some music. We only did a couple of songs however before George said he needed to go speak w/his cousin, who is a man of the Word, and I drove him over there. George, Leo and I had a group hug before we left and George just sobbed as we held him. On the drive he also told me what had happened (even though I already knew, but I had to play dumb since his wife told me to--and yes, it is wife-marriage-betrayal-related). His cousin was ready and prepared for George and I felt confident I was leaving him in good hands, but told them to call me if I needed to pick George up later so he could some stay at my house, Leo's, Stefano's, whoever's, since we all have spare bedrooms. I was so exhausted, mentally and yes physically when I got home Stefano had to come over to spend the night at my house b/c I lay down "just for a minute" and passed out. And no, I wasn't even tipsy from the 3 glasses of box wine on an empty stomach--I was way too wired for it to even touch me.
Thank God that next a.m. I got a message from George saying that his cousin had helped him to see the light, and that he wasn't going to hurt himself or anyone. He thanked me and Leo for being there for him and said things were going to be ok. BTW, one fun thing we did do out there on the porch when we'd been hanging out was work on our bio's on our new webpage. George dictated his to me and I typed it and you can kinda see his state of mind b/c he says he "has Leo, Adela, and himself" with no mention of his family or anybody else.
So whew! Ok well that's quite enough for now.
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