Stage Left

Busy, Busy, Busy

2011-10-08T16:48:00.000-05:00

Lotsa gigs, lots to keep me busy. It's a good thing, even if my sleep is suffering. I also worked Greek Fest last night, 4-11pm. Was a pretty sedate shift, more than usual actually, and I ate my usual fave Greek Plate AND had some of that killer Greek ice cream w/crushed baklava on top!

Leo, George and I had a quick rehearsal today at 11, then I had to come do the 1/2 shift at Job #1 from 1-5. We play a private party tonight that should be fun since we're getting paid and we get all the food/drink we can keep down. Love these kindsa gigs.

Meanwhile I am busy gigging with Paul, of course we have our regular Tues and Weds night gigs. Last Tues was legendary as him, me and Chopper ended up drinking in the bar til like 6am, then we had to go upstairs to the bar owner's little apt area and we CRASHED. It was so much freakin' fun and I am definitely putting in my time bonding w/my new bandmates! Oh lawd I got like 2 hrs sleep then had to rush off to work (keeping in mind that bar is also a good 40-min drive from my house) and then we played that Weds night of course. Owwwww....

But I'm having fun, I hafta admit, though my program work is taking a back seat to all of this and I have had some slips here and there on some bottom lines that I'm NOT proud of. Sigh. Well, it took me over 30 yrs to become a sex and love addict so it's gonna take me some time to get it under control. The sex addict part is actually the easy part--it's like alcoholism or drug addiction, you just DON'T FREAKIN' DO IT. Very easily defined. It's my love addiction that is slippery, also my addiction to affection/attention, especially from men. That's where I keep slipping although I am proud that I am able to catch myself in the act of slipping. The awareness thing is most of the battle, truly.

Praying a lot these days, usually at lunchtime every day. Mostly for Leo. He starts chemo tomorrow. His CaringBridge site is here.

Horrified...but Hopeful

2011-09-30T17:49:00.002-05:00

Leo was admitted to the hospital on Sunday w/"liver failure", so our rehearsal was cancelled. I went on Tues to see him, as he was in St. Luke's right down the street from Job #1. He told me they found a growth blocking his bile duct (I think) so they put a stent in and did a biopsy. We were to get the results of the biopsy on Weds. Apparently with chronic pancreatitis, as he has, cysts are very common and since he was just hospitalized in April w/pancreatitis I figured that's what was going on here. I found it hard to believe a cancerous tumor could grow that fast.

I was so wrong. On Weds. we found out Leo has Stage 4 Pancreatic Cancer. This is the worst possible diagnosis and now that I have done my research on the subject, PC is knows as a "silent killer" as it grows fast and there is no diagnostic test for it. Stage 4 is inoperable--in fact, only the early stage is operable but it is rarely found that soon. All they can do is hit it with the hardest chemo hits possible, so they will begin chemo next Weds. I went and saw Leo again yesterday and he was supposed to be discharged after they inserted a chemo button in his chest.

We are going to do our gig tomorrow; Leo is determined to do it and it will help take his (and our) minds off things. As far as the rest of the Saturday gigs in October we will just have to wait and see how Leo feels, mostly. A lot of people are coming out as the news has spread fast. I for one have been very distracted and finding it hard to concentrate but I still promised Paul I'd play the gig fine on Weds. and that did go all right. It was a fun gig/bday party and a good crowd. In fact Paul asked me to join his band permanently and I said yes. Then he, Chopper and I went out drinking and went to Chopper's pad for beer, smokes, and music and I didn't get home til 6am. You gotta bond w/your bandmates!

People are texting me and sending me FB messages saying they're sorry about Leo. I have asked everyone to pray hard and often. I am doing the same. I am trying to work my program and hand my worries about Leo over to God and Jesus. I did get some nice advice from a friend today to tell Leo to get a veggie juicer and veggie it up! So I am going to just go buy him a veggie juicer tonite after Job #2. I feel so helpless and this is what I can do for him right now. And pray.

Talks of a benefit for Leo are already underway. I saw that Jon had the nerve to offer to help (after all the shit-talking he's done about Leo's playing) but I don't care. I'm not going to waste my time being angry or bitter at anyone. Today a hater sent me a FB msg saying she wanted to extend an olive branch and hoped I would accept. Of course I did, and responded as much. She sent me a friend request and I accepted. I just want to focus on peace and love and goodness and hope. I slept 9 hrs last nite instead of going out and I'm not sure I feel up to going out tonite. I want to spend time with my cat and rest up b/c I am scared I don't take as good care of my body as I should and yes, Leo's situation is a wake-up call. I think I should stay home tonite, rest, journal, work on my program readings, cry if I need to, pray, and get a good night's sleep as tomorrow is a long day.

Lotta Giggin'

2011-09-21T18:06:00.000-05:00

Man, I have just become so BUSY lately w/gigging and it's sooooo great. It makes me happy and although it makes me exhausted I am also excited and having a great time and got butterflies in my stomach and it's just good for me. I love love love playing w/Paul and "Chopper" (formerly known in this blog as LDB aka Little Drummer Boy) and they are in bassist audition mode right now but I don't care, I've been playing with them for 2 weeks now and I played last night with them, will play on Saturday night with them, and on Sunday night. It's so fun and I just love the heck out of them and I hope they like my bass playing too but of course I'm not that sure so we'll just see. I'm really just enjoying it while it lasts.

Meanwhile I gigged w/Leo last Sat., and have Saturday gigs w/him every Saturday in October except for the 29th. This is fun too, just b/c it's fun to get onstage and I'm really liking what Leo is doing lately, guitar-wise. George is the same as ever so that's a given and I'm just gonna have to work with that.

I don't know what my musical future is after the Paul and Leo gigs are done. I am still rehearsing w/J.Fu on Sundays and we've done a few open mic's and we're really getting our set list solid and down, so I guess that's what will happen, we'll start gigging with our duo act and that'll be great too. It's just that we're starting from scratch and so it'll be some work to get those first gigs booked, but I just hand it all over to God and Jesus and let them get 'er done.

Still working my program as much as I can, in my limited conscience time but I know I need it b/c being onstage and gigging and being surrounded by men and men musicians is QUITE triggering. I've been doing ok though I accidentally slipped and flirted last night for a brief second, dammit. Also it was not good to be in the hotel room at 1am on Sun morning of my friend from college, a drummer who tours with Frankie Valli (yes THE Frankie Valli) but I was only there for 45 min and then got the hell out. Of course he sent me some flirtatious texts as I was leaving but I just responded politely and got home safe and sound.

My aunt told me that Jon told my uncle he made a mistake and wishes he could get back together with me. That makes me feel nothing really, not even numb. I just don't want anything to do with him anymore. I want to work my program, get healthy, work on me, and then let God bring the right person for me when it's time.

Looking forward to the gig tonite though I'm a tad nervous b/c it'll be recorded, audio and video, and there's still some parts of the songs I just don't have DOWN yet. Some of the songs are complicated and I have to have charts and I've been studying and studying them on YouTube and even bought 1 on iTunes but I just need to keep playing them and playing them. Oh well, Carol Burnett said you always need to be a little nervous before performing. I just pray that I will do my best, that's all I can ever do.

KILLER Labor Day Memphis Wkend. Killer!

2011-09-09T18:23:00.002-05:00

Wow, what a great time in Memphis last Thurs-this Mon with Catyaq. Hot. Damn! I packed a lotta living into 5 fun days! And it was SO great to get away. Just what the head Dr. ordered. In short I:

Thurs: Was whisked from the Little Rock, AR airport (b/c Southwest doesn't fly to Memphis--what!) to my friends' gig in Memphis at a great little place not even that far from Catyaq's house! We had fried cheese, fried mushrooms, I drank 4 Crowns and Diet Coke (hey I sweated most of it out!) and sat in twice, sang, the whole shmear. I met tons of people, made tons of new friends, tons of pic's were taken, I handed out my business cards left and right, people said they'd put me to work in Memphis and I am praying they do!!!

Fri: Slept late, ahhh, then Catyaq picked me up for lunch and we grubbed seriously at the Flying Saucer. She dropped me off at Target so I could buy some necessities and I had a nice walk from Target around the corner back to her house. I went to the pool and she later joined me when she got off work. Then we went to Wild Bill's juke joint, a totally fun and awesomely down home place! It was the real deal! I got to sit in with the house band, the Soul Survivors, including Archie Turner, Cyndi Lauper's keyboardist on her latest blues album tour!!! We were there til 3 a.m.

Sat: Slept late, ahhh, then I wanted to go eat at Gus' World Famous Fried Chicken as my Houston blues peeps that are in the know have RAVED about it. We had to wait a damn hour but it was quite worth it. Oh quite. Cheap food, hot and plenny of it! W/brownie ala mode after! And a souvenir take-home tumbler to go (I LOVE those things)!
Mosey'd on over to nearby Beale St., walked up and down, took in the sights, took pic's, did some souvenir shopping (I got a cheesy flying-V lighter, yuk yuk) plus my requisite fridge magnet, then it was time to cool off w/drinks at the Peabody hotel lobby bar. It was tres elegant! They brought us snacks and we had wine and it was DIVINE.
Ended the evening on Beale at Silky O'Sullivan's where I drank something called a Silky's cupcake or a Beale St. cupcake or sumpin, but we had to leave b/c the band, while great (including a 7-string bassist!) was totally cover-bandy and cheesy and I couldn't take it after having experienced the pure and beautiful blues rawness of Wild Bill's the night before! B.B. King's had the same cheesiness factor although we did befriend a bartender there. So then we actually headed out and were home by close to midnight which was fine b/c I was ready to just lie down and rest, get some beauty sleep.

Sun: Slept late, ahhh, and it was a rainy, much cooler day. We attempted to eat at the Rendezvous but it's closed on Sun's and Mon's so we went to Blues City Cafe instead which had great ribs! Then we went to Sun Studio, where I'd never actually been (only been outside and it was closed due to inclement icy/cold weather when I was there w/my ex, M., in 2002)! Oh, what a great time. They have a buy 3-get 1 free t-shirt deal, so since I had to buy 3 t's for people mine was essentially free! Being in the studio was amazing. We took tons of pic's natch. It felt holy in there. AWESOME.
Then I actually got to attend a Memphis SLAA meeting, my 1st co-ed but it was fine. I was grateful for the opportunity, believe me.
We wanted dessert after my meeting so we went to Mud Island, specifically the Cafe Eclectic so I could have a cupcake and an apple cider w/whipped cream! We were on our way to West Memphis to see my friend's gig at the Greyhound racetrack, yuk yuk! I hate to gamble but I was convinced to sign up for a free $20 gaming card ("Hey, it's free money!") so I did and after several games I ended up winning a total of $23 on the penny slots so I stopped there, bought 1 drink, then we left after our friends' 1st set in search of fried cheese. We went back to Memphis and tried the Buccaneer but it was just a bar, so we ended up at Huey's where there was a decent blues band playing and most importantly--they had killer fried cheese AND tato skins on the menu! Grub time!!! I asked the band if I could sit in and they were friendly to me, saying "maybe", but after waiting 2 sets it got to be extremely freezing inside the restaurant and Catyaq and I ended up first going outside w/our drinks, then just taking off with them, getting in the car, turning the heat on, and going home! Yuk yuk!

Mon: Got up early to pack and go eat at the Arcade Restaurant, where Jim Jarmusch filmed a scene from one of my fave movies, Mystery Train! We grubbed HARD: chicken fried steak w/eggs and hot chocolate. I took a pic across the street in front of what I believe to be the hotel in the film (will have to confirm but pretty sure), then we headed to the Stax Museum. Boy, if I thought Sun Studio was awesome, Stax also made me equally emotional. It was a beautiful experience I had there as well. Many many pics taken! Then, it was time to drive back to Little Rock so I could catch my 4:30pm flight home.

Whatta weekend. I would love to consider Memphis to be my new home away from home, and with Catyaq's 2-bedroom apt., it is the perfect setup too! I can't wait to return. I have no free weekends until November, but I would love to return again before the end of the year.

Had a great time this past Weds. night, I got called at the last minute to play w/my friends (incl. LDB) at their weekly gig at the Continental Club and although we played to 10 1/2 people, I loved being onstage and we had lots of fun and I got free drinks and my friend took tons of pic's w/my iPhone. After that we ran over to an open mic and I did 3 of my new songs and I killed there! So much fun!

Tonight I'll be going to see Papa Grows Funk and that will be a killer good time w/Bon. (In fact we, meaning my friends I gigged w/on Weds., ALMOST got the opening set gig tonite! Oh well, maybe next time!) Gettin there early for dinner--mmmmm, cheese enchiladas!

Hoo-Ah. I Need a Drink

2011-08-23T18:06:00.003-05:00

I've been feeling pretty good, I hafta say. Decent weekend, seeing glimpses here and there of peace, serenity, even happiness at times which is huge. Dealing with things, people, conflict in a more peaceful way, not raging as much and I feel a lot of my old bad destructive habits and outlooks slipping away, slowly but surely. However today I am just feeling blah again. I led the SLAA meeting on Sunday, my 2nd time and my topic was "balance" b/c that is something I've been struggling with. Big huge surprise, it was a difficult topic for most of the women to share on! There was big silence several times! That's b/c as addicts we are unfamiliar with living a life of balance, we are very black and white and extreme. It was funny sad. But I know I need to strive for more balance and am determined to do so.

Tonite JFu and I will return to the open mic we went to last week. It was pretty cool, nice vibe, laid back, not a huge crowd but JFu just needs to get re-accustomed to performing live and this is an acceptable way to get her to do so for now. Hopefully my SLAA GF/neighbor will meet us up there, the more the merrier. (She has to meet w/a sponsee tonite so can't come with me, as she did last week.)

No word from Enor still and today makes 1 week. I don't really care. It kinda concerns me but whatever, she's not my problem. I still wish I had more female friends and am working on that, though I've pulled away from some of the SLAA girls b/c some of them just seem too... and I'm sorry to say this, but damaged. I mean, I'm damaged too but I don't have to deal w/shit like eating disorders, alcoholism, and drug abuse. One of the women I was becoming close to but she shared on Sunday how uncomfortable and triggered she was on Sat night when they all went to dinner and one girl was talking about how yummy her wine was. Well, if it makes her uncomfortable for someone to be drinking around her, and I love to drink, well, I'm not sure I want to hang around her anymore b/c I'll be worrying about triggering her. I just wish there were more SLAA women like me, a little more balanced, know what I mean?!?! And I'm still not balanced but I'm a lot more balanced than a lot of these women.

I had a great time on Sat night ALL BY MYSELF. I had to turn around en route to Luling b/c Tito J got sick and I went to Sealy for BBQ at Hinze's, where I'd only been once before w/Jon and Bear. So I decided to make Hinze's BBQ a new memory for me, all about me, MY new memory and I had a great dinner in the same room we sat in last time. Took 2 desserts to go. Then I went to Katy Mills Mall where I'd never been before, again to create a new memory for myself. I walked the whole mall and scored some KILLER deals and had a very enjoyable time being anonymous in a new mall and peacefully doing some shopping but not spending much $ as it was tax-free weekend and the sales were out of this world. I have to say--it was actually FUN, just spending time with myself on a Sat night. New for me. But fun.

Going home to Scotty Star now, will play w/her and then head out to play some music.

Crying=Getting Out the Toxins!

2011-08-12T15:10:00.004-05:00

That's what my therapist says. It does feel good to cry and Lord knows I've been doing it pretty much every day. I'm reading lots of addiction/recovery books and something has crossed over in me where I feel so much empathy for these fucked up sick people for the 1st time in my life ever and frequently their stories make me burst out in tears. I guess b/c I have finally realized I'm a sick addict myself.

Anyway, this week has gone ok. Stayed home Mon. nite which I am still getting used to--staying home and enjoying my home/cat/household duties and projects/solitude--well I am not so much enjoying the solitude b/c I'm still not 100% used to it--but I do know it's good for me to rest at home and it's been fun to watch Scotty Star play and get hyper and I am now letting her out on the patio under my watchful eye. So far the fence is too high for her to jump over and as long as she stays off the tree she should be ok. She is getting bigger though! Her tail seems longer to me, her little face is growing into her ears, and she weighs more, I can tell!

Tues. was strange b/c both my most recent ex's had gigs that night and my open-mic w/JFu was cancelled b/c she got sick over the weekend. I took advantage of the evening and practiced, but then realized I wanted to get out and play so I went to the Tuesday night jam, which I haven't been to since last year. A SLAA girlfriend even met me there and I was so tickled she came out to support me!!! It was a slow night for jammers so I played and sang 4 and then played on 3 others! Then I went home, happy I got it all out of my system.

Weds. night I was actually happy to rest at home, though I had to work on my sheriff Personnel file which took over 2 damn hours. Glad I got the bulk of that work done though.

Last nite I went to the SLAA meeting and met w/my sponsor afterwards and I am excited to say I have finally (after a month of hard work) finished Step 1. I can collect my Step 1 chip on Sat at the morning meeting! I cannot wait to tackle Step 2, which I hear is a LOT easier than Step 1. I got no problem with my higher power, and have nicknamed him "Jesus" pronounced like the Spanish version (Hey-seuss). I pray to him all the time these days, believe me. Then I went home to chill and watch my DVR'd Project Runway but Rozzy called me and invited me to dinner and I took him up on the offer, especially when he offered to come to Outback Steakhouse by my house. We had a great steak and shrimp dinner and I had 2 Crown and Diet cokes and he treated, which was so nice of him. I got home, full and happy and just in time to get into bed.

In fact, I am soooo excited b/c he says we should start a blues trio, him on guitar and me on bass!!! I. Would. LOVE THAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We'll be getting together this Sun so I can show him the songs I already sing. I am also rehearsing w/JFu earlier that day and I am excited about a day of musical fellowship. I need it, boy.

Today I rode my bike to work all by myself and I was a tad nervous about it, but I was determined to just do it carefully, take my time, and be as safe as possible. I had a mishap where I jumped a curb and the chain slipped off but I just remained calm, prayed my ass off, and somehow managed to figure out how to get it back on and continue my ride. I prayed "Thank you Jesus" over and over again and now realize there will be no more curb-jumping for me!

Tonight there is really nothing going on that is exciting me too much, so the plan is to ride home, shower when I get home as I'll be DRIPPING sweat in this 102 degree heat, have a banana split for dinner and my leftover steak from last night, and go shoe shopping as I need some cool, open-toe elegant sandals for work. Home to Scotty Star and will catch up on DVR watching and reading and rest. SLAA meeting 1st thing in the morning, as is my Saturday morning habit now.

Things Are Progressing

2011-08-08T18:15:00.002-05:00

As I stated previously, I have been spending time journaling as part of my recovery process. I have a "12-Step" notebook. The 1st part is the Step work and the latter part is my journaling; so I've been a bit scarce here in the blogosphere. But things are progressing slowwwwwwwly but surely they are progressing. I got asked to lead the meeting this past Sat., my 5th anniversary of starting the program! I was very nervous but I knew I needed to give it a shot. My topic was "withdrawal" (since I'm very much in the throes of withdrawal) and the process of it, the gifts people have received from it, etc.

It was a miracle that I got asked b/c literally 20 min. after the phone call asking me to lead the meeting came it, I was sitting w/my SLAA text and my 12-step meditation book on my lap--neither of which I'd looked at in 3-4 days b/c I'd been busy reading my library books--and a text came through on my phone. It was from "Avoidant Asshole" and you can guess who that is. It stated, "He's gone..." and I knew from my past peeking at his FB page what it was referring to, and that is the death from cancer of his beloved cat who was fond of sleeping on me when we went to visit him.

God had stepped in. God had put the SLAA text on my lap when that text came in. I felt sad, sorrow for the loss of the cat, sadness for the Avoidant Asshole, and then I felt furious anger!!! Anger that the A.A. had the fucking NERVE, the GALL, to reach out to ME to garner sympathy like I'm his fucking FRIEND, or something?!?!?! I cried, cried, cried, but instead of responding to the text, I immediately called my sponsor. When she didn't answer I began calling other women in the program, and none answered. Finally one of them called me back and she got me through it. She said I am NOT a selfish bitch for not responding, and told me about Psalm 103. She said I don't owe him an explanation, EVER. It's our codependent addict that feels like we have to explain ourselves to people. She also said that if I were to respond to the text and make contact w/him it would be like sticking the heroin needle back in my arm since I'm in withdrawal from him and my love addiction. (And I had been doing so well at not peeking at his FB page anymore b/c every time I did I would be sad/teary the rest of the day, so I'd finally decided to STOP doing that to myself.)

I realized that him sending me that text truly shows what a selfish, heartless prick HE is, since when he broke up w/me he left me and MY loved ones, i.e., my extremely sick mother. He doesn't give a shit about me and my loved ones, why should I give a shit about him and his loved ones??? Another woman called me later and pointed out that he was selfish with me our entire relationship, so now it's MY turn to be selfish. My sponsor called me and said that he sent that text b/c he lives in his ego. Another woman told me that "One man's selfish is another man's self-care" and I was doing the right thing for myself by not responding. These women got me THROUGH it, boy.

The major thing I want to point out though, is that I truly, honestly did NOT want to respond to him. I am 100% committed to myself now, through this program, and I have suffered 6 weeks of withdrawal HELL. I'll be DAMNED if I'm going to go BACKWARDS now. I can only keep progressing. Or I'm going TO DIE. Seriously. I have no choice to but to save myself now. Which now that I've written that down, I have to say, it's a little comforting b/c when you have only 1 choice in life, you don't have to think about anything but doing that one thing.

I still cried for an hour or so, but then I went to my pre-planned "Cousin meeting" at the teahouse w/my brother and 2 cousins. We try to do this from time to time to catch up and maintain communication and familial bonding. It was a good time w/them, even if I did have to wear my sunglasses the whole time so they wouldn't see I'd been crying.

Today I read in my SLAA text this sentence: "We realized in order to maintain sobriety it was necessary to be a jerk." I hate to think of myself as a "selfish jerk", but I know what they mean. Especially since I've spent my whole life as a codependent, it's time to think only of me for once.

I had a good weekend, led the meeting on Sat., spend Sat. afternoon watching Tom and Jerry cartoons, then went to the pool, then to Star Pizza for dinner w/the girls, then to Target w/a couple of the girls. Sunday was a little tough b/c I returned to the Big Easy for the 1st time for a major event which was Big Walter's 97th bday party and I had to take a 1/2 valium beforehand in the desperate hope that would keep me calm enough to not break out into hives and faint. It was fine though, and I saw some nice people and had a yummy beer and got some nice hugs, and was there for less than an hour before having to leave for the Sunday afternoon SLAA meeting.

Much Needed Mental Health Day Today

2011-07-26T18:07:00.006-05:00

I really, really needed it. God knows I did. And although it's only evening and I sit here at Job #2, today really, really helped. Huge sigh of relief b/c I really had no choice--the way things have been going lately--but to take some time to just freakin' BREATHE.

Today I was able to sleep in a little bit, then hung up some clothes and put away some laundry, then I hung my painting ("Big Pink") that I got for playing a gig last winter that's been just sitting in the corner of the living room, and I played w/Scotty Star a bit. Then I went to the pool, where I blissfully had it all to myself and I floated in the water on my lounging float, worked on my tan and read my library book (_Sex on the Moon_), allowing myself to take a damn break from all my SLAA/Recovery/12 Step reading for once. Took a shower and then hopped on my bike "Lightnin' Hop'ons" to take an adventurous bike ride to a local bike shop. That's b/c, although I was unable to go to dinner w/everyone last night after our monthly sheriff meeting (since they returned to the restaurant we always go to and it's in you-know-who's neighborhood and I'm still feeling unable to return there w/out feeling sad and anguished), God threw me another couple bones at the meeting by 1. Letting me WIN a $50 American Express gift card!!! and 2. Making the meeting over way sooner than usual!!! So I went to the bike shop to buy some much-needed supplies: a tire pump (on sale!), a lock, and a storage pouch. AWESOME.

Then I went home and had a homemade banana split for lunch--even had whipped cream and cherries in my fridge! And now I'm here at Job #2 for a bit. Will swing by the Borders on the way home since they're going seriously out of business and perhaps buy this codependency book I saw recently. Since it's true that I have made the realization that I am a total codependent (as all Love Addicts are) and yes, I am totally ready to work on that aspect of my dysfunctionality, including seeing a new therapist this coming Thursday so we can start whipping my ass into shape.

Meanwhile, I am just trying to avoid men as much as possible, except for my brother and other safe men, like Tito J. However, most men are not, in fact, safe, as the ones that are even my closest friends have ulterior motives and would corrupt me if they could and I simply cannot have that in my life anymore b/c it's just NOT HEALTHY. I had some frustration last week when I went to the blues jam on Thurs. night and Rozz showed up b/c I made the mistake of happening to mention I was going to be there. And I just wanted to be left alone and hang out w/Bon, and not be distracted by any freakin' men. Then Fri was even more annoying as I went to the Gourds/Doyle Bramhill concert and Phillipo showed up b/c I made the mistake of posting that event on my Facebook page. And I just wanted to be left alone w/Enor and Bon and not have Phillipo be following me around like he always does. Jesus!!!

Sat. night I did a bunch of stuff during the day and then had dinner w/one of my new SLAA girlfriends. I am somewhat jealous of her b/c she is on 100% Guy Restriction, meaning she has dropped ALL men from her life for the time being. I really, really wish I could do that. And I'm definitely trying to avoid all my guy friends for right now. Even SC the sweet keyboardist is getting on my nerves, sending me flirty texts/chats. So I took myself off chat on both email and Facebook so people (i.e., guys, b/c that's all that ever pops up wanting to chat w/me) will leave me the fuck alone.

Anyway so I'm still going through the roller coaster of emotional days that is inherent in my breakup sadness and my withdrawal from my addiction/codependency on stupid men. I am definitely avoiding my dad, who also keeps pestering me. Still, I can't help but notice that when I'm feeling total despair (like I was on Monday) God keeps throwing me bones to keep me afloat. I don't know what else to attribute these little gems of happiness that keep popping up. B/c another source of my depression is that my mom's health is rapidly deteriorating. She has really spit the bit and lately is doing things that could be construed as a danger to herself. My stepdad, my brother, and I are at a loss as to what to do. Today I finally suggested to my stepdad that my mom might have to be admitted as an inpatient somewhere. It's THAT bad.

In the meantime I just have to keep going to meetings, working on myself, seeing my therapist, and trying to get through the days and hours. Another bright spot: JFu came over on Sat and we rehearsed and we'll go do the open mic at the Mucky Duck next Monday.

Wow. What a Week. Willie High Still Going!

2011-07-21T16:03:00.005-05:00

Heh. I said "Willie high." Heh.

Well, so yeah, I thought Monday and Tues would be excruciatingly difficult and depressing b/c you-know-who was back in town for those 2 days but honestly, I was so busy working and yes, riding on my total Willie high, and having an amazingly wonderful evening in Luling TX on Tues. night w/Tito J. that I barely even thought about him. I spent Mon nite w/one of my SLAA girlfriends who lives real close to me too, and that was great. We went to a cozy, adorable little coffee shop right in our 'hood and I had bought some Groupons awhile back so we drank tea and got some pastries on the total cheap. She is also a singer/songwriter and we made plans to go do the Mucky Duck open mic in a couple weeks. I will perform w/J. Fu and I am so excited! J. Fu and I are getting together this weekend to begin rehearsing for our duo project. I have 7 solid songs down that I'm singing, and need to finish working up about 3 more.

So Monday went by well and fast. Tuesday the same, I got off work early, went home to change clothes and spend a little bit of time w/Scotty Star, then I hit the road to Luling. It was a nice, peaceful 2-hr drive and I got caught up on some podcasts which was awesome, since I get backed up on them as I mostly listen to just music when I'm running around here. Met Tito J. at a local hole in the wall and we had the chicken fried steak and may I just say, that was some serious comfort food and hit the very spot it needed to hit!!!!!! I ate the whole thing and for me, lately, that is really unusual! Then we went across to a fun, happy little coffee shop/cafe, had tea and just sat there and joked around and shot the shit for awhile. In fact--Tito J. and I have made plans to make "Luling Dinner Visit" a regular occurrence from now on! Monthly would be great! We want to try the food at the adorable coffee shop and of course, we MUST try Luling's famous BBQ one of these days. I was so full from dinner I couldn't even do dessert anywhere! I had another nice, easy drive home (thanking God for getting me there and back safely) and got home around 11:30pm, at which time I was ready to get in bed w/Scotty Star and fall fast asleep, which I did.

Now, Wednesday (yesterday) was a strange day. I had so much fun at work: an awesome catered lunch meeting at the Hilton that was sooooo yummy and we also had champagne! Then we had a beer/wine/snack break at Job #1 that was also so much fun. But I began to suffer withdrawal pains (and yes, b/c I have an addiction I am definitely going through withdrawal [staying away from men/trying to get over my need for attention from men], on top of breakup pains that are still very fresh) and had to call a few of my SLAA women friends. They really helped, so much. I cried in the morning and at night, though. Maybe I was starting to crash from the "Willie high", not kidding. I stayed home last night and that was hard, esp. since Enor went back to the Big Easy jam after we'd both been staying away for the past few weeks, and I was tempted to go too but I knew I had to do lots of self-care tasks (we in recovery are very big on self-care and in SLAA I've learned about H.A.L.T., to not let myself get too Hungry, Angry, Lonely, or Tired) as well as SLAA reading and continuing to work on my Step 1 worksheet, which is a bear. I also had to practice my songs some more in prep for rehearsal w/J. Fu this weekend. I had plenty to do, but I am trying to change my energy (in my case, SLOW DOWN) as part of my recovery process. And that's one reason I adopted Scotty Star, so I'd need to stay home more!!!

But the other thing I was danger of doing last night was going out and getting a hookup. I was feeling like, "Wow, I feel so good and happy lately, why not feel even better and go out and get some male attention/affection and get laid???" So I called the SLAA women and spoke to my sponsor and they made me realize what was behind those crazy thoughts I was having. As my sponsor put it, "You've been so happy lately and none of your happiness has had anything to do with a man. So why ruin it?" Man--what a hell of a point she made there. Another SLAA woman said that since I'm going through withdrawal--and it is PAINFUL--if I slip then I'll have to start all over again. Ohhhhh... fuck that. I never want to go through this misery again. It's hard, dudes, it's hard. SLAA has a pamphlet on withdrawal and it lists 17 symptoms you may experience. I have 12 of the symptoms on the list.

Tonite I wanna go out though. Blooze jam and my ex, M., is hosting. My friend Bon hopefully will go too. I'm also going out tomorrow night, as the Gourds are having a free concert w/Doyle Bramhill. That'll be killer! And then the weekend starts and yes, I am pretty much booked solid. Again. Sigh. Not sure how this happens, but oh well. Anyway, 2 of those bookings are SLAA meetings so that's great for me.

(I also found out some good news though, at the CD release party on Tues. night I only missed 1 legend, Bob Margolin. The others were not scheduled to come in, so God's bone that He threw me was even better!!!)

Yesterday: One of the Best Days of My Life

2011-07-18T18:41:00.003-05:00

No hyperbole!!! I FINALLY after all these years got to meet my hero, Willie Nelson!!! And take a picture with him!!!

But the best part was just what a wonderful day it was, the whole day from start to finish, and how God put me on the right path to make it all fall into place perfectly, and just how God threw me a bone b/c of all I've been going through lately. The biggest bone he coulda thrown me. And don't think I don't recognize it or appreciate it.

And may I just say (as I said on my Twitter) how incredibly friendly and generous and sweet and gentlemanly ALL of Willie's people are! Paul English is the sweetest gentleman ever (amazing when you consider he was a real badass back in the day!) and his brother Billy is just as sweet and friendly. I met Paul in the hallway of the convention center yesterday afternoon (I was working security for the Annual TX Sheriff's Conference), recognized him, and he just gave me a big ol' hug--and I was in uniform and he didn't even care, all that mattered to him was that I was a fan!!! Then last night as I was hanging out backstage (and I'd brought Enor w/me--I HAD to--no way would I have enjoyed the night nearly as much had she not been there!!!) Paul said "Have you met Bee Spears?" and introduced me. I saw Mickey Raphael and said "Oooh I'd love to meet him" and Paul said "Go right ahead, he's real friendly" and he was!

And they were just so tickled by me and kept saying how cute I was and they made me their personal security guard for the night and "fill-in bassist" if necessary and I got to dance w/Paul and so did Enor and Bee brought over his beautiful Epiphone bass ("They don't make these anymore!" he kept exclaiming) and let me play it and they asked me to handcuff Mickey Raphael and everyone took pictures and it was just ONE OF THE BEST DAYS OF MY ENTIRE LIFE. Bee also gave me his phone # so I could call him and he offered to send me all kinds of DR bass strings and told me he gets hookups on all kinds of basses and amps and said he likes to help out young musicians like me!!! OMG.

At one point I couldn't resist it, I had to pull out the iPhone and show them all my FB profile pic and say "Here's what I really look like!" and they were all so tickled. Mickey asked me if I was a runner (after seeing my legs) and said yes, and also a bicyclist, and turns out Mickey is a road bicyclist. I later saw his pic riding bikes w/Bob Dylan's road crew! And can I just say how TALL Mickey is and how young-looking and HANDSOME?!?! Enor and I invited Paul and Billy out to the Big Easy w/us and Billy said he'd love to (esp. when we told him it was Zydeco night) but they had a 6am flight. I couldn't believe I was watching a Willie Nelson concert from the side of the stage and was hanging out with the band members! I'm talking like, hanging out with Mickey and Bee for like 30 min. and with Billy and Paul for like an hour! And since Paul now plays only on a song or 2 with Willie he was backstage most of the time and came and stood right by me for a long time!!!

God did this for me. There is NO question about it. I'm so sad/mad about having to miss the big CD release party tomorrow night b/c I choose to not see, hear, or be around you-know-who right now and I'm just so upset about having to miss the legends they are bringing in to play: Bob Margolin, Anson Funderburgh, and Smokin' Joe Kubek. I have decided I need to run out of town to Luling TX to have dinner w/Joel so I'm not anywhere in the vicinity of Houston TX tomorrow evening. Well... God threw me a bone, like I say, the biggest one he coulda thrown: he GAVE me WILLIE NELSON, PAUL ENGLISH, BILLY ENGLISH, BEE SPEARS, MICKEY RAPHAEL, and BOBBIE NELSON. To hang out with all night and to watch their show from the side of the stage and to share their food/drink/dessert and to take tons and tons of pictures with. God gave me a truly incomparable experience to make up for everything. I KNOW that, in my heart of hearts.

So Here It Is

2011-07-13T18:19:00.003-05:00

Here's what's going on. I am (sigh) a Codependent Sex and Love Addict. Meanwhile, Jon is an Avoidant. Wow. And here's the chart. Classic, black and white, there it is. (Well... I'm not AS much of a Sex Addict as I am a Love Addict, but I definitely have the pattern of acting out sexually. So it is a danger for me as well.)

Good lord have I got a ton of work to do. I have the Step 1 worksheet I've been working on all week. I had to go buy a spiral notebook today b/c I need all that extra room to write! My friend T. says I should say I'm a "recovering" Sex and Love addict, as he used to say he was a "recovering" alcoholic in his AA meetings. Yeah, possibly, I'll cross that bridge when I get to it, meanwhile I'm suffering through extreme painful withdrawal right now! No fucking fun!

The good news is that I know each day will get better and I spoke to a women from the Monday night meeting a little while ago when I was in tears who told me I will NEVER go through this again. Wow, that's heavy. They also said on Mon. nite that the program has pretty much a 100% success rate of everyone who finishes the steps. I believe. I believe!!!

No Club Remix tonite, I'm so tired and Enor is bummed due to the death of an old boss/father figure and I had rehearsal last nite and got SLAA meeting tomorrow followed by meeting w/sponsor and then I leave town on Fri to go to the Leo gig so I need a damn nite to myself this week. I am definitely looking forward to a Saturday of R&R at the ranch though. I hope to sleep in, read, go swimming, relax, play the evening gig, and make it home safe late Sat. night. I gotta come back 1 day early b/c I have to work a security shift from 8:30-4p on Sun. Sheesh.

Need to relax tonite. Read, write, work on the worksheet, pick out my outfits to get ready to pack, and just breathe. And love and pet Scotty Star of course.

Blogging and Life Right Now

2011-07-10T23:07:00.002-05:00

So I'm going through a major transition of having to TOTALLY CHANGE MY LIFE and so I may not be blogging here as much b/c I'm going to have to buy a paper journal for the 12-step program I am currently in. I've been to 4 meetings in a week and a day and I've got 2 more this week. Won't be able to attend any meetings next weekend as I'll be in Chappell Hill gigging Fri-Sat, then have to work all day next Sun on a security job but I've got a sponsor for my 12-steps and I have to attend 6 meetings right now so I'm doing that, even sacrificing hours at Job #2 to do so. But my life is at stake here (not life-and-death dramatically so, just my life in terms of my peace/happiness/well-being) so I gotta do it.

Still on the roller coaster. Crappy weekend. Tough day today, even breaking out into hives all over and freaking out, but I called a bunch of women from the program and one helped me do a breathing exercise over the phone that brought me back to sanity and made the hives disappear in only an hour as opposed to 3 hrs. Spending time at home reading the literature (pamphlets, books) and spending time with Scotty Star is helping. Meeting this afternoon followed by coffee w/3 of the women and that was really really awesome. I just want to be left alone by men right now most of all. I hid you-know-who from my Facebook feed. I keep thinking of the list I made of things I will not miss about him or was annoyed by and more have popped up. He didn't like it when I wore hats--and I love to wear hats. He called me "dork" sometimes and I told him he didn't need to be calling me mean names. He was very much a music snob and was kind of mean the way he spoke of fellow musicians sometimes. (So what if he was right most of the time? Didn't need to be so mean and critical.)

Busy as ass week ahead: Monday night meeting. Tuesday night rehearsal. Wednesday night me and Enor and Phillipo returning to Club Remix. Thurs. night meeting and Enor coming over so I can give her a gate clicker and brief her on feeding Scotty Star when I'm away on Fri. In between, lots and lots of reading, serenity praying, and trying to take care of myself.

Ugh.

2011-07-07T17:58:00.003-05:00

So here I am, going through the roller coaster of emotions that follow a heartbreaking breakup. Look at that, I don't even want to use the word "gwine", that's how fowl a mood I'm in TODAY. I mean, yesterday was groovy. I agreed to play a gig w/Leo next weekend in Chappell Hill Tx, a Fri-Sat night gig where they'll put us up at a ranch, feed us, and pay us. Right now I'm glad to be playing, which is why I'm doing it, and I also think some time away (even if Chappell Hill is only an hour away) will do me some good.

And last night Phillipo, Enor and I went back to Club Remix and had drinks and popcorn and enjoyed another great time and killer music and Phillipo and I got up and did 3 songs again and it was just fun. And my kitten, Scotty Star, is just the most precious and loving and adorable cat... ever. She is so fun to have around and it's great to sleep w/her and the only down side is I HATE leaving her when I have to leave the house b/c she meows so much and it's just so hard b/c I so love our time at home alone and I know she loves me sooooo much. But I have to go to work b/c she is getting the best of everything: Science Diet kitty food (hard and a little soft thrown in from time to time), the best healthy treats, toys galore, and she has her 1st vet visit next Monday for her well-kitten checkup.

But today I just feel blahhhhhh... I did however spend a lot of time chatting w/my dear keyboard friend SCC and he also loves me too. (He's the one writing the musical about me.) He admitted he'd love to come be w/me and have a family w/me and I said that was sweet of him to offer, chuckle! And he wants me to come visit him in Annapolis soooo bad, and now he wants me to come play a (non-paying) gig w/him in Sept. in Milwaukee. It's sweet to hear and know, but that's all I feel about it. He's great but that's as far as my feelings go. And right now the idea of men is just EXHAUSTING me. I really do want to be single for awhile, I really do. I'm reading all these books by Drs. Cloud and Townsend and they are really, really helping me. They're inspiring me to feel stronger and ready to tackle myself as an improvement project. I want to focus on myself and my friends. I'm going to another LSAA meeting tonite and I'll return to the one on Saturday morning too. Got a therapy session tomorrow. I'm trying to keep my food down when the roller coaster swings me around the bad parts... but that's so hard. And ONLY TIME will do the trick which is the hardest part.

On My Own... But Not Alone!

2011-07-05T21:46:00.006-05:00

My therapist and several friends agreed with me that it was a good idea to get a kitten. So I did! Enor and I went to the SPCA on Friday and I picked one kitten to take to the "get acquainted" room. We had a good time and the vibes were good. Enor said to get a girl cat b/c boy cats piss in your shoes when they get mad at you, which I do know to be a true fact. Plus, I'm trying to stay away from men right now so even better. Her name was "Star" which I also thought was a good sign.

However Tito J and I had plans to go to the beach on Saturday so I couldn't officially adopt her on Fri, but rather Saturday, (b/c once you adopt them they get neutered and you pick them up the next day) so I promised to come back Sat. morning. Fri. night Tito J came into town and we went to dinner w/his family members and friends that I hadn't seen in a long time. Then we went to a new Karoake place where it was only private rooms and you could BYOB. I sang 3 songs and around midnight Tito J and I were ready to head home, so we did and it was a nice, safe environment for me.

Sat. morning I picked up my bro and he accompanied me to an LSAA meeting. I was nervous, especially when the co-ed meeting I'd decided on was in a building that was locked down (for the holidays?) so he talked me into rushing over just a few miles to another set of meetings that was split women/men. So we split up and I found myself in a room with about a dozen other women. I listened to them, then I spoke and cried and I have to say, it was helpful. I couldn't relate to everything the other women were saying but I certainly could relate to a lot. I'm glad I went to a women-only meeting and I will return. After the meeting there were lots of hugs and people thrusting their phone #'s at me and since I was a newcomer, lots of pamphlets for me to take home and read. Then I met my bro and he had nothing but a comical surreal experience. Yes, I'll return to the women's meeting!

Then I hurried to the SPCA and Star was still there (I knew she'd be) and I went to visit her one more time and then I adopted her and went home to meet Tito J. The beach was awesome. I wore my new pink monokini and bought a new shark-decorated boogie board and 2 shark-tooth necklaces, something I been wanting for awhile. The sun was hot, the water was warm, there were tons of people there (which normally I don't like but right now enjoyed immensely) and we got some good beach time in. On our way home we went to a Louisiana restaurant on our way home that Rozzy happened to be playing at, so it was the perfect end to an excellent day. After that Tito J took me to Target so I could buy the preliminary cat care items.

Sun. Tito J wanted to come and play in the pool, and I had a couple hours before I had to go pick up "Scotty Star" (promised Brandone I'd name the cat after him, even if it was a girl!) so we did that, and found that my HOA would be throwing a 4th of July weekend party w/food/drink but until then we had the pool to ourselves--awesommmmme. Then I hurried to shower, change, go get last-minute cat care items at PetSmart (including a carrier), and bring Scotty Star home! The SPCA was packed so I had to wait a bit, but she was ready and they took my carrier and brought her out to me and we tested her microchip and then I was off w/my new baby. I was feeling so protective and loving I even put the seatbelt on her carrier (which did in fact have a seatbelt notch)! She meowed and cried all the way home and I kept talking softly to her and gently "Shh-shh"-ing her and it made me cry too, chuckle!!! I just knew I loved her immediately and furthermore, the SPCA told me she was brought to the shelter on Sun. June 26--only 1 day after I myself was also abandoned. Awwww, how about that for fate???

True to my fashion I'd gotten a couple cat books at the library and had educated myself as much as possible so our adjustment period was pretty easy. We had a great 1st night together--I'd already decided she will sleep with me--except for when she woke me up at 5am to play for about an hour--but then we slept til about 9:30. Monday was a nice, easy morning and we woke up slowly but surely. I had to leave her twice, once to run down to Pasadena to see Ma, and then again that evening just for a bit to go to a party at a mansion that one of Tito J's friends had invited us to. It's a mansion I'd ridden my bike past w/You Know Who so I really wanted to see the inside. But truth is, I couldn't wait to get home to Scotty Star and was only at the party long enough for one drink and to tour the house.

Same with today, I couldn't wait to get home from work to come home to her since it was the 1st day I'd left her alone for an extended period of time. I left her with plenty of food and water and toys and left the radio on at a soft volume. When I'm home she follows me everywhere I go so bonding and love has happened immediately! I have cut my work hours short this week to help with the adjustment period as much as possible.

Today was rough b/c I went back to work after a great weekend. And I was supposed to be in Chicago w/You Know Who--so that was sad for me. But it helps having a lot to do, even if I don't feel like doing it every minute. I have tons of books to read and some DVR'ing to catch up on, and self-improvement to work on, and of course my Scotty Star to shower with adoration. And practicing, always practicing! I'll be going back to Club Remix tomorrow night w/Enor and her friend and hopefully Phillipo. Thurs. after work I'll attend another LSAA meeting. Fri night is my crazy friend Rolando's bday party, which I guess I'll go to. I still don't want to leave Scotty Star at home alone too much but at the same time I am fighting the feeling of brokenhearted loneliness, even if I realize more and more each day that I'm truthfully mostly fine w/You Know Who being gone. Key word being "mostly".

Updates

2011-06-29T19:04:00.003-05:00

Had a good weekend w/my brother and Enor. Woody Allen movie was awesome. Spoke to Tommy on Sun. night, taking me to bedtime, for which I'm grateful. Cried on and off all day. Had to send email to "him" telling him to please leave me alone and not contact me (after 1 text on Sat. night and 1 email on Sun. morn received from him).

Didn't cry at all on Monday, even when talking to Brandone that night telling him the whole story.

Yesterday unbelievably "he" texted me saying please let him talk to me, he's reaching out from his heart and needs to talk. I ignored it. He called 20 min later and I felt healthy enough to answer. He did most of the talking, saying he felt sick, he felt like he made a mistake, he loves me and wants to try and work things out. I asked "What's the point?", citing that we want different things in life. he replied "only when it comes to kids!" (OMG!!!) He repeated he loves me and I was his best friend and he wants a relationship with me and to not shut the door. I said HE shut the door on Saturday. I never said I loved him back b/c frankly I don't think I do anymore. I told him I was glad he was leaving town for a month and that I needed to not see/hear from him. He made me promise we'd talk when he got back and I said "fine" but not meaning it--wanting HIM to suffer a little bit now.

Enor later said if it's over, I need to make him understand that it's over. I sighed and agreed. Sent him a text saying I deserve someone to love me and desire me and who wants/needs me in their life and I did not believe that was him and for us to let each other go in peace and find peace and good luck and goodbye. He sent an immediate txt back saying I do deserve those things and he never said he didn't want those things w/me and to not listen to other people that are trying to pull me away from him and they're not in our hearts and souls. I ignored it. He called. I ignored it. He texted more and more--even having the nerve to ask if I was already seeing someone (OMG!!!). I ignored them.

Finally an hour and a half later he sent one final sad text saying he is sorry I feel this way and he sees where I'm going with this and that he wishes he could take it back and make it right between us again. He said he always loved coming home to me and we always had fun together and he loves me and wishes me lots of love and peace and he's sorry for what happened and he made a mistake and will move on now.

I went to see a therapist today. I cried there, lots. I'm going back on Friday. Going out tonite w/Phillipo and dinner tomorrow night w/Rozzy.

Breakup. Yes, Breakup.

2011-06-26T16:51:00.010-05:00

So we ended it yesterday. It wasn't bitter or angry. It was sad. We both cried. He can't be the man I need him to be and I guess I wasn't the girlfriend he thought I was. UGH. My heart HURTS. It literally is painful. Yesterday was awful, I spent all day crying after he left my house around 2pm and around 4 thank God L. let me come over and thank you Jesus she lives right down the street now, practically. BTW she's having her baby (a boy) next week already, jeez, she just told me she was pregnant in November. She let me talk and cry and she just listened. Then I had to run off to my eyebrow appt., then I felt so bad I had to go home and lie down (hadn't eaten anything since lunch on Friday) and then I talked on the phone to Enor, Bon, Rozz, my brother, and made plans to go out w/Enor and Bon, which we did.

Anyway. I am going to make myself go see a therapist b/c Jon pointed out my 2 big issues and he said he will work on his issues and I will work on my issues and "we'll see." Well, regarding him/us I don't need to see anything and I am not going to pine for him and hold out any hope. I am moving on. I am attempting to make this as healthy a breakup as possible: no desperate/crazy thoughts, no self-destruction, no alcoholism, no sleeping around. Bon pointed out last night that I NEEDED to eat b/c one of my issues is being an attention/affection junkie and if I refused to eat it was like crying out for attention and for someone to come take care of me. So I am forcing myself to eat--I can't eat very much b/c no appetite AT ALL but I am making myself at least force down some bites of food here and there which is really good for me especially when you consider how I tend to starve myself when I'm sad and depressed.

So here's a healthy thing I'm going to do right now: List the things that I will NOT miss about him or that I found exasperating or that gave us conflict, etc.

Even his sisters call him "Diva." He had to have everything just so. His laundry, clothes, car, food, shower soap, etc. have to be perfect.
Yet, he had an annoying habit of leaving little pieces of trash just lying around (bottle caps, plastic wrappers, etc.)--his house and my house.
My side of the bed is the right side but that's HIS side too and I let him have it b/c I loved him and wanted him to be happy. See #1.
I let him have MY good parking space that backs up to my patio door while I parked my car over by the fence. Mostly this was b/c he got home late at night though from gigs and thus wouldn't have far to carry his amp. (Meanwhile at HIS house I had to park on the street. The street. At least my 2nd parking spot is inside a gate!)
I bought a firmer mattress than I'd prefer b/c he needs a firm mattress b/c of his back and his weight.
He complained about my leather couch b/c it was "too soft", again needing a harder couch b/c of his weight.
He didn't like to go out and see live music very much b/c playing music is his job and he didn't want to go to work on his nights off.
Had to keep the A/C at my house soooo low and I was freezing, thanks to him.
Sometimes he'd make "out there" comments about distrusting the government/government conspiracies and his desire to stay off the grid as much as possible.
Thought vaccinations--literally the world's greatest public health accomplishment, BTW--were a government conspiracy and had said if we had a kid it would NOT be vaccinated.
I had to be careful about fragrances around him--couldn't use my Chanel perfume (not that I wear that often, hardly ever wear it, just on special occasions) and couldn't use certain lotions.
Was a little OCD and didn't like it when I touched stair bannisters, escalator handrails, etc.

There's more but I'll keep it to myself. I can't believe I broke up with the most incredible boyfriend ever, Mr. Wonderful b/c of the words that Jon told me/the promises he made me. And now the terms of the contract, if you will, have changed and so I have to be out. I have to be done. Not that Mr. W and I were ever going to work out ultimately anyway but I hurt him and devastated him and I will always regret that and hate that I did that to him.

One thing I'm determined to do now: remain single for the time being. One could surmise that I don't like to be alone b/c I do tend to go from relationship to relationship and that is one thing I'll be discussing in therapy. So b/c it will be different and unlike me to remain single I am going to do just that. It will be a growing exercise. If being alone is seemingly something that I'm frightened of, then doing what scares me will be a great learning experience and will be GOOD for my character.

At Job #1's short Sunday shift and it'll be a 1/2 hour shorter b/c I NEED to go see the new Woody Allen movie at 5:45p w/Enor. BTW I went to the Texas exhibit at the museum this morning at 9am w/my li'l bro and it was awesome. I am still crying on and off and that's normal, but I got the good, aching, heaving sobbing day-long crying done yesterday. I hope.

I Guess It's True What They Say About Twitter

2011-06-22T17:32:00.002-05:00

I suppose I've been blogging less b/c I'm spending more time on my Twitter. Well, I still like to write here though; really it's my record of happenings. So what the hell is going on? Well I finally got well, last week. Took 3 damn weeks to get over that URI and my knee is still healing from the broken glass but I was finally able to take the bandaid off. I gigged last Thurs. and Fri. w/Jon and our harmonica frenemy and at the Fri. gig I wanted to wear my pink strapless mini-dress so I took the bandaid off then for the 1st time.

Whew, what a night that was! Jon and I spent the night down the street from the gig at his older sister's house, as Jon had to be at the airport at 6am--we only got about 2 1/2 hrs of sleep after we loaded up, got paid, and since I was craving ice cream, went to the grocery store to satisfy my late-night craving. Then after dropping Jon off at the airport I had to report to Job #2 for a special weekend security shift. 2 shifts actually. I sat outside doing security from 7a-10a, then went home, managed to take a nap (left the damn cell phone in the other room so as not to be pestered by calls/texts), then reported back to Job #2 for another shift of 4-6p. At which time I went down to see me Ma and stepdad. Finally I came home and was happy to spend a nice, sedate, restful evening at home. That's b/c I had to be in bed at a decent time for SUNDAY'S Job #2 security shift of 7a-9a, after which time I had to go pick up Jon from the airport; he had just a quick gig on Sat. in Baltimore so it was nice to have him home almost right away again.

This past Monday night he headlined at the House of Blues and so many of our friends and his family were there. Really fun night. Tonight I'm looking forward to returning to the jam after 2 weeks of missing it due to illness/malaise. I'm excited b/c this afternoon I went to the "ghetto mall" and ordered me a 10 Karat gold tooth cap. It was so cool! They made an impression of my teeth and it should be ready by this evening and I will wear it to the jam and horrify Jon and perhaps some other people, yuk yuk! Actually Enor says she's always wanted one too, and I fully support her getting one herself!

We have a busy weekend coming up: Texas history exhibit at the HMNS; Jon and Rich are gigging at Big Easy Sat. night; and I'm doing the Sunday shift at Job #1.

Collapsed

2011-06-13T18:11:00.003-05:00

Did you see what GOD just did to me?!?! He knocked me down yesterday, man. Literally. I collapsed at the Big Easy minutes after getting offstage where I played w/Leo. I had started to sweat 2nd to last song, and I felt the damn hives coming on. I rushed to the bar and got a big glass of ice and began icing myself down, with the help of Enor. I decided to go outside and sit in the sun, to get away from the music and noise and everyone, thinking that sitting quietly by myself would help the hives. Well, my ex-boyfriend, who I used to call Mr. Wonderful, came outside immediately and began talking to me and talking to me and talking to me and after about 10 min. I just felt ILL. I was now completely covered in hives and I'd never felt this SICK before, and I decided I needed to get inside in the A/C stat. I tried to stand up but couldn't and sat back down. Ex BF said, "Are you ok?" and I couldn't even respond. I tried once again to get up and go inside and managed to get a hold of my purse, glass of Crown/Coke, and glass of ice although my hands and fingers were badly tingling from the histamine coursing through my system.

I made it inside the doorway, saw black, managed to lean against the wall, dropped the glass of ice, heard it shatter, didn't care, and next thing I knew I was on my hands and knees and someone (our friend Jim) was grabbing me and dragging me into the club and putting my legs up on a chair so my feet were over my head. That actually helped, and I came to and they were fanning me, and Jon was playing onstage but he rushed offstage to come and see if I was ok and I heard them yelling for a Dr. in the house and then I was able to sit up and Jon and our friend Jim carried me into the office and lay me on the couch and one of our blues friends who is also a nurse gave me some Benadryl and took my pulse and my blood pressure and Enor was there bringing me water and Jim brought my some pineapple juice and they were trying to clean my bloody knee (from the broken glass) and it was just chaos. I guess I really freaked everyone out!!! Once I was stabilized Jon went back out and finished his set while they were keeping him abreast of the situation (going out and giving him thumbs ups) but then came back and said he was driving me home in my car and Enor and our friend Ed would follow and then drive him back to the club. After about 40 min. the hives still hadn't gone away, even though the president of the blues society had run down to the store and brought me back some Benadryl cream, which our nurse friend rubbed all over me.

Once home Jon and Enor got me on the couch, got me my drink, and left me to rest. I slept after the Benadryl kicked in. Shit! OK God, I get it, I get it. I'm still not well and the antibiotic clearly took away my resistance to heat/the hot-ass sun. And I'd broken out into hives on Fri. night after we were swimming in Jim's (salt-water) pool around midnight and I was cold getting out of the water but it was only 4-5 tiny hive-y spots that went away in about 15 min. But I was clearly histamine-riddled still and the worst thing I coulda done was go sit in the sun like that, but I thought sitting quietly and peacefully would help the hives calm down. Big mistake, thanks to the antibiotic. I'll be taking the rest of the week easy, b/c I got gigs on Thurs. and Fri w/Jon and our harmonica frenemy--and I MUST make those gigs. I need the $ and they need a bass player. But I'm even going to skip the jam on Weds. for the 2nd week in a row. I finish the antibiotic tomorrow thank God.

Sick, Sick, Sick, Sick, SICK!

2011-06-09T17:52:00.002-05:00

As in, I am still recovering from the nastiest upper respiratory infection (URI) that I've had since probably I was a kid. Oh boy, it hit me GOOD. I had chills/fever beginning on Sat. night and a low-grade fever on Sunday/Monday. I spent Sunday-Tuesday IN BED. Seriously. Only yesterday, Weds., did I finally progress from my bed to spending the day downstairs on the couch. Today I'm back at both jobs. Jon forced me to go to the grocery-store clinic--where I'd never been before, but now am SOLD on! Only my $25 office visit copay and in and out of there in minutes!!!--on Sun. morning and they gave me antibiotics but I still have a lingering cough though each day is better and better.

I tell you what, though... I NEEDED these past 4 days to spend at my house/in bed. Desperately. It was awesome even though I was sick, and I know God made me sick to slow me down for once. Ok, I get it, Lord. I'll try to stop overscheduling myself within an inch of my life and to take more breathers. Stayed home from the jam last night. Nothing tonight but a nice dinner at home w/Jon. Tomorrow night is free. This is b/c I definitely need to be rested up for the weekend: 4 hour gig in Galveston on Sat. afternoon, followed by my maternal grandmother's brother's 50th wedding anniversary party that night. Then Sunday is an all-day benefit at the Big Easy for our bass player buddy whose mom just died; I'm not playing (that I know of) but will be there to hang, drink, and support the cause.

Yay Holiday Weekend Approacheth

2011-05-26T18:11:00.004-05:00

...though I'm not sure how much valuable and treasured "down time" I'll actually have... gotta hit the ground running beginning in the A.M.! Fortunately I have the day off from Job #1 at least, but the day will be well-spent. 1st we gwine to pick up my stepdad's pickup truck so we can 1. Use it to transport my new mattress I'm buying and 2. Borrow it 'til about Tues. as Jonn's car will be at the body shop's til about Tues-Weds and we've been trying to make do w/just my car and it's a little unwieldy, what with all my jobs and such.

Then Jon and I have a 2pm appt for our Houston oral history project interviews. (Yes, Enor is in charge and she has decided to focus on local blues musicians. I first declined her request for an interview but the more time went on and I saw who she was interviewing [or more likely, wasn't interviewing, as it was male-instrumentalist heavy and female-singer heavy] I decided to accept so that there would be an interview from a female instrumentalist perspective.) After which I will go to Job #2 and Jon will go to his gig up north and that night, I will head home and REST. And READ. And RELAX!

Because Sat. morn I gotta get my buns up to the sheriff academy for a damn class, but just 9-noon thank the gods. The rest of the day could actually be free! Meaning, Jon and I don't have anything on the agenda for once! Sunday however we do have a possible pool party at his partner Rich's house. I'd like to go, but Jon will decide which is fine w/me. Monday yet again we have "nothing" on the agenda, but I'd love to go to the shooting range.

Last night's gig was ok. I sang 2 songs and my drummer pal Nick showed up w/a present for me: cool sunglasses! I wore them while I played my set. Later this legend showed up w/his band just to hang out and I was tickled to get to meet him and he complimented me on my bass playing... aww! Tonight we may head back to the Big Easy for the monthly blues society jam, but just to deliver some of those deviled eggs and to see the opener band, whom we both love.

Beautiful Yesterday

2011-05-23T17:54:00.003-05:00

We took it to the doghouse for Earl. Here's 2 clips of me playing but of course, there's clips of other musicians (incl. Jon!) playing too, ha ha.

Here's Jon and Earl's other "sons" doing a song just for him. Earl's wife is the cute li'l lady in front with the short orange 'do. She sent us home, as she always does for Jon, with his favorite deviled eggs, greens, chicken, etc.

It was a great day with all of Houston's best blues musicians and blues lovers out at the Doghouse. From all accounts Earl was able to watch from his hospital bed.

I'll be the house bassist for Jon again this Weds. night as Leroy's (the bassist playing in the clip above) Ma died this a.m. after a long illness. Jon will be a pallbearer at the funeral on Thurs. Meanwhile we're all just praying for Earl.

Tired, At Work on 3 Hrs Sleep

2011-05-21T16:15:00.005-05:00

But I been having fun, so it's all worth it, yes? So anyway, long busy week and as always I must consult my Google calendars to remind myself what the heck I been up to these past few days. It doesn't help that I only got about 3 hrs. sleep last night b/c I'm a night owl, it was Friday night, Jon and I went to see our old friend play at the Big Easy, then we came home and watched Honeysuckle Rose, one of our fave flix ever. Then I had to be up to work at Job #1 from 9-5 today though I did get to take a nice break as today was our company picnic and Jon came and picked me up for it on my lunch hour. So lessee...

Weds. I picked up Jon from the airport and we went to the hospital to see Earl. He was asleep and we both prayed over him. It was bittersweet. June 19, 2009 was proclaimed his day from the City of Houston and the proclamation was taped to his front windows of the ICU. He's now refused the ventilator and is "hoping to make it to Sunday." Tomorrow we'll be doing this for him (nice pic of Jon!).They're going to livestream it on the web to Earl's hospital bed. I wish Earl could just come home, especially since he's off the ventilator. My grandpa Popo's death in November at home, surrounded by all of us, was just so wonderful and the best way to go possible.

That night I was the house bassist at Jon's jam and I've been working on my singing and I think I finally decided on my "voice." I always thought I was a power singer, then I've been trying this high, strong voice thing, but now I think I sound best as a soft-voiced singer. I recorded myself all different ways this past week and only the soft voice thing didn't make me cringe at myself. Anyway, the jam wasn't that fun b/c Jon was subdued (due to Earl) and he was making me nervous and I was feeling just a little insecure w/my playing. Anyway...

Unfortunately the night ended badly when we got to my house and coulda been quite tragic so thank God it wasn't. Basically we got to my house at about 2:05am and there was a suspicious guy inside the gate sitting on the concrete while there was a suspicious vehicle outside the gate with an occupant inside. Jon and I had to unload guitars, amps and stuff and I didn't care for any of this bullshit onlooking, so tough-guy cop me had to walk over to the character and talk to him (yes, with my purse on my shoulder and my gun in my purse) and then I had to call the police on the suspicious vehicle while shining my big cop flashlight on them as they tried to drive away. However--the suspicious vehicle turned out to be undercover police and the guy I talked to may have been a "lookout" for the armed robbery that was happening that VERY MINUTE across the street at the neighborhood bar. Yes, this all went down while I was playing neighborhood watch inside my gate, and suddenly there were police EVERYWHERE, even inside my gate, SWAT teams running here and there, K9's, helicopter's, the whole shmear. This is b/c that bar has been robbed 5 times in the past month (incl. last Weds. at about the same time Jon got home to my house from the jam) and the cops had it staked out. (Why it got robbed again this night while they were staking it out has yet to be properly explained.) Long story short, Jon and I decided the best thing to do would be to stick our butts inside and stay there and let the hunt go on.

At 3am we finally fell asleep. At 5am I heard BANG BANG BANG on my door, repeatedly, though it took me awhile to make my way downstairs to see what was going on. It was the police, wanting me to come I.D. the guy they caught that they thought was that "lookout" guy I'd talked to earlier. I came out to my street completely full of a million cop cars and the SWAT van and everything. I couldn't positively I.D. him (I'd kept my distance from him earlier and it was dark outside) so I had him say one of the sentences I'd heard him say earlier and then I was pretty sure it was him. However, I found out the next morning they let him go, as they had nothing concrete to hold him for--even if he was the lookout. And yeah, all this was on all the news channels the next morning.

This whole thing pisses me off, as I am angry that it's possible there's an accessory to armed robbery possibly living on my property, and it makes me mad that the armed robber GOT AWAY from the bar while the bar was under surveillance, and it makes me mad that now Jon is worried ("They know who you are now"). However, I keep saying it's a GOOD thing they know who I am, b/c guess what? Now I know who THEY are. And if they want to come jack w/me, well it will not be a happy ending for anyone involved, I guarantee it. I'm worried about them? No. They need to be worried about me. Still, I did just order a wireless camera surveillance system (the same kind Mudflap has at his house) and Jon and I have been spending every night at my house this week. I even forwent going out on Thurs. night so I could stick close to home and keep an eye on things.

Anyway, so Friday was National Ride Your Bike to Work Day and I was up at 6am for it. I'd brought my bike over to my house from Jon's so I could meet my neighbors who also work in the Med Ctr, as they ride their bike to work everyday and they offered to let me join them, which I was so happy to do! I have to say--it was FUN! We even picked up another of our friends/colleagues on the bike trail on the way, so it ended up being 4 of us. I was invigorated when I got to work, and not too sweaty as it was overcast and only in the low 80's. And when 5pm came, I was actually excited about the ride home! Now, it did take us about an hour to go 7-ish miles, but I have a mountain bike and they all had road bikes, so I was just slower than them. It was still so much fun and I look forward to doing it again by myself someday! It'll have to be a day when I don't go to Job #2 but I can certainly plan around that. I loved getting the exercise and I loved saving gas $ and I loved having my car at my house so it looked like someone was home all day, in light of the events on Weds. night.

Tonight is a night OFF. I am beat. I'm gwine go home, rest, read, relax, practice, watch some TV, blah blah blah. Hopefully Jon will be over soon too; we've got another busy day tomorrow. Before the Earl thing, we'll go to the world famous mega church in town for a service in honor of National Police Memorial Week, then we'll meet my mom and Fred and li'l bro for lunch, then head north to Earl's.

I also just found out I get to spend 4th of July weekend w/Jon, as he and Rich got a gig at a festival in Iowa and they're driving and I get to go! Yay! I love a road trip! And this is important to me b/c Jon will be gone most of July. After IA he only has a couple days free before he's gotta to back to OH, then he'll be gone for Italy the last 2 weeks in July. Fortunately Tito J. has offered to distract me w/a weekend trip to go party w/him in San Antonio, so I'm looking forward to doing that! But I'm so tickled I get to go to IA at least w/Jon.

Birthday Wind-Down

2011-05-17T18:35:00.003-05:00

Whoo what a few days it's been. Well, to recap our birthday week(s):

My birthday

Friday the 6th: Went to Harlingen w/Jonn, Rich, and Rich's wife Lisa. Lovely time! 6 hrs one way and we stopped off in Corpus Christi to have seafood at this touristy kinda-lame restaurant, but whatever. Got to Harlingen around midnight, right at the official beginning of my bday! Got a decent night's sleep at our hotel.

Sat. the 7th: Went to eat at IHOP where I spotted a Room Rack Shoe outlet across the street at the mall. Lisa and I attacked it while the boys ran a couple errands before the show that night. I got ***9*** pairs of high heeled sandals, my favorite summer shoe ware, for ***$100*** and in all kinds of colors. Killer! Happy bday to me!!!

The show that night was great, and the weather was unfreakingbelievable gorgeous. Sunny, slight breeze, warm enough for me, awesome. I drank a couple of these Costa Rican beers I found in the backstage area coolers, and they were YUM. Jon told the audience to wish me a happy bday which was sweet... awww. I videotaped the whole performance w/the bassist's video camera, making sure to get all kindsa angles and close ups, etc.

After the show we tried to find something to eat but in Harlingen everything closes around 10pm. We went back to the hotel room and I decided I was just ready to walk to the grocery store 1 street over to get food and of course, cake! Coming downstairs to the lobby however, I was surprised by Rich and Lisa and cake and a green dragon pinata and presents and a card!!! Jon and Rich had taken care of getting all that while I was shoe shopping. I was touched and surprised! We ended up ordering pizza which was totally fine with me as everyone knows pizza and cake are my 2 favorite foods!!!

Jon's bday

Sat. the 14th: I had to run to the sheriff academy of course but I got out early which was awesome b/c I was able to go pick up the 7 dozen cake balls I'd ordered as a surprise for Jon. Dang, they were TASTY--I'd allowed us to sample a couple when I got to his house. Then we had a little time to relax before meeting his mom, 2 sisters, niece and nephew at Hinze's BBQ in Wharton TX. I drove and it was a beautiful sunny day and not too warm, a great day for a little hour-long drive. And boy, did we grub. We also ordered the rest of the pan of blackberry cobbler, Jon's favorite. It was a nice family lunch and we all had a great time.

Back in Houston it was time to get ready for the gig and I wore my blue denim jumpsuit and gold sandals, Jon telling me I looked "disco" but I didn't care! (BTW, I'd gotten Jon his bday gift a couple weeks ago; he told me he wanted and needed a new double gig bag, as his nylon one has been tearing in spots and just generally getting worn out, so he found a really nice leather one and we ordered it off Ebay. I tell you--that thing is NICE. And it was EXPENSIVE, but I was more than happy to get it for him b/c I know he needs it and he will use the CRAP out of it on his many gigs as well as travels.)

The gig was killer fun! Most of his family and friends were there and we danced and my friends were there (I'd actually had time to meet B. and T. and Catyaq and our friend Ron for dinner right before the show, and I ended up riding with them so I could just ride home with Jon at the end of the night) and drinks were flowing and I had my new camera and I was taking pic's left and right and everyone just had a lot of fun. Great, great night!

Sun. the 15th: Happy bday my sweet love! We went to Baytown to spend the day w/his family and he made us get there so early nothing was really going on yet so we went out on his mom's backyard patio and he played his National guitar and I sat in the sun and read. Soooo relaxing. Later everyone started to show up and we helped his mom get the food ready and his aunts came over and his sister and nephew and finally it was ready to eat and we grubbed. Everyone loved the cake balls! Later on his dad came over and I took a nap on the grass while the 2 kids made a grass blanket for me. And his mom made his favorite cake, yellow w/chocolate icing and put strawberries on it. We left late and were tired but totally happy.

So then I had to take him to the airport yesterday but he'll be back tomorrow from OH. I always miss him terribly at night, but last night I got a good practice session in. I'm the house bassist with him tomorrow night for the jam, and I still need more experimentation with my singing. Oy. Not sure what to do on some things, but I keep hearing that this process takes time. I certainly didn't become a decent violist or bassist in just a few months' time. Still, I am frustrated but know I just need to keep experimenting. It's just that you're so vulnerable as a singer! More practice and shedding will be done tonite.

Birthday Week... again!

2011-05-13T16:34:00.002-05:00

So now it's Jon's bday week and we have major festivities planned for this weekend.

Well, he's runnoft to Baytown today to see his sis who's flown in from Chicago so not sure if he'll be joining li'l bro and me tonight for Alejandro, but his free concert tonight will kick off a fun-filled weekend. Then I must get to Jon's house for as well rested a night possible, for I will be getting my buns to the sheriff academy by 7:45 in the a.m. for a day of applicant testing. However, I've gotta beg off a little early by 11:30 so I can run and meet this cake balls chick for the batches of cake balls I've ordered for Jon's family get-together on Sunday, his actual bday. Then I've gotta whisk myself to his place in order to meet him and his mom and sisters so we can shoot on down about an hour away to Wharton TX for some of the best damn BBQ in the state, Hinze's! (Jon, Rich, Rich's wife and I ate there last Sun on the way back from Harlingen. Drool! And I'm not even a huge BBQ lover!)

Whew! As if that weren't enough then we gotta get on back and I gotta get to my house so's I can get ready for the big night: Jon and Rich's gig at the Big Easy. EVERYONE will be there! Well, most of mine and Jon's families, anyway, unfortunately Ma and Fred are out of town but Jon's parents, sisters, cousins, friends, etc etc will be there as it's also Jon's bday party gig. Aaaaaand, I've got the incomparable B. and T. coming down from Dallas for the show and they bringing Catyaq! So, yayyyyyyy! They're staying at my house which means I also gotta get the beds ready, finish tidying up, as I'll be staying at Jon's house.

Sunday it's family day at Jon's mom's house. I expect that to be a little bit of a relaxing breather--finally!

Birthday Week

2011-05-04T18:25:00.002-05:00

So it's my b-day week and normally I am in full festivating swing for the whole month. This week however I don't feel so up. It's not even a "bad" birthday (though it IS an "almost-bad" birthday if you catch my drift). I had a Dr's appt on Monday that was upsetting, and then I had a serious discussion on Tuesday w/my stepdad about my mom's health and finances, both which are struggling. And basically I feel kind of powerless about all of the above and I'm not sure how to proceed in life. I mean, life will drag you along no matter what, but as everyone knows, ADELA IS A PLANNER. And right now it's hard to plan, based on the information I have to work with.

Today I went downtown to see Jon play the Blues N Burger concert and that was nice, as it was a beautiful sunny day and not as warm as it had been (so consequently I was cold in the shade but it was still nice out) and then we had a yummy lunch afterwards, outside at the cafe there. Jon knows I'm upset and stressed out this week and he's concerned, and frankly, he needs to be. He says he wants his happy girlfriend back but I don't know when that's going to happen. He could help out with that, but I'm not sure when he's going to be able to do so.

I'll be going w/him and Rich and Rich's wife to Harlingen TX this Friday as they're playing a blues festival down there on Saturday. I've decided I want to spend my bday w/my boyfriend, which is why I'm going and not staying here and participating in more I-Fest activities, as I did this past weekend and had killer fun doing. This past weekend was chock full o'fun, I have to say, though I missed Jon, who was up in the Pacific Northwest, touring w/Rich. But Phillipo, my bro, Enor, Bon, and all my other music/festival friends had a BLAST. Keb Mo on Sunday killed me. Robert Cray too. Kronos Quartet on Fri. night, who I've never seen was, as Enor put it, "transcendential." Saturday was Jimmie Vaughan, whom I've now seen 3 times in about a month. Fun, fun, fun. But I gave away my 2 extra I-fest tix as we'll be back from Harlingen on Sunday--I believe that's something like a 6-hr drive.

I don't even feel like going to the jam tonight. I am just riding such a bummer, I just want to go home, practice a little bit, maybe do some reading and watch one of my movies from Netflix.

Speeding Bullet Pt. 2

2011-04-28T18:33:00.003-05:00

Ok, where I left off???

April 16:

Jon and Rich played a gig w/the musicians from their CD at that faraway club again and I went, along w/some of our friends, and my mom and stepdad came out again! They LOVE Jon.

April 17:

Day-long special patrol initiative that Mudflap talked me into doing. Not too exciting. Seriously went on a "Alligator found on golf course pond" call and a "Loose cows on freeway feeder" call! Fortunately Jon was able to drop me off and pick me up since my district is on the way to Baytown and he went to spend the day w/his mom.

April 18:

Passover dinner w/Enor and some of our musician pals. I don't like the restaurant she picked so I had yummy Reisling.

April 20-21:

Gigs w/Jon. Served as his bassist for the Weds. jam at Big Easy and I sang 2 songs and I totally need to work on my confidence and strength b/c my insecurity came across. (BTW I had to sacrifice my ticket to see Bruce Hornsby that night at the House of Blues, sob! But I need the gig and the $ more.)

The Thurs. night gig was w/him and our harmonica frenemy, who I swore I'd never play with again after last summer--but again, I need the gig and the $ as I'm saving up for a 5-string bass.

April 22:

Earth Day and our pater familias' bday. I had the day off from work and Jon and I rode our bikes all over town! Went to the museum to see the Impressionist exhibit, then rode to dinner, then to our friends' gig near his house. Awesommmmmmmmme day!!!

April 23:

Gig again w/Jon and our harmonica frenemy, a private party. They had a bass-shaped cake and I was totally delighted! Fun times, and this time I sang 3 songs and tried to be strong and confident. Jon told me it was a lot better. After the gig Jon and I packed up and went to Baytown as we'd plans to spend Easter w/his mom and family.

Ugh, I am having a really Bad Process right now so will finish April later. The Process has been weirdly sporadic all year, as we all know, and now it seems to have come back permanently with a vengeance. I still want to go to the jam tonight and practice my singing and Phillipo and Enor said they'd meet me there. A couple drinks might help the pain, b/c the 600 mg. painkillers aren't lasting long.

Movin' Faster Than The Speeding Bullet

2011-04-27T19:01:00.002-05:00

Good lord. I just ain't had time to even meet myself coming and going, as they say. I guess I'll hafta sum up April thusly:

April 4-6:

Wonderful (if cold!) trip to Columbus OH w/Jon. Played with some blues greats for some cancer patients and was thrilled and totally humbled to be there. Felt out of place but tried my best. Had my hair done in killer rock star style so that may have helped. Chuckle! Praying to be invited back to play some more, but who knows... There was video on the news but I just checked and it's been deleted already.

April 8:

Played a gig at a Thai restaurant w/Jon and his partner Rich. Totally amusing. We ate really good food for free and got paid so whatever. I quote Rich's song constantly, "A Gig is a Gig."

April 9:

Played another gig w/Jon and Rich. Their incredible guitarist friend J.P. (who was in town to play some shows) showed up and sat in with us. What the hell was I doing there? Anyway, it was awesome. Then Jon had to run out of town to play a gig in Corpus Christi w/our harmonica frenemy and I ran to see J.P.'s in-store at Cactus. Then I made the band come across the street w/me and Phillipo for drinks, which was fun. Then we went to see them play that night at the Big Easy. Waaaaay fun!

April 11:

Drinks at the Lancaster Hotel and an early bday present from Enor: Tickets to the concerto winners at the Hobby Center! Really took me back to my youth. Great music. Soul soothing and therapeutic.

April 12:

Gig w/Jon and Rich--NO DRUMMER. Me on bass and fiddle and incredibly, my mom and stepdad came all the way out there to see us (a good 45-min. drive for them!). I also sang a song. The show was recorded by our bassist friend in the audience (also the bassist on Jon and Rich's CD). I was a little shaky on fiddle and vocals but we played on a Tues. night for 15 people so whatever. Good paid rehearsal, as we say.

Ok, I'm at Job #2 now and I'm tired from the last few days and tonight is my 1st night at my house in a week and I had to take Jon to the airport early this a.m. and I miss him and my Process started and blah blah blah I'm gwine home now.

The Funeral of PineTop

2011-04-07T18:11:00.006-05:00

Whew! What a past few days. Insane-like and whirlwind and FUN. Jeez, I'm gwine try to do this as best I can b/c too much has happened lately.

The Funeral of Pinetop Perkins, Austin TX, 3/28/11

I managed to get off work at noon so I could rush to Jon's house and we could meet his mandolin partner Rich and Jon's other partner, the great singer D, at Rich's house for the drive to Austin. Pinetop Perkins had been on one of Rich's CD and it's an incredible story of how that happened, which I found out at the funeral and which I'll tell in a minute here. D and Pinetop were very close; so close that he would come to visit her in Houston and they'd spend time together. She'd cook for him, etc., and they drove together from Houston to Austin and played together at festivals, etc. Jon of course was lucky enough to play w/Pinetop several times (on that note, so was my dear friend Rozzy!). I was just along to pay my respects and I felt soooo grateful to be there with them.

We got to Austin to the funeral home and it was a who's who of legends up in there. Bob Margolin for cryin' out loud (who is also very close w/Jon and D) and who I was totally starstruck to meet, his having been featured in my favorite damn movie of ALL TIME. Marcia Ball. Chris Layton. James Cotton. Willie "Big Eyes" Smith. There was a PA and instruments set up, ready for the musical tributes. And it was all so overwhelming and touching and I got to meet Pinetop's people. Here's a writeup of the funeral. Here's photos from the day, and you can see the back of Jon and the back/top of my head in photo #28 (we're on the right, sitting in a pew towards the front--Jon has his arm draped over the back of the pew and he's wearing a black jacket and you can see his light purple shirt collar). At one point I was at the coffin, looking at Pinetop (both Jon and Rich have a distaste for doing so and neither could do it) and James Cotton came up and stood next to me. Later on, after the funeral was over I spoke to him, telling him how much I'd enjoyed his singing when he opened for Levon a few years ago and he asked me to tell Levon hi for him next time I saw him. Which I certainly will, should I get the chance!

And BTW, the story of Pinetop playing on Rich's CD is this: a few years ago the Grammy's decided to give Pinetop a lifetime achievement Grammy. But they wouldn't pay to fly him out to L.A. for the ceremony and Pinetop couldn't afford it!!!!!!!!!!!! So Rich, who was living in L.A. at the time, offered to pay to fly him out, put him up at a hotel, and Pinetop could record the tracks on Rich's CD the weekend of the Grammy's. And that's what happened. A win-win situation for EVERYONE concerned. BTW, Pinetop was buried wearing his Grammy medallion around his neck.

After much tears and music and laughter (the opening song was one of Pinetop's more well-known numbers that he always did [sometimes twice if he forgot he'd already played it!!!], "How Long" and Margolin sang it and actually, it's one of my favorite songs, we visited w/a few more people (Jon's gal pal was also there, the same one we'd ran into the week before in Austin) and we came THISCLOSE to going to EAT w/Margolin but in the end he realized he had to go set up at Antone's for the musical tribute so the 4 of us just went to grab a bite at Carlos Santana's restaurant which is a block behind Antone's. D and I enjoyed margaritas and actually, the food was pretty darn good. Then we traipsed over to the packed house at Antone's, where D and Jon were expected to play, as Margolin was running the whole shindig.

We sat in Pinetop's manager's reserved, guest of honor seats section. Truly, I was trying to take the whole day in with stride and coolness but inside I was like "OhMyGod this is all so amazing and I'm rubbing elbows with these legends of blues and business and AAAAAAAHHHHH!" but I knew Jon expected me to behave myself so I tried my very best to do so. Actually I did see a couple of people I knew, including a favorite comic writer of mine who just married a friend of ours and I gave him a big hug. Later I ran into her too and gave her several hugs. BTW she has just recorded her latest album at Levon's studio--LUCKY!!!!! In truth, no one deserves it more than she, as she's a killer talent and genuine sweetheart. I also ran into another friend of ours who is a virtuoso and master of the Chapman Stick and when Jon and D finally got up onstage to do 2 songs (at midnight, unfortunately, and we were bone weary tired by then) I danced with my pal and his wife. And yes--I would have sold my right ass to get up with them and I was praying to God that I'd be allowed to do so but it didn't happen--Margolin played bass with them. Oh well. It ain't my time yet I guess.

After they did 1 song D sang her a cappella song that she's known for and brought the whole house to a hush. Then we got the heck out of there--D was miffed that she'd been forced to wait so long to get up, but come on--James Cotton, Marcia Ball, Bob Margolin, Big Eyes Smith, HAD to play first! They're international superstars/recording artists, and so are D and Jon but not nearly at that level, so come on. Anyway, we got home to Houston around 4am and I went to work the next day, heart full of the whole experience. Here's Margolin's touching writeup of the whole day, including loving words towards Jon and D.

Ok, so tomorrow I have GOT to write about last weekend in Austin (again! Chuckle, I can't seem to stay away from that town lately) and then the beautiful time I had this past Monday-Weds. in Columbus OH, playing bass for Jon and other blues notables, for a good cause.

"Epic", "Incredible", "Legendary"... Don't Begin to Describe It

2011-03-30T18:31:00.005-05:00

I have had 2 of the most amazing days this past week. They both took place in Austin. I am still winding down from an emotional high. My heart is full and I'm just so grateful I got to experience what I experienced. It's kinda funny though, b/c to Jon it was like, no big deal at all. Well, as I keep pointing out to him HE'S been to the mountaintop, and I'm still floundering around at Base Camp! So basically, here's what happened...

Friday

I had the day off from all my jobs, yaaaayyyy... We went to pick up Jon's Ohio musical business partner, Bear, at the airport. We ran back to Jon's so Jon could change clothes but Jon dropped me and Bear off at the hat store b/c Bear wanted a new hat. We found a pimp one, Jon picked us up, and we headed to Austin for our very first Austin City Limits Live experience to see the legendary James Cotton! What was so sweet is that Bear had been given 2 comp tickets by Cotton's guitarist--but Jon said he would not go to Austin w/out me--so Bear bought another ticket so we could all 3 go. (Sound of my heart melting!) But Bear is a sweetheart generally--I guess it was maybe his idea for me to come be the bassist at their Ohio event which is already next week! Aaaaaaaah! Anyway...

We stopped off for BBQ on the way and got into Austin. Except we thought ACL still taped at UT but fortunately we found out it is now taping at the W Hotel downtown, which is not that far from UT, where we were, chuckle! We made it there and valet parked and were about to go to our seats when Bear got a text from Tom saying to come backstage. We made our way back there, and got to visit while Shemekia was playing her opening set (I've seen her play before though). After a spell, James Cotton showed up. Awesommmmmmmmmme! I have seen him play once, a few years ago, at Gruene Hall when he opened up for Levon. I was starstruck. Totally starstruck. Jon has played w/him before though--of course! But it was also fun to meet his bassist, who is part of a well-known Baton Rouge blues family and who I am well aware of from having dated my ex, M, who was friends w/the whole family. And their road manager is the son of another living blues legend! Amazing room of people, I tell you what.

So we got to our seats for the show and when James Cotton came out with that searing high harp sound, I got goosebumps--and that doesn't happen too often anymore! It was a killer show. And they were joined on vocals by one of Jon's vocal hero's--though I admit I don't know too much about him. I wanted to go down to the floor for the encore so we did. We made our way backstage again and snacked on some of their food--there was PLENTY of it, including this delightful cheese shaped like Texas! We told the guitarist and vocalist we'd be gwine to another show that night (that we just found out about that day) and told them they'd want to join us there if they knew what was good for them! But they agreed when they heard who'd be playing.

We made our way to the next stop, and lo and behold we run into a gal pal of Jon's, a sweet chick from Houston who happened to be there (well, she's friends with the guitarist, living Austin legend Derek O'Brien). After seeing a KILLER James Cotton show, now THIS was another killer show! And the vocalist from James Cotton showed up and sang a couple songs, and later the guitarist and his wife showed too. Good times, good times. When it was all over and we had to leave it was 2am. Jon got us home by downing a 5-hour energy shot and we were home around 4:30am. Then the next morning Jon had to have Bear to the airport by 9:30 for his flight home--but we all agreed it was WORTH IT!!! We'll see Bear next Monday in Ohio and we'll stay at his house.

Whew! So then we went back to Austin on Monday for the funeral of Pinetop. It was an intense, heavy duty experience, filled with much love and just bittersweet. But I'll have to write about that later... I'm off to get home, change, and get to the country jam w/JFu, followed by Jon's blooze jamm. Gotta play, gotta play.

Epic Bike Rides

2011-03-22T18:21:00.003-05:00

We had a great one last Saturday! After I got home from work we jumped on our bikes and headed out, 1st to the bike shop so I could buy some front/rear lights for safety's (and the law's) sake. I didn't think we'd be out after dark but dang--we were! We went down the entire bike trail, then headed to dinner at a great little Italian restaurant right on the bike trail. Jon's friend Nate met us. And while we were there I ran into 2 other tables of people I knew! After dinner we were going to bike to get a drink but we decided to go to Marble Slab for ice cream instead. We didn't get home til about 10:30pm. FUN!

We slept hard and late. Sun. morning Jon's neighbor across the street invited us over for coffee, and while they've been friends a long time I'd never officially met her, so we went over for a little visit. She's a flight attendant and is gone a lot, and has the worst time with men as well--she's not the kind of chick I have much in common with but she's all right, though she and Jon have had disagreements over him helping her with her pets when she's gone, etc. Jon headed out to the gig w/our harmonica frenemy and I headed home to accomplish lots. I opened all the windows in my house and the patio door and aired out the whole house all day. I washed my bedroom drapes, vacuumed my bedroom, washed sheets, tidied up downstairs, went through the mail, did a little practicing, worked on my file, lounged a bit, etc. etc. etc. It was nice, as it always is, to spend time w/myself at home.

Tonight we'll take li'l bro out for dinner, as his (gulp!) 37th bday was yesterday, and our cousin Townes will join us. We've got some other fun stuff lined up for this week: an old friend/guitarist in town doing a show tomorrow night, which Jon and I'll go see before the blues jam. And on Friday I have the WHOLE DAY OFF, including from Job #2, which is fortuitous b/c Jon has managed to get us tickets to the taping of Austin City Limits, which I've never been to!!! And it's James Cotton and Shemekia Copeland! Ahhhhhhhhhh!!! So Saturday I should be sufficiently inspired to be able to rehearse w/Jon and Rich for our upcoming gig. I keep practicing and learning, getting more and more inundated w/bass knowledge, so I have high hopes for myself!

Downnnn Time, I Hope

2011-03-19T11:39:00.004-05:00

So this gwine be a down time weekend, although I sit at Job #1 right now. But I sit in my office and it's nice and quiet outside. Soon I'll go to lunch. Tonight Jon and I will go for a nice long bike ride. We went on a short-ish one last night, just to dinner w/his nearby friend/neighbor Nate and then to the coffee shop where we shared carrot cake. Jon and I both need some down time, as this past week has been wild and wacky!

Monday I rushed to Jon's right after work so we could go pick up Nate and get to one of their sweet millionaire friends' house--the one we visited on NY Day. We had a drink at the house before the driver (nice!--Love having a driver!) took us to the rodeo, along with another of their millionaire friends and another local noted guitarist friend. We were stylin'! We were up in the private box suites! Free booze! Free beer! Free food! Desserts! Our own private server! And later, an ice cream sundae cart came by and made your sundae to order in a little cowboy hat that you could take home!!! Man, oh man. That is LIVING, my friends. We were also excited about Kid Rock performing, and I'd been listening to Kid Rock Pandora station that day to get in the mood, yuk yuk. It was a fun time, and I definitely went over my 2-drink maximum--but I had to! I was living large!

Tuesday night was not nearly as swank but fun as well. Jon rode the rail down to meet me, I jumped on, and we landed at the rodeo early enough to walk around the hall, check out some of the shopping, look at some of the art, and have some rodeo food (I love the stuffed baked potato) before getting to the arena for the KISS concert! We met one of Jon's friends who is a KISS fanatic though our seats were next to Jon's cousin's floor seats--the cousin had given us the tickets. It was standing room only that night--I'd never seen anything like it. KISS put on a killer show. Afterwards Jon and I enjoyed fried delicacies: a friend cupcake for me and fried nutter butters for him. And another successful rodeo is under my belt!

So Weds. night it was great to finally have a little breathing room after going nonstop for the past few days. I went to the jam, natch, to hang out w/Enor and see Jon, and I got to get up and play w/him on the 1st round which is always fun. I have decided it is good for me to play at the jams so that I keep my stage experiences up and my ear sharp. Until I start gigging again, that is.

Thurs. was St. Patrick's Day and that was also a madhouse day for me, as one of my dear friends from college's bands was in town from Dallas to play at the Duck. I haven't seen him since college and he put me on the guest list, so I just had to get my buns there, immediately after Job #2. I spotted him across the crowded tent and he bought me a Guinness! His band was really good and afterwards he gifted me with one of their CD's. We visited briefly, took pictures, and then I was OFF to the west side of town to see Jon play. Enor and my old pal/interior decorator/former hired babysitter J. met me there, also a couple friends of Jon's. Good times and great music, as Jon played w/our harmonica frenemy's rhythm section, which Jon considers to be the best in town and he's probably right. Some jerky guy was hitting on Enor and sat w/us and bought us drinks all night so that was cool. He even gave me $10 to put in Jon's tip jar--Enor still didn't go home w/him though! Oh well!

Tomorrow Jon is playing w/our harmonica frenemy in, of all places, our hometown of Pasadena but I am begging off going so that I can have a DAY to myself so I can shed seriously (still working on Duck Dunn catalog and have other ideas to work on as well) and spend some time at my house. We have a b-day party tomorrow night as well, a tango dancer friend of Jon's I just met, so Sunday will be my day for me, a much-needed one. It's 2 weeks before we leave for Ohio and while Jon and I practiced a little last night, I need to make sure I am nails and ready for anything they throw at me up there.

Weekend With Me Lovely Pals

2011-03-16T18:03:00.005-05:00

As predicted, this past weekend was NUTSO. It began on Fri. night w/the Anders Osborne show which, may I just say, ROCKED!!!!!!! I watched from front row, right in front of the bassist. Man, oh man. What a damn show. (Oops, not supposed to be cussin' during Lent, but sometimes these things just slip out.) I was entertained, inspired, awed, etc. etc. etc. I didn't even have a drink after all at midnight b/c I didn't want to have to pause one minute to stop enjoying the show and leave my spot. Phillipo and Enor also had a blast, though they were drinking. I left during the encore b/c my feet were cold and tired and I had to get up so freakin' early; fortunately I got to Jon's in literally about 6 minutes and it was nice to fall asleep in his bed, with him gone. He also was able to call me via Skype on his iPhone twice Fri. night.

Sat. I was up early after 4 hrs. of sleep to go get some kolaches and then get the unmarked unit downtown; Jon called me while I was doing all that, as he'd been asleep the night before around 8pm and so was up early with me. He was going to rest up all day before headlining the blues fest that night. I got to the Academy and we had 15 applicants, which we whittled down to 11 by the end of the day. 1 failed the timed run, 1 had too many tattoos, 1 failed the long jump, etc. It was a long day but entertaining, as we got to spend time in the Taser class while the applicants were taking the written test, and watch as people got Tasered. Always good for tons of laughter and merriment! I didn't get done 'til after 1pm, at which point I dropped off the car, grabbed a snack at Jon's, and ran home to try and get some stuff done. Boof and T were already in town but they offered to wait it out at the Galleria, which I was grateful for since I had tons of stuff I needed to do around the house, practice, work on my file, etc. before meeting them at Dan's by 5.

I got to Dan's by 5 and Jon was able to call me again, which I was so glad for! Boof and T met me there, along w/Phillipo, and we got to see my friends' band play. We had drinks, chips and salsa, and saw another band play before we decided it was time for dinner. Boof chose El Rey and Enor met us and Phillipo there. Enor said we needed to go see our other friends' band play, and since we had time to kill before going to see our other friends' band (from UNT college days!) play, I thought it a capital idea! (It didn't hurt that this band has Houston's best drummer in it, and the most handsome drummer--a friend of mine and Jon's and also who I had a couple dates with way back in the day!) We had fun there, and they dedicated a song to me. Awww!

Then it was time to go to the next show. We carpooled in my car. It was at a swank hotel bar and I normally wouldn't have gone, but a friend of ours from UNT days was there and we hadn't seen him since college. He just moved to Houston about 3 yrs ago and it was time we finally got together! It was tres elegante! And it was so awesome to see our friend. Enor hated it after awhile though and said we should go to Big Easy; I concurred. Lots of soulless, vapid people at that hotel bar, but it was a beautiful setting and the music was killer! But we headed to Big Easy directly to see the legendary Guitar Shorty. It was a packed house and I had to watch from right up front, natch. We danced and I got another drink but didn't finish it. I was exhausted after just a few songs and had to sit down finally!

By the end of the night we still had to make one last stop, a Walgreen's stop for Boof and T, and Jon was able to call me again. Back home I know I crashed HARD. However we had a time change so we lost an hour of sleep, dammit. I was awake by 11 which wasn't enough sleep still, but I still had a big day ahead of me so it was up and at 'em! Tito J was in town and we had lunch plans! Yay! I insisted on ordering the Chicago deep dish and everyone was with me on that; however I have been to Gino's East and it seems you just can't get a true Chicago deep dish in Houston. Still, the food was great and the company better. I'm trying to make Boof and T join me in San Antonio for Tito J's April bday bash! They may actually try to make an attempt at doing so. After pizza we walked across the street for ice cream--just what I needed! Not! But it was yummy delish. We bid adieu to Tito J and headed home to my place so Boof and T could pack up and head home, another successful visit together under our belts.

I had plans to go back to Dan's by 6:30 but Boof and T didn't leave til after 5 and I still had lots of practicing to do and my file to work on. I just can't do it all, sometimes. I also had to pack for the next couple days for rodeo on Monday night and go get Jon's car and put some gas in it. I hadn't heard from him all day, sadly. But I had his itinerary so I headed to the airport in order to be there by 8:30 and sure enough, they were on time. Jon was unable to call me since they were stuck in the Mexico City airport all day. But he was back and exhausted and hurting and glad to be home. I too was tired so we crashed together back at his house.

Will recap the rodeo the last 2 nights later, which were also KILLER experiences!!!

SERIOUS Weekend Ahead. When Can I Practice???

2011-03-11T18:00:00.007-06:00

Wow, so although Jon is in Costa Rica now, having been deposited at the airport in the dark at 6 a.m. today by a groggy moi, my weekend has now officially become jam packed. So much for hoping to have lots of time to myself so that I could shed my arse off, lounge around my house, catch up on my movie/DVR watching, and go for a run or a bike ride. Minimal, if any, of that will happen now.

But it'll be fun to see my peeps that are coming to visit me from out of town! Tito J. will be here and we've made lunch plans on Sunday. Tomorrow Boof and T will be here and they've taken my standing offer of staying at my house, meaning I gotta hustle and get the futon in the 2nd bedroom ready, tidy up a little, etc etc. Tonight will be fun, as I'll be at Last Concert for the Anders Osborne show, and Enor and Phillipo will be there, among others. I've planned to stay at Jon's house tonight b/c since I very erroneously thought it was going to be a mostly free weekend, I volunteered to get my buns to the Academy at 7:45 in the a.m. tomorrow for applicant testing helping. Meaning I can pick up the unmarked patrol car we keep downtown, which is literally down the street from where Jon lives. Gas is too expensive for me to burn my own and that car needs to be loved/driven anyway!

So here's the weekend lineup (I hope):

Tonight:

Get home, check the mail, pack my Academy outfit and gear (gun, etc.)
Anders Osborne show! I've given up booze on Lenten Fridays... so will maybe have a sangria at midnight? Heh heh heh.

Tomorrow:

Get to the Academy by 7:45 a.m. Ok, 8 a.m.
Hopefully done by noon, get home and spend some time working on my file and also I NEED to practice! Still got tons of bass work to do!!!
Boof and T should arrive around 5ish? They'll have to meet me at Dan's for the SXDE shows as my friends play at 5 and 5:30
Dinner w/Boof and T at some point
I'd wanted to spend Sat. night shedding and relaxing, but now who knows what'll happen

Sunday:

Sleep in, meet Tito J for lunch!
Say goodbye to Boof and T at some point
Spend time shedding, working on my file, going on a bike ride/run??? Could I possible have time for some much-needed exercise???
Back to Dan's for Day 3 of SXDE by 6:30 to see Rozzy's jazz trio play and also another knucklehead friend/ex's band after that
Pick up Jon at the airport at 8:30pm!

I practiced for over an hour last night and it was great. I'm learning so much so fast. I also got 3 offers from people who want me to play w/them, yet when I told Jon about them he said he really wants to start a project w/me and some of our other musician friends. He also wants me to play a trio gig w/him and his mandolin partner next month, just like we did at Jon's mom's retirement party! So this was all news to me and I'm so excited!!! Yet this means I gotta have my CHOPS DOWN. I gotta be strong and confident. I told Jon in that case I would forego these other offers and concentrate on him. He says he wants me to be an integral part of what he does from now on. I am actually trembling with excitement from the thought of playing seriously w/Jon and the honor of being asked to do so. Never mind that he's my boyfriend, my love--he's a killer guitarist and the whole world knows it.

Goals. Me. Me! Goals!!!

2011-03-09T18:28:00.002-06:00

So the goals are moving along, when I actually have time to DO them. I practiced for 2 hrs. last Fri. night and it was awesome. I learned Duck Dunn's bass line to "She Caught The Katy" and that is a tricky bass line, dude. It felt just like old times, practicing viola, since I had to slooooowww down the notes and do 'em over, and over, and over, and over again 'til they started to come together, gradually increasing the tempo. It was FUN when I got it down and I couldn't wait to play it for Jon! It was also kickass that the bonus side effects are me learning my neck and frets better and, though I'm not sure when this'll come in handy--but you never know--getting better at reading my bass clef.

Saturday we didn't sleep in very late b/c we got up and just got distracted, but then we went to see this Trek 3700 bike that Jon had found for me on Craigslist, and we got the guy to knock the price down to $185 from $230 and it was a great deal so we got it and hurried home, first stopping at a local Guitar Center to poke around a bit and check out the basses. We went into what I call "The Fantasy Room" b/c it's the expensive and incredible vintage room (Jon says, "I've bought guitars out of this room" and my jaw dropped!) where the most expensive item is a 1958 Fender Strat that Jon whispered to me has the serial number of only 2 numbers off of Buddy Holly's strat!!! Jon knows this b/c it used to belong to one of his millionaire friends. Dammmmmmnnnn.

So back home we saddled up and went on a looooong bike ride, first biking to Jon's local bike shop so I could buy a water bottle, bottle frame, and nice gloves. Then we biked about 12 miles, from Jon's neighborhood to downtown to Allen Parkway and then back. My ass bones were hurting, my right hand was hurting, my left knee was hurting, and the right side of my neck was hurting and I need LOTS of practice starting and stopping, but dang, it was really great to get out there and this is waaaaaay fun exercise that Jon and I can do together!

I'd planned on spending the early part of the day w/Jon and then spending the afternoon/evening practicing, but that did not happen as our bike adventures took up most of the day. But I also NEED my exercise, man! So as dusk fell we went to Jon's friend's house (he's also Jon's neighbor) and we rode bikes back to Jon's house, had a beer, and decided to go find some excellent pannycakes for dinner. I'd actually been craving pannycakes for 2 days, so I was excited about our dinner choice. We drove to The Dot near UH and I had the huge banana nut pannycakes. Yum!!!

That night I slept HARD. Tired from only having gotten 6 hrs of sleep the night before and also from the long bike ride. So hard that unfortunately Jon started choking in the middle of the night and had to go throw up (too much greasy food at The Dot) and I didn't even wake up! He was alarmed at that, but as everyone knows, I am one hard sleeper which works out well since Jon is such a serious snorer, but that's why we work so well together in our slumber! Sunday I slept laaaaate, probably getting about 11 hrs of sleep, and ran home to change and get ready for the day and also to go see Jon play with our harmonica frenemy at their groovy grocery store patio gig. They played 12-4 and I got there about 2:30. It was a nice sunny day if a bit cool and I was craving a glass of wine but couldn't since I had a sheriff file personnel interview to do that evening at 5pm.

It was a little tough, watching Jon and my friends play that groovy gig. The bassist also brought his custom 5-string fretless bass just so I could play it during a break and see how I liked it. I had to tell the drummer why I was no longer playing w/Leo. In short, I was like, "Damn, I got no gig anymore" and there are my boyfriend and friends gigging. Sigh. Oh well. I gotta just get my ass to the woodshed and be grateful I've time for that now.

Three Goals

2011-03-04T18:04:00.004-06:00

Well that damn Leo didn't show up to meet me on Weds. night after all. I texted him telling him I was at the Big Easy and he texted back he just got done auditioning a bassist and was sitting down to dinner and wouldn't be out after all. So... I'm done. I wish Leo the best. But I'm done with him. I even sent him a possible gig today that someone needing an opener band asked me about.

It's funny... I feel lost and a little sad. When I kicked my ex-husb out of the house I felt like that was it for me, that I was damaged goods now and I didn't know where or how to meet guys anymore and I was destined to be single the rest of my life, probably. Then after a couple of months, I had more dudes to play with than I needed! 2 boyfriends at the same time! Mr. Wonderful Stefano! Then another 2 dudes at the same time and now a great romance with Jon! So... though it's hard to imagine now I'm sure it'll be similar with this bass playing thing. Jon keeps saying that I'm a great bassist and that great bassists are in high demand, which is true. But I still am unsure on what I'm going to do next, musically-speaking, or how I'm gonna do it. Just like when I was newly single.

So I have 3 goals that will keep me busy in the meantime and they are really good goals and are stuff I needed to do regardless!

Work on my bass playing. I need to get intimately familiar with the neck, knowing every fret and every note. I need to work on the blues bass canon, including Willie Dixon (esp. for the upcoming trip to Ohio) which I will work on this weekend plus Duck Dunn (got his book on transcriptions w/accompanying CD's--fun!), and Jon suggested John Entwistle and while that's The Who, it can only help me to expand my repertoire and a killer bass player is a killer bass player.
Work on my singing, particularly the art of playing bass and singing at the same time. Significantly harder than playing guitar and singing!
Work on my songwriting. I watch Jon write songs and of course, I've written a few in my day and I need to get back into it. Originals are priceless and eventually, that's how you make REAL $ in music.

Mastering these goals will turn me into a BEAST for my next musical project, whatever and whenever that will be.

Jon is playing tonight w/our harmonica frenemy so I'm gwine be at home shedding. Duck Dunn tonight. My librarian blues friend Er wants me to come out later and I told her I could do so around midnight after I'm done practicing; I've gotta head north to go to Jon's house anyway so it's sorta on the way, heh.

Tomorrow Jon and I are going to go look at a bike for me. I think I may be switching from running to bicycling, as that's something I can do w/Jon. He just bought yet another bike for himself and last night we went on a little ride around his neighborhood. I've also decided to go try out some fretless 5-string basses and perhaps that could turn into something I'm known for. Anyway, I guess I'm excited about this chapter closing and me being forced to embark on a new adventure... again, whatever and whenever that may be.

Beauty Sleep

2011-03-01T18:11:00.004-06:00

I got about 9 hrs of beauty sleep last night, and needed it! As I always say, I need lots and lots of beauty sleep. It's finally starting to get warm and pretty outside and honestly, Sunday was just about perfect: 81 degrees which was warm enough for me to wear a pretty little sundress. We met Jon's family (sisters, mom, and cousins) at a local Mexican restaurant before the baby shower and sat on the patio which was glorious. Then Jon and I walked nearby to get gift cards for the shower and like I said, it was perfect.

The retirement party on Friday went fine, and hopefully Jon and Rich tolerated my bass playing. We opened with Jon singing a song, then Rich sang one, then me! (My Taj that I'm doing.) We played 2 sets and tons of their family and friends were there, including Jon's cool ex-GF and her parents, whom we love. In fact, they're such a big part of Jon's and his family's life (and mine too now) that I need to begin referring to the ex-GF here in the blog as Glo2 and the mom as Glo1 (they both are named Gloria). After the gig Jon felt like a beer!--he rarely drinks!--and he and I went to a new liquor store to look for this Mexican beer he likes and I found the elusive local St. Arnold's Christmas Ale that is soooo fuckin' yummy but it's only here during the holidays. Because the liquor store was new they still had some in stock! Yum! I bought 2 six packs! Then we went to Jon's mom's house, sat on the patio with his National Resonator, and drank beer. Later Jon's dad came over too and joined us and his mom out there, along with the cat, Kiko. Wonderful night.

Saturday we hung around the house, taking it easy, and then Jon, his mom and I went to Glo2's house where her parents were visiting and also another cool girlfriend they have that just had a baby. I had dinner w/all of them the fateful night Jon told me he wanted to be with me, so I'd met them all before. We had a nice little visit w/wine and margaritas and I even played chess with Glo2's little boy. Fun! Unfortunately, we spent more time than planned there b/c we then dropped off Jon's mom, went to see my mom for a bit, and then went to eat at Whataburger, thinking we still had time to go to the rodeo barbeque cookoff (where I've never been before and where Jon's sisters went, along w/his cousins and tons of other people we knew) but then we found out it shut down at 11pm and it was already 9:30 and we hadn't even changed clothes yet! So after much disappointment on my side since I've never been to the cookoff before (Jon's been many times) and Jon's multiple apologies to me, we decided to go see a late showing of The Fighter so I could get one more Oscar-nominated film under my belt before Sunday's Oscars. Good flick!

I ran into Leo at the baby shower on Sunday. He'd already gone to load-in at the House of Blues and was spending the break at the Big Easy. I was tipsy when he came back as I hadn't eaten anything yet (Jon and I had breakfast tacos earlier and I still wasn't hungry) so we kinda tried to discuss business but that wasn't going so well, especially when I needed a bathroom break and then Jon's millionaire friends showed up and I went to hang out with them. I caught up w/them while Jon was playing and got us cupcakes and then I finally ate some of the shower food and they bought me a drink and then the harmonica frenemy asked me if I wanted to get up and I was like, "No" and they said "Come on!" so I acquiesced. Leo got up too but he had to go move his car so I ended up playing a song w/Jon, and then Leo, but then I had to go pee again so I called the other bassist back up. Then I split for home and my couch and the Oscars!

I'm meeting w/Leo tonite at the jam so we can discuss business. I'm not sure what our future together is. We'll see if our musical goals line up. We'll hash some stuff out. We'll see what we will see.

Wood Shedding

2011-02-24T18:53:00.003-06:00

I been in the wood shed most of this week, in the evenings at least. Jon said to learn his CD and that's a tall order (check out the awesome insane buzz and reviews they've been getting! Heard of Downbeat Magazine, have you?) so I been getting on it. I play w/Jon and Rich tomorrow at Jon's mom's retirement party so it'll be a good test run for me. Jon and Rich are hard to please, very. Shit, they've only played w/numerous blues legends such as Pinetop Perkins, Hubert Sumlin, et al et al!!!

Last night's jam was way, way fun. These killer Memphis musicians were in town and I got the itch to get up to play w/them and we had so much fun. They were hella nice guys to boot. Video on my Facebook wall and on YouTube.

Jon's out playing tonite w/our harmonica frenemy; actually we're going to his wife's baby shower on Sunday at the Big Easy. Most of the Houston blues community will be there and there will be a jam, which is why we're going. Then I've got the Oscars that night! Too excited, as I always am! Hey, it's my thing. So tonite I'll be shedding some more and doing stuff around my house. Jon and I'll spend the weekend in Baytown w/his mom and see my mom on Sat. as well.

Nutty Times!

2011-02-21T16:57:00.002-06:00

Oh helllll... Buncha stuff happened in the last few days! I got Botoxed in between my eyes and subsequently had a 3-day headache. Thursday night I got kicked out of my band b/c I refused to do this ripoff pay-to-play gig at the House of Blues next Sunday. Yesterday I didn't eat very much and then drank 1 and 1/2 tall Crown and Diet Cokes at the Big Easy benefit and played w/Jon and Rich and later Leo (no hard feelings) and ate this amber candy with a worm and a cricket inside and basically got kinda drunk and fell while dancing with the drunk club owner and Jon had to drag my ass home and acted so disappointed in me that I got bummed out and drove home and passed out on my couch, thereby creating the 1st night that we've slept apart since we've officially been together (excepting the times he's been out of town). Yayyyyy, Adela!

Today is a holiday, thank goodness, though here I sit at Job #2 for the $. Jon's at work at the guitar store today anyway. My phone died and the charger's at his house, but fortunately I have Job #1's iPhone. Jon and I spoke this a.m. and he said he's not mad at me, never was mad at me, just frustrated and he wants me to realize that I'm better than my behavior yesterday. I really don't know how yesterday spiraled so badly out of control so fast, but I should've eaten more and I really don't need to be drinking "talls" when there's a possibility I might be playing, too. The place was packed and it definitely was not my finest hour.

I took advantage of my time off today and practiced Jon and Rich's CD. Jon said I need to learn the songs. The 3 of us are playing a surprise retirement party for Jon's mom this Friday afternoon. And Jon is supposed to go back to Ohio for some music business in April and it turns out I might be able to go with him and play with him. His friend who is booking the stuff asked Jon if I'd like to come and play bass and I was like, HELL YES!!!!!!

So I don't know what's going to happen with me and Leo. We were both drinking and being all loving towards each other yesterday, but I have no idea if we have a future or not. I just cannot in good conscience do this shitty House of Blues deal; we would be a promoter's whore and I won't have that!!! I spoke to Rozz and Jon about it and I begged Leo to listen to reason but he is stubborn and seems to forget that I've been 100% right about not doing other shitty gigs. He's blinded by the carrot of playing on the big stage there but it's a crock of shit battle of the bands-esque cheesy gig that will debase us and I begged him not to take it b/c we are so much better than that! When he refused to listen any longer I said that I simply couldn't do it. And he said fine, I've made my decision which means, I've made the decision to no longer be in the band. Oh Lord.

I have to say, I felt a little relieved. Leo and I had played on Weds. night together at the jam and we discussed how we can get rid of George and get a better drummer. We played w/a drummer friend of mine on Weds. and it was awesome. I simply could not play w/George any longer. Leo and I have grown so much as musicians over the past year and George has not. If you play w/shitty musicians it's a danger to yourself! And I need to continue to grow--this is the year I wanted to become a bassist force to be reckoned with. But when Leo fired me/I resigned, I started to clear my calendar off and I was thinking, "Now I have time to read again! Now I have time to work on my bass playing! No more weekly rehearsals!" Sure... I feel a little sad. Leo was the one that got me back into music after taking 5 years off. But Jon says there's plenty more bands out there and that he sees greater things for me.

Yesterday Diunna, who'd also come to play the benefit w/Jon, called me out to her car before she left. She sent Leo to come get me. Jon followed me but she shooed him and Leo away! I was drunk so I don't remember everything she said but she said that she wanted me to know that she called me up to play bass w/her and Jon last week "not just because you're Jon's girlfriend." I thanked her and told her what an incredible performer she is and how much I enjoy watching her. Then she asked me what I was eating, which was that amber insect candy and I had to explain it to her! Ha ha! (Rich's cousin is an exchange student from Italy and she's been visiting them which is why Rich gave me and Jon the tickets to the Fat and Fluffy comedy show on Friday night. Anyway, Rich took her to the science museum where she'd bought that candy, and Jon had said his girlfriend--me!--would be brave enough to eat it which was true.)

Anyway. Saturday was nice. We went to see Black Swan and we both enjoyed it. Everyone knows it's my hobby to see as many of the Oscar-nominees as I can before the awards are televised. After the movie we went to a guitar store and I bought a used Virgen de Guadalupe strap--cool!!! Then we went to have Chinese buffet, to Pasadena to visit my mom, then to Baytown to see Jon's mom and dad where we stayed 'til midnight, visiting and playing Wii. Fun little day.

Sweet V-Day and Weekend Recap

2011-02-15T14:59:00.006-06:00

Jon and I decided to stay in last night and get a Chicago deep dish from Star Pizza, watch a movie (Social Network), relax, and enjoy each other. I also brought chocolate-covered strawberries. He got me cupcakes, cookies, and a sweet card that he handwrote a message in. I got him an Amy Winehouse bio (he LOVES her), a DVD of the movie Sweet and Lowdown, and a French Maid costume for me to wear around the house. Chuckle!

This past weekend was pretty groovy. I'll probably hafta bullet-point it though b/c it was just crazy at one point.

Friday evening birthday dinner in Pasadena for my dear Aunt P. We took li'l bro with us since he'd planned on staying in Pasadena the weekend anyway, keeping an eye on our mother. My uncle planned this surprise dinner and several of her and my dad's cousins were there and we grubbed seriously. I ate this $19 Pina Colada shrimp that was delish and had 2 margaritas. The sopaipillas were the size of a pancake. Yum! Continued onto Baytown where we were so full/tired we ended up passing out on Jon's mom's couch before she sent us off to bed.
Saturday we slept late, getting about 10 hrs of much needed sleep for both of us. Leisurely breakfast, then we went to the backyard where Jon spread out a blanket on the grass and we lay out there like lizards for at least an hour. It was sunny and not too cold--bliss. For REAL. Makes me long for a backyard, which I haven't had since I was a teenager.
Saturday afternoon: finally around 3pm we got showered/dressed so we could get to the Mean Gene benefit at a Baytown biker icehouse. Jon's mom decided to come with us, and Jon and Diunna were supposed to play from 5-5:30. We got there at 5 and the schedule was totally FUBAR. It was packed, crazy sardine packed. We saw a couple people we knew and several musician friends. I hate bikers, especially that Bandido trash (they are the sworn enemies of Harris County Sheriff Deputies!!!)! My Uncle J showed up, which was so sweet, then again he's a biker and loved Mean Gene so it was totally his crowd. I killed time by watching the bands and enjoying the bake sale, including buying an entire rum cake. Jon and Diunna ended up not going on 'til about 7:30--and I was just standing by, minding my own business when all of a sudden Jon told me to borrow someone's bass so I could get up with them. Seriously!?!?! OMG!!!! I've never played w/Diunna before and I never thought I would--but I found myself nervously and frantically borrowing my friend Thurman's bass (he has the exact same bass I do, thankfully) and getting up there and doing my best to keep up w/Diunna and Jon, who, come on, are a KILLER act. Oh Lord. As always, they tore it up, down, and sideways and had the joint jumping and I just tried to stand there and appear competent. I was nervous but I enjoyed it immensely anyway!
Jon, his mom and I got the hell out of there asap and went to eat dinner at a local steak house. We were tired and cold and stank of cigarette smoke! Then it was time for Jon and me to get back to Houston and run by his house and get my bass/amp for my gig that night. We'd planned to go see his friends play at a jazz club before my gig but the benefit ran over so long we didn't have time, bummer.
We got to my gig, where we were slated to play around midnight, closing the night out after a well-known Austin guitarist. I knew it was gonna be a shitty gig and for not much $ and after he played the audience began to filter out--LAME!!! None of us Leo Trio were on our game but it didn't even matter. It was a true gig from hell and even had the requisite drunk asshole repeatedly yelling "Play some Allman Brothers!" but whatever. I cut the set as short as possible and Jon, who'd been falling asleep at his table, and I were glad to get home and to bed.
Sunday we amazingly only slept about 6 hours b/c Jon was hungry so we went and grabbed tacos at his fave neighborhood taco joint, then we decided to go on a bike ride. It was so sunny and pretty out, and he keeps his female neighbor's bike in his garage (along with his 4 bikes!) so off we went, and his friend Nate, who lives down the street, joined us too. I haven't ridden a bike in 14 yrs so my ass was sore within about 10 min., but it was still fun though I was totally wobbly at first but you know what? It's just like riding a bicycle! We did the local bike trail which was about 6 miles and ended at the neighborhood coffee shop where we ran into my cameraman friend B.B.
Jon and I rode home, hopped in his car, and went to dinner at his fave local Mexican restaurant where his ex-GF's parents were eating. I ran into my music-loving dancing friend Bonnie there! Good times, good eats. Ended the night back at Jon's watching the Grammy's, which SUCKED.

My right eye has been twitching since the weekend. I'm either 1. Not getting enough rest, or 2. Uptight/nervous about something, or 3. Both. My sleep schedule could definitely be more consistent, but I have been going in later and later to work, like a lazy bum. It's true I'm concerned about my Ma, as she had to get a Cat scan today--li'l bro thinks she might be having mini-strokes. She is acting a little insane and isn't taking her meds right and is totally freaking us all out and not acting like herself at all. She won't go back to the grief support group that I found for her b/c it was too sad. She's been to 2 psychologist appointments. We just don't know what's going on and we don't know how to deal with it.

Here's what's going on for me this week: rehearsal on Weds., getting Botox on Thurs. afternoon (ONLY on the "11"'s between the eyebrows); and Friday night Jon was given tickets to see "Fat and Fluffy", the comedian Gabriel Iglesias so that's gonna be huge fun! Saturday is a rare free day completely off for both of us. I wouldn't mind sleeping in and going on another bike ride.

My Baby Daddy is Home, Cont.

2011-02-09T18:14:00.004-06:00

So after we played I hung around w/Phillipo and we walked around and my li'l bro went off w/his friends and it was nice to have some down time before I'd have to run off to Baytown. People were tickled that I sang a song and that was encouraging to hear. Unfortunately Stefano had the nerve to come up and try to talk to me and rudely interrupting me while Phillipo and I were talking to a local radio DJ's wife about David Bromberg and Stefano totally harshed my mellow by tapping me on the shoulder and saying how well I'd played and I barely looked at him, muttered, "Thanks" and turned back around abruptly. But Stefano wasn't finished and he tapped me again and said "There's someone I'd like you to meet..." and his new woman began to step from around him and I didn't look at her at all and just said "Hi" and turned back around again, quite rudely I might add. I heard Stefano say, "Okaaaay..." but I didn't care, and went back to my conversation. The nerve!!!

But then after that I felt kind of bad. I asked Phillipo was that horrible and he reminded me of how petty and nasty Stefano has been acting. I also told Leo about it, also my brother but they didn't have much to offer in the way of opinions on my behavior, though my bro said Stefano and his woman are acting stupid and pathetic by coming to see my band play. Anyway, we went to see this band called "Come See My Dead Person" play and they were pretty cool (loud rock w/a fiddler and banjo) but then I had to run off to Baytown for Jon's mom's bday party. Li'l bro stayed behind w/his friends.

I got there about 5pm and the party was in full swing with lots of their relatives and they were all happy to see me and the chocolate covered strawberries. I visited with pretty much everyone, and Jon's ex-GF's mom and dad were there (they are considered family by Jon's family) and they were all tickled to see the copy of Texas Music magazine I'd brought Jon's mom as a present. I hung out for a couple hours and then attempted to go to Pasadena to see my mom but I left late and got turned around on the wrong freeway and realized I'd better just head to pick up li'l bro for the documentary film/concert if we weren't going to be late. So I headed to Houston, picked him up, we dropped off my amp/cab at Jon's house, and then got to the event just in time.

The documentary was ok. It kinda felt like a TV doc to me though. It was also short, barely lasting over an hour. The director took Q&A and there was also pie to eat; additionally my friend, the President of the Blues Society was there and he gave my bro a beer (I'd already had 3 drinks that day, exceeding my 2-drink max by 1, so I declined). Then the concert took place and it was a very nice, sedate, sweet musical time. Finally it was time for the last event of the day: seeing my friends' band play at a local barbeque restaurant. Er met us there and had a table for us, as she'd been there all night already. The HBS Prez ended up coming later as well, and there were several other folks I knew there. The music was good--but LOUD. Too damn loud! Anyway, my bro had a beer, I had a diet coke, and around midnight it was time to get on home and get some damn sleep!

Sunday I finally got to sleep late and get some stuff done around the house. I was hoping to go catch Black SwaI but decided to make sure I was ready to meet Jon when he rolled into town. Poor baby was exhausted, and I can imagine. I did the drive straight from Fayetteville, AR t0 Houston once (11 hours) and although I'd had about 4 hrs sleep I was kinda hungover but that was when I wore the clothes of a much younger woman! Anyway, we only got to visit for about an hour before I had to go get li'l bro for a visit to our mom's and Jon had to get to his mom's.

My Baby Daddy is Home

2011-02-07T18:03:00.002-06:00

Jon and Rich left Memphis on Sunday morning around 6am, getting home yesterday around 4-ish. Unfortunately we only got to spend about an hour together b/c I had to go get li'l bro and head down to Pasadena to see our Ma, who's not doing well, health-wise. Jon had to get to Baytown to see his mom and sis. But we'll be together tonight, which'll be nice and sweet.

This past weekend was a hoot and a half, Baby Daddy being gone, besides. That Black Ice Friday was awesommmme, as I lounged around my house all damn day long in my thermals and fuzzy socks, hand firmly on the remote and ass firmly planted on the couch. However that evening my new girlfriend who is also a librarian and blues lover, Er (pronounced "air") texted me that she was gwine to Big Easy to see one of my fave harmonica players and that if I came out, she'd buy me a round. Damn my lack of discipline in the face of blues music and clubbin' and drinkin'!!! I put a hat on, got my face on, dressed warmly and headed out. We had a really good time and it was laid back and relaxed, and our drummer friend (the one that played the gig w/me and Jon last month) and our legendary guitarist friend (he was also in the Anderson Fair documentary that my pater familias is in) also showed up and he got up to play a couple songs w/the band and they dedicated Curtis Mayfield's "It's All Right" to me. Awww! And I was still home around midnight w/plenty of time to dye my hair and do my nails.

Saturday was nutso, as I knew it would be! First I had to go pick up 20 chocolate covered strawberries. Then I had to get to the luncheon by 11 and b/c we were on black folk time (which is pretty much the same as Asian time and Hispanic time) we didn't get going 'til 11:30. Lunch wasn't served 'til 12:30 and that's when I'd planned on leaving, so I stayed and ate my meal but had to skip dessert, blimey! Raced to Jon's house to get my amp; raced to li'l bro's house to get him; was supposed to be at the gig at 1:30ish but didn't get there til almost 2. Whoops! My bro said he was hoping Leo would take a swing at me but whatever. We had a decent set, just a few flubs due to not having played together in awhile, and we did my Taj song which apparently everyone loved! Phillipo came out, also Er and our drummer friend, also Stefano and his lady friend which was mildly annoying but again, whatever.

Whoa, time to get to Jon's house, will continue later...

Black Ice Day

2011-02-04T11:38:00.005-06:00

Houston has shut down. We are covered with ice and the roads are nasty and slick and we have no idea how to drive in it. Job #1 shut down last night at 5 and both Jobs are closed today so I am sitting on my couch and I'm gonna stay there all day today! It's a great feeling, too. It's a treat to be trapped here at my house, for real. I've got lots of projects to keep me busy, from purging and organizing to practicing and catching up on my movie/DVR watching. Niiiiiiiice.

Tomorrow gwine be a heck of a day so I'll definitely need to rest up today/tonight. I gotta get up early to find some kind of outfit that'll work for the entire day's numerous events. Then I gotta go pick up an order of chocolate-covered strawberries. The rest of the day will go thusly:

11am: luncheon for Go Red Women day. This is at a nice event hall that I've been to many times before and it'll be a very nice event. I'm going b/c I was invited to serve on this organization's board and also I appreciate a good, free catered lunch!
Leave luncheon early, go to Jon's house and pick up my amp/cabinet that have been there for weeks. Immediately go pick up li'l bro. Get to my gig at the Continental Club.
1:45pm: We play our gig, one set.
4pm-ish (hopefully): Me and li'l bro head to Baytown for Jon's mom's bday party. We're taking chocolate-covered strawberries. I also got her a copy of the Winter 2011 Texas Music mag b/c Jon's picture is on p. 21! (Got my mom a copy too.)
8pm: Li'l bro and I arrive back in Houston for the Gurf Morlix concert/Blaze Foley documentary event at Heights Live. I already picked up our tix and we are so excited!

Jon is staying busy in Memphis, although he got the night off from running the jam last night and he called me from his hotel room, glad to just stay there and rest and get some sleep, finally. He's trying to talk Rich into coming back home Sat. night after everything is over, but Rich wants to leave Sunday. Blah! For me Sunday is also going to be a busy day, as I've got to complete my home projects I've started, go see Black Swan at a matinee, and go for a run as I haven't been running since mid-December! And get ready to greet Jon when he comes home that night.

Waaahhhh! Last Night w/Jon Tonite

2011-02-01T18:00:00.005-06:00

At least for the next few days. He gwine to Memphis early in the morning for the IBC's. He's a total big shot there, having won the whole thing of course back in 2005 in addition to having won the Albert King guitarist award. (He won a flying V which hangs on the wall in his 2nd bedroom!) His duties at the IBC's now are to run the all-star pro jams each night from Weds-Thurs. and this year, promote his and Rich's new CD. Rich is the one driving the 2 of them up there; they'll stop off in Clarksdale on the way to leave some CD's and meet w/some folks before landing in Memphis tomorrow afternoon.

I love Clarksdale and Memphis and kinda wish I were gwine too, but since the Leo Trio came in 2nd for the chance to represent Houston I really didn't want to be there as a "loser" and anyway, it's gwine be HELLA COLD and ICY in Memphis and on top of that we've got our gig this Saturday afternoon at the annual Rory Miggins Irish Stewfest Cookoff at the Continental, which we did last year and which is soooo much fun!!! It's also Jon's mom's bday party that night which I'd like to try and attend if I can. Last year at the Stewfest I got so fucking drunk and drove home drunk like a maniac where I passed out on my couch, then went out w/Stefano that night. This year of course I'm on a 2-drink maximum and so won't have the drunken issue, so it's just gwine be a matter of if Jon's mom's party is still going on by the time I'm ready to leave the Stewfest and head to Baytown.

We had a lovely weekend, absolutely lovely! The only downside was my gig on Friday night at a pizza restaurant/live music place. Well, 1st Jon and I went to see the Sly Stone documentary which was highly entertaining! Then we ran over to the gig and lo and behold, Jon's millionaire friends were there which was so sweet of them! Also Phillipo was there and later on Jon's other friends showed up, the married couple we went to have dinner with a few weeks ago. So the downside was this HBS (Hou. Blues Soc.) older woman who all of a sudden De-Friended me on Facebook showed up and I don't particularly care to see her anymore but whatever, and then this other chick who used to be my dancing friend but who all of a sudden De-Friended me too for no discernable reason (except she is a friend of Stefano's) showed up and then, amazingly, Stefano and his new lady friend showed up! Weird!!! And Stefano was clearly there to, what, torture himself or make a pathetic attempt to, what, get my goat? b/c I didn't even see him and his GF until our next to last song and I looked over in the audience at Jon and his friends and I thought I saw Steve's GF--who I haven't met yet but who I have seen on FB as she is totally ingratiating herself w/all the blues society people in a desperate attempt to suck up and make friends--and while I was looking at her Stefano LEANED AROUND THE PERSON IN FRONT OF HIM AND VERY OBVIOUSLY TRIED TO CATCH MY EYE.

Now, aside from his actions being very petty and childish and pathetic, frankly his new GF is also some kind of sad pathetic creature if she is going to put up with him bringing her to see my band play (and damn, did I look HOT that night--off the shoulder shirt/leggings/thigh-high boots/smoky eyes) on a Friday night. Because... why??? What is the point? To mess with me? Sorry kids, you gotta do better than that and be more significant people for me to be bothered by you. It's a mosquito in the ear man, and I just swat it away. But the really cool thing was that naturally the band we were opening for asked Jon if he would get up and play--b/c Jon IS the Houston guitar god--and Jon wasn't going to but then b/c of Stefano and his lady friend and their childish shenanigans, he decided to get up with the stipulation that I play bass with him. So when our set was done Jon got up and the next band got up with me on bass and Jon and I kissed onstage and then Jon did "Tramp" and then "Reconsider Baby" as a dig to Stefano and his friend. During "Reconsider Baby" Stefano and she got up and left. Bye bye!

Anyway, I gotta get home to Jon now so I'll finish the weekend wrapup tomorrow but the weekend only got better and better! Living well: it's the best revenge. I wish people would realize that and focus on living their lives as well as possible.

Tiiiiired Thursday

2011-01-27T18:37:00.003-06:00

Sleep may be for amateurs, as I quoted below, but dammit I'm totally feeling like participating in a little amateur hour myself. I am tiiiired. Jon and I have been staying up way too late this whole week, just hanging on the couch and watching tv and then getting into bed and veg'ing there and then of course last night was the blues jam and we were up late for that and blah blah blahhhh... I also had rehearsal last night and that went well. We even have 2 new songs, Roxy Music's "Slave to Love" done slow blues style and then I showed the boys how to play "But I Rode Some" by Taj and sung by me. They picked it right up and Leo really liked it... awesome.

Tonight Jon is playing w/our harmonica playing frenemy and the big monthly blues society jam is tonight (the one we hosted back in November) but I don't really wanna go. I do b/c it's gonna be huge and it's the HBS president's bday and there will be cake. On the other hand there's been cake all week at Job #2, so much so that I've had to take lots of it home and then at a work meeting yesterday at Job #1 there was cake for someone's bday there and frankly, I'm a little caked-out believe it or don't. Plus Leo will be going so he can be my representative as far as I'm concerned. Plus I really gotta finish this latest sheriff file and I just want to go home, grab a snack, work on my file, shower/change and get to Jon's house and get into bed and wait for him to come home.

Long ass day tomorrow: Job #1 followed immediately by a groovy documentary about Sly Stone's crazy ass that's supposed to be showing at a local music club/restaurant and that Jon and I want to see bad. But we'll have to skip out before it's over as The Leo Trio has the opening gig at another music club/restaurant from 9-10p. Then Jon and I may want to go to Anderson Fair to see this guitarist/singer/songwriter guy; Jon's mandolin musician partner will be there and I never need convincing to go to the Fair!

CD Release Party!

2011-01-25T15:40:00.005-06:00

Ok, so I managed to finally get well enough where I wasn't hacking and coughing and mucus-ing and was able to mostly enjoy my weekend except for some of Sunday, but more on that in a minute. Jon and I stayed at my house all weekend long and he chose my outfit for his CD Release party: one of my new sexy sweaters from Victoria's Secretions, black leggings, and my thigh-high leather/suede boots. We had to get to the Big Easy waaaaay early, like 8:15pm so he could set up and when we got there the parking lot was already packed. He had wondered if the BE would be a big enough venue and now we weren't so sure!

Ma and Fred were already there and so was Jon's ex-GF and her parents. They were all sitting at the same table so that was a nice coincidence! Unfortunately my li'l bro couldn't make it after all as he was feeling sickly, and my dad never showed up but that's not a total surprise. Everyone kept asking me if I was going to get up and play and I said that I hadn't planned on it, that it would be up to the bass player if he wanted to take a break or not. Anyway, it was good times, although that damn Leo never showed up either, nor Phillipo but who cares b/c eventually the venue was as packed as I'd ever seen it--literally elbow to elbow. Jon's parents got to meet my mom finally and they joined them at their table. It got to be so packed that I realized that the most room would be on the dance floor so that's where me and Jon's ex-GF and her mom and Jon's cousin and his mom ended up spending most of our time. In fact, that's where I spent ALL my time!

It really was a fun night and a veritable who's who of the Houston blues community. My mom joined the Houston Blues Society so she could get the t-shirt and she ended up winning one of Jon's CD's in the raffle! (She'd already bought 4; I got her a discount on them.) Later on my Aunt P and Uncle J showed up, plus a filmmaker friend of mine and my dad's that I hadn't seen in forever! However this really sweet guy who I met at one of Jon's gigs showed up and he knew I liked white wine (he had bought me some at the gig I met him at) and he took it upon himself to bring me 2 glasses of wine throughout the duration of the night. I drank them on top of my 2 drinks for my 2-drink maximum, which was this delicious Deep Eddy's Sweet Tea Flavoured Vodka! So not only did I irresponsibly double my drink maximum, I mixed drinks on top of that. On top of THAT Jon and I barely had time to eat any dinner before the show and I had run out to grab us a couple of sandwiches but I only had time to eat 1/2 of mine, so my stomach was definitely not full and then I danced most of it off anyway.

Finally, it was all over and Jon and Rich had a truly successful event. I lost an earring and my dogs were barking from dancing in my 3-inch heels. When we got home I ate the rest of my sandwich but I was pretty drunk. I demonstrated the 3 Standard Field Sobriety Tests to Jon and I failed all 3 of them, yuk yuk! The next morning Jon wanted to get up and go eat around 10am. I had a splitting headache and couldn't move. Around noon he tried to rouse me again. I begged him to get me a pain pill. He said "You are a pain pill!" which was hilarious. Finally around 2pm I managed to drag myself out of bed b/c he suggested Chinese buffet which I actually did not think was a bad idea. Grease always does my hangovers good, and lo mein, mmmmm!

I couldn't believe mixing 4 drinks was hurting me so bad; then again I've been on the 2-drink maximum since Thanksgiving so I supposed my tolerance has meandered down. The buffet was good but I had a rough time at first and had to scope out a clear path to the bathroom just in case; fortunately it all stayed down. Then we went to get cinnamon buns at IKEA, then we went to the grocery store to get banana pudding and other snacks for the football game that evening. Back at home we totally chilled out; Jon watched the game and I sat next to him on the couch and worked on my latest sheriff file and vegged. It was a great ending to a fun weekend.

In other news, I got some mindblowing news from Mudflap yesterday: He's going to be a daddy!!! He broke up w/Isa last fall and reconnected w/his 1st girlfriend from junior high. They started dating in October and now she's 6 weeks pregnant! Also, the friend of Jon's whose Christmas party we went to is also pregnant. With my girlfriends L and JFu also knocked up, it kinda makes me want to be as well. But I won't just yet! Jon and I still have some fun we need to have. However, I did take my OB/GYN's advice and have started taking a multivitamin w/lots o' Folic Acid.

Finally, I did my taxes yesterday. I done good this year, which almost but not quite makes up for the painful hurt of that $3000+ tax bill of last year. Now I'll be getting over $1K back, which I'm not totally happy about (I don't believe in tax refunds) but which will come in handy fo' sho'! Now I just need to adjust my withholding at Job #2 so I don't get such a big refund next year, or break even if at all possible.

Still Recuperating

2011-01-20T18:58:00.004-06:00

At least less drugs are needed as the days progress. Less Benadryl and less Hydrocodone. Still running with mucus like a mad dog though. The cough at night is totally annoying. Jon is a world-class snorer though and can sleep though anything. Fortunately, so can I!

I wanted to go out last night to the jam and see him but I looked like hell--nose totally chapped from the cold and constant Kleenex rubbing--and realized it would behoove me to make sure I get well for the long day on Saturday. I had to go do a Sheriff app interview anyway and didn't get home til after 9pm. I did some pampering at home: hot shower, facial, etc. for my poor skin. Jon came over of course when he was done around 2am and we were up til about 4am. Then I was at work by 9-ish this morning! Sleep is for amateurs.

TGIF tomorrow. Tomorrow night Jon and I are just gonna take it easy. I need to do some serious sleeping in on Sat. Today Jon said he is absolutely sick of the phone and people bugging him and so we want to get away as soon as we both have a 100% free weekend; that won't be until the President's day holiday in Feb. though. One of his awesome millionaire friends has a cabin in Wimberley TX that he has offered to us anytime we want to use it (he told me "We need someone to go check on it!"), so that's what we're tentatively planning to do that weekend! Man, oh man... I would SO LOVE THAT. Just me and Jon and some library books and TV and turning off the damn cell phones and just... VEG'ING.

Sick, Sick, Sick, Sick... Sick!

2011-01-18T14:03:00.006-06:00

Oh lord. What a past week. I was sick as the proverbial pooch. I hadn't been that sick in years. Turns out it was some kinda bad cold/sore throat virus thing. Damn, I was down for the count for days. It started, I guess, last Sunday night when I developed a minor dry cough. Went to work on Monday just fine. Then that night at Jon's he made picadillo for dinner and I had some--no problem--but soon my throat started to hurt. We went to bed and on Tuesday morning when I woke up my throat was SORE. BAD sore. AWFUL sore. I had to have him call into work for me so that I wouldn't have to open my mouth or move my vocal cords in any way. I spent Tuesday in Jon's bed, all day, dude.

Wednesday was no better. Still a nasty sore throat. My mom made me make a doctor's appointment so I made one for that morning and they did a throat strep culture and sent me home with a prescrip for a nasal spray for the nasal congestion and a heavy strength Ibuprofin for the throat pain. (They'd also done a urine pregnancy test which came up negative.) I went to my house to spent the day on the couch and Jon came over that night.

Thursday the sore throat was better but now I was doing some very serious running with mucus and now my voice was almost gone. Jon said I sounded like Peter Brady going through puberty. Still, I went to my OB/GYN appt. and Jon came with me. She hooked me up to the ultrasound machine and we all got to see inside my uterus only to see... nothing. There's no one in there! She instructed us on the best days to try getting pregnant when we are ready and sent me home with a prescrip for Provera so my Process will finally start. Actually, I decided not to fill it just yet and my mom and Jon agreed. The Process will start when it's good and ready.

Thursday night I went back to stay at Jon's house. Friday I was still not ready to go back to work and still barely had a voice. I was going through Kleenex like it was Kleenex and was swallowing as much Dayquil and Nyquil as allowed by law and common sense. Same with my nasal spray. I had been drinking hot tea by the gallon all week, so much so that I got bored and switched to hot chocolate. I was taking 2 hot showers/day. Jon was so sweet and took good care of me. I was so sick I couldn't even go work at Job #2 and you know that means I'm SICK. Friday afternoon we went to Rich's house (Rich is our blues mandolinist friend) to stuff envelopes w/their new CD to ship all over and Rich bought us lunch, which was nice. His big yellow lab, "Buddy Guy" would not leave me alone but he was so cute I didn't mind. Friday night back at Jon's we went through some of the songs for the gig on Saturday but I couldn't sing much, although I was enjoying the heavy raspy throaty thing my voice was doing.

Saturday we slept real late and ran by Jon's friend's house to set up the PA and get our gear into place. His friend has a huge beautiful manse and it was a cool place to play a gig. Then we went home to get ready and get back to the gig by 7pm. My voice was doing slightly better and actually I ended up only singing 2 of my 4 songs which was fine. Our gig got kind of cut short anyway, although we had fun playing "Bust a Move" for their 10-yr old daughter. The girl even got out her violin and played "When the Saints Go Marching In" and "Iko Iko" with us, which was so cute! Everyone was so tickled and so nice and friendly. And of course the food was killer: meat empanadas, gumbo, bacon-wrapped shrimp, huge jumbo peel and eat shrimp, crab ceviche, hot wings, and King's Cakes! I drank 2 glasses of white wine, my 1st time drinking in a few days. And I got paid handsomely for my work and they had so much food leftover they sent everyone home with pans of the stuff.

Sunday we had to go to the radio station (the same one that I've been playing live on all last year, KPFT) so that Jon and Rich could do a live radio interview about their CD. They did a great job and then Jon and I went to Baytown to see his mom. She made us a nice dinner of chicken, baked potatoes, salad, bread and banana pudding. Jon's ex-GF and her family came over to say hi (his ex-GF is so cool and in fact it's her mom and dad that we sometimes spend time with, at Big Easy, dinner, etc.). They all go way back w/Jon and his entire family and the GF and her husband/kids still live in Baytown. Jon's dad came over later, plus his sister. They're all coming to the CD release party on Saturday and I'm looking forward to everyone meeting my mom, dad, brother, etc!

Yesterday was the MLK Holiday--thank God!--and Jon had to go to work at the guitar store. I went home in the early afternoon and did stuff around my house--laundry, going through the mail, etc. I also recycled/trashed tons of my ex-husb's legal papers that were still there, the custody battle stuff. I was looking through a lot of it and it seems like a lifetime ago. It used to be the most important thing in my life. Ain't it funny how time slips away.

Today I'm back at work. My voice is mostly back and I just have the remnants of an annoying dry cough (taking Hydrocone's cut in 1/2 for that) and still plenty of mucus (Benadryl for that) but there was really no more reason to stay at home in bed. Tonight I'll even go by Job #2. Jon has rehearsal for the CD release party so we're back at my house tonight and tomorrow night. Leo is coming back from London this week and wants to rehearse at some point but I'm not going to kill myself trying to do that. I am taking it EASY for now and for awhile.

Too Cold to Mambo

2011-01-10T18:30:00.004-06:00

Damn, it's unreasonably cold here this week. It's hibernation weather. Even Jon is reduced to turning his heat on, which he never uses (though mostly he turns it on b/c of me and my TBS [Thin Blood Syndrome] and b/c he loooooooves me!).

So we had a pretty damn awesome weekend. Jon's gig on Friday night w/Earl's band turned out to be Something Else, man. I was drinking this yummy sweet tea flavoured vodka called Deep Eddy's. I was relaxing, having a good ol' time, and the Big Easy had a very respectable crowd there! Jon asked me to get up the 2nd set, so I did, and that is when the man of honor, Earl, decided to get up and play a tune on the keys! The whole crowd surged forward w/all kinds of cameras to capture the magical moment--and I was part of it! I was also playing a damn 6-string bass, as that's what Earl's bassist had brought. I had to play it sitting down (which is how he was playing it too) b/c the strap was too long and incidentally, that bass was damn heavy. People later were saying the thing was bigger than me! So we played a real fun set and everyone got a kick out of it and we also played w/the mandolin player that just put out a CD w/Jon. It was so fucking awesome.

At the beginning of the 3rd set Jon sent me to the bar to get him a drink and when I was waiting there he called me back to the stage. Turns out Earl's bassist wasn't feeling well and they asked if I'd spell him for the 3rd and last set. Sure! Why not! It was so fun and I was actually starting to get the hang of the 6-string although later I compared it to the gymnast on the balance beam and how I had to really concentrate on my left fingers landing on the correct string, as well as the right hand fingers plucking the correct string! And uh, maybe I didn't land correctly 100% of the time--I probably landed correctly 95% of the time! But damn, I was having a real good time and I was pleased with myself at even having the balls to attempt that bass, much less play it for 2 whole sets!!!

When Jon and I left after the end of a long night he told me he had some $ for me--even awesomer! He shared some of the tip jar $ with me, and frankly, that was the right thing to do. The bar owner (who is a friend of ours but is also a curmudgeon) apparently protested a little (saying that Jon paying me--his girlfriend--was favoritism! As if!!!) but Jon was not to be deterred and like I said, I played 2 out of 3 fucking sets on a 6-string bass so yes, giving me a taste of the gig was the absolute, ethical, right thing to do! Then Jon and I went to the grocery store so I could get cake, since we'd missed out on Earl's b-day cake as we were onstage all night. Man--what a groovy night! (The rest of the weekend I had a sore lump/bruise on the top of my right thigh and it wasn't until Sunday that I realized that's where that bass had been resting. Told y'all it was heavy!)

Saturday we slept in and had a relaxing day and that evening we went to see the documentary Marwencol which was really amazing and beautiful. Li'l bro and his friends joined us. Then Jon and I repaired down the street to my high school classmate's new restaurant. Classmate spotted me a free margarita, though it was tiny and the food was just ok. Hmph. Sunday we slept in and I had to go to Job #1 for the short Sunday shift. While I was at work Jon was busy cleaning out his garage, getting rid of stuff. We went to dinner after I got off work w/a friend of his and then back at Jon's house I pulled out Big Red to work on some songs in preparation for our gig this upcoming Saturday. I still need lots of work though and yes, playing w/Jon is sometimes intimidating for me. After awhile I wasn't feeling very fearless anymore and just felt like a shitty player, but hopefully I was just tired b/c it was getting late.

Today I made an appt. to go see my female doctor--as in that kind of female doctor. I still don't know what's going on w/my Process not showing up but I think it's time to get a definitive answer once and for all. I have one more pregnancy test that I might take in the morning. I keep drinking hard liquor and having a good old time and I've decided that maybe I might want to cease irresponsible behavior for the time being, JUST IN CASE. However, I feel exactly the same as ever, fine and healthy. However, I see all kinds of message sites on women's health sites and pregnancy sites of all these women who didn't have a single symptom until 6 weeks pregnant, and got negative home pregnancy test results all the way up to 2 months pregnant. Anyway, it's just time I found out what's going on here. I'll see the Dr. on Thursday morning.

Merry New Year! - As I Likes to Say

2011-01-05T18:29:00.003-06:00

So the absolutely best damn thing about these past few days was that I had Friday-Monday COMPLETELY 100% OFF!!! FREE! Spending time at NONE of my 4 jobs! Job free. Sheriff stuff free. Gig free. Ohhhhh bliss. Just hanging and relaxing with my baby daddy. We ran around a little, sure. After sleeping really damn late on Sat. we went to Jon's friend's house for a nice little afternoon party/dinner thing, then we went to his mom's house in Baytown for dinner w/the family, then we ended the night swinging by my mom's house to bring her a plate and say hi.

So Jon's NYE gig was a total bust, but we knew it would be. It was so lame it's not even worth mentioning. We did get to eat some yummy meatballs and other Italian food and I did get to take a bottle of champagne home, but I also earned it by helping them stack tables and chairs at the end of the damn night! I also got up and played 3 songs, 2 w/Jon and 1 w/his bassist who switched to guitar. After it was all over, 2am found us hunting desperately for cake as there was no dessert w/the catered meal, to my outrage! I had to settle for plastic-wrapped coffee cake found at the convenience store, bleh! But we bought good cake on Saturday afternoon when the grocery stores reopened, thank God!

The rest of the weekend was spent just hanging 'round my house. Jon and I took care of some much-needed minor repairs, such as replacing the downstairs toilet. Whooo, I could spend my whole life and never do that again! But we did it and now I got a nice new toilet in there. He also showed me how to use my iPod on these cool speakers I have (that my ex-husb left) and now I have iPod music upstairs or wherever I want--no need to buy an expensive iPod speaker tower now!!! I also bagged up more and more of ex-husb's stuff and trashed it. The rest will also be gotten rid of so I can start 2011 with a complete blank slate, house-wise.

The rest of the weekend was spent lounging around on the couch, in bed, going out to eat, etc. On Monday I did actually try to come into Job #2 but Jon called me and wanted to meet me after his rehearsal so we did that and ended up spending the afternoon at my house and then going to poke around some pawn shops and then going to the mall that evening to look for workout shoes for him. It was sooooo hard to get up early and out of bed on Tuesday morning!

So how I am gwine mold 2011? Well, my #1 big thing is to be more patient, generally speaking. I also want this to be the year I break out, music-wise and as a bassist, both w/The Leo Trio and w/Jon once we get our act up and running. Otherwise all other things are going to continue as usual, such as continuing to chip heavily away at my (ex-husb's inherited) debt, continuing to try to exercise/eat healthy, etc. Health note: my Process still hasn't started and is now almost 3 weeks late, but I took another pregnancy test on Monday (a digital one this time) and it came up negative. I think I might just ignore this strange delayed-Process thing, though there's plenty of testimonials on women's health websites out there from plenty of women who tested negative on those tests when they were 2-3 months pregnant, so I might switch back to drinking wine just in case. However--I still don't feel any different AT ALL so maybe this is just a weirdo thing going on with me, for the first time ever! Finally, 2011 will also be the year that Jon and I will start to try working on this pregnancy thing--for real!

No rehearsal after all this week, for which I am grateful. I cancelled on Monday night b/c I'm still feeling lazy after the holidays and Jon and I were finishing up some little things around my house. Leo is gwine to London for 10 days on the 10th so we might skip our live radio performance which was supposed to be this Sunday. Fine with me, we can always reschedule it. Tonight I'm gwine to the blues jam to see Jon play and get turned on by him and hang w/my blues buddies, and we're back at the Big Easy again on Fri. night for Earl's bday party gig (Jon'll play that too). Saturday fun includes going to see this fascinating documentary Marwencol at a local indie-theater and then going to a high school classmate of mine's new restaurant, both events which are located right by Jon's house. Sunday I do have to work the short shift at Job #1 but hopefully that'll be cake. Mmmmm... cake!

Adios 2010... Buenos Dias 2011

2010-12-30T17:58:00.003-06:00

This'll likely be my last post o' the year. Here at Job #2 and then heading straight to Jon's so we can get to his gig 'round bout 9pm. Tomorrow I need to SLEEP seriously and I cannot wait. I only got 10 hrs of sleep total the past 2 nights. Tuesday night Jon was over at my house and we were lounging in bed, him playing his National Resonator and me singing. We were up 'til 2 am doing that and then I happened to check my Facebook and found out some terrible news about a musician friend of ours who had died suddenly a few hrs ago. Mean Gene gave Jon his 1st break into the local music scene and so Jon was pretty upset. We were up another hour after that, Jon calling/texting people about it.

Last night I went to the jam at the Big Easy and hung out w/LDB and his new GF and this cool librarian chick who is also a blues scenester. I didn't want to play though, and I didn't. I've been drinking wine lately b/c for the 1st time in my entire life my Process is not only late, it's 2 weeks late and yes, I took 2 pregnancy tests earlier this week which both came out negative, so that gave me permission to get back on the hard drinks last night (Crown and Diet Coke)--tall ones! Still not sure why the Process isn't working right, but I guess there's a first time for everything! Anyway, so Jon and I were up late again after we got back to my place and I'll sure be up late again tonight. Hence the need to SLEEP LATE tomorrow which I will.

Otherwise tomorrow should be a pretty sedate day; I guess we'll have to head to Jon's gig in the early evening but otherwise I got the whole day free and I am so gwine enjoy it though I bet it'll go by fast. 2010 was overall a pretty damn good year I have to say. I learned so much about myself and especially love and relationships. I am so grateful I got to spend most of it w/Stefano, who showed me the kind of love I really deserve, and showed me what a wonderful, healthy fun relationship really is. I miss him, I truly do but I guess he still hates me. Anyway, I'll never again settle for anything less than near-perfection, which is what Stefano was to me.

Ending the year with Jon is also near-perfect. We are an incredibly amazing match together and we love each other so much. He's already proven to be so good for me in so many ways. The 2-drink maximum policy he inspired me to initiate, and his gentle, loving calmness has been just what I needed. His musicianship has also been a huge influence on me. His family and friends are all great to be around. I can't wait to get our music project up and running, and in fact he already got us a gig playing at a friend of his' house next weekend, just the 2 of us probably sans drummer! I'm also looking forward to 2011 being a big year for us in every other way too, as I do want to start officially seeing if I can get pregnant or not mid-to-late 2011. (If I'm not already that is, but I don't think I am!)

So that's it. I've got a good station in life now and I have no heavy complaints--a far cry from 2009, that's for sure. Gwine move forward in 2011 and accomplish more great stuff. And always, strive to be a better me. Happy New Year to all of us!

Absolutely Delightful Christmas!

2010-12-28T17:39:00.003-06:00

Aww, what a nice past few days. We didn't do everything on schedule or as planned, but big deal. It's the damn holidays.

So last Thurs. I went to Jon's gig which was pretty sedate, there not being a huge crowd there that night. I sat in the back by the dartboards and painted my nails, drank my 2 glasses of wine, and played "Scrabble" on the iPhone. And I had told Jon under no circumstances was I going to play! I said I'd play, but only if I got a taste of the gig, heh heh. I was off duty and ready to relax. Naturally the bassist, a friend of ours, wanted me to play and of course the answer was Nyet!

Fri. we slept in, way too late unfortunately b/c I only had time to rush home after we went out for breakfast tacos to make 2 batches of sausage balls as opposed to my 4 batches. But then we headed to Baytown a couple hours before evening church service to help his mom w/the food and cooking and whatnot. Jon put me in charge of shredding the chicken, just as I'd done at Tamalepalooza, hardy har har! Then his niece showed up and we headed to the church. After the service we ran into his aunt/uncle/cousins, then repaired to his mom's house for their Christmas Eve festivities. His sister finally got in from her flight from Chicago and his other sisters showed up and various other nieces/nephews, etc., plus Jon's dad at one point. It was fun and our chicken soup was a huge hit and it was just a good time. At midnight is when they opened presents and people finally started to trickle out. When saying goodbye to his aunt she told me to call her "Aunt Rosie" and his cousins kissed me and said "Welcome to the family." Aww! Jon's mom also had gotten me a pashmina of different shades of blue and a watch bracelet. I was touched, and I really really love pashminas and want to get them in all different colors! We didn't get to sleep until after 3am.

Sat. we slept in as much as possible, and fortunately I still had enough sausage balls leftover to take to my aunt's house, so I didn't have to wake up early and make more. Jon and I rushed to my house to get my presents for them and it was then that I said Jon and I could exchange gifts. I hadn't wanted to exchange gifts in front of everyone, I'd wanted it to be private. Jon handed me a big box and apologized for not wrapping it. It looked like a boot box. It WAS a boot box!!! He'd gotten me the beautiful red ostrich boots I'd tried on the day we took him to the Dr. a couple weeks ago. A couple of tears squeezed out, I was so surprised and touched. I couldn't believe he got me those beautiful boots! It was The. Perfect. Gift!!! (I'd gotten him 2 nice black leather-esque photo albums for his many print photos that he still keeps in Walgreen's photo envelopes [I know these things can be scanned and digitized but let's face it, that's a huge project and one that he's not likely to do anytime soon] and some Sensual Amber body butter b/c I have some and he likes the scent and he uses body butter on his dry skin patches. I also got him a gift certificate to the movie theater so we can go see True Grit and I also bought a very cute, very sexy naughty schoolgirl outfit for me to wear for him. I gave him the movie cert. at my aunt's house later that day and put on the naughty schoolgirl for him last night when we were finally alone at my house. [He LOVED it!])

We headed to pick up pater familias where he gave me my present (the old timey-Blues Calendar that he gives me every year that I love--it's my wall calendar at Job #1 and it also comes w/a CD! He also gave me a mix CD that he made and gave Jon a copy as well) and then we were off to my aunt's house. We ate, opened presents, took pictures, Jon dozed off on the couch for a few minutes. It was a typical Christmas! We were ready to head back to Baytown around 6pm and my uncle told Jon "Welcome to the family!"

Back in Baytown his mom and sisters and nephew were eating but I was too stuffed, though I did have some banana pudding, mmm! Jon and I then got out the guitars and began fooling around with a melody he came up with. Then I offered to show him the songs I'd identified for me to sing as he'd asked me to find. I showed him Taj Mahal's "I Rode Some" and he loved it! (I was nervous singing but I figured I'd better just get over it and pretend I wasn't nervous and just plunge right in and do it. Fake it til you make it, baby.) Then I showed him "Rock Salt and Nails" as done by Levon Helm. Then we did "These Arms of Mine" as done by Roy Buchanan. We also worked on "She's Into Something" as done by Robert Cray, Albert Collins, and Johnny Copeland. It was fun, if a bit nerve wracking, to work up songs sung by me, but Jon was nothing but encouraging and he wanted to play the Taj several times!!! He certainly has a lot of confidence in me!

Sunday a.m. Jon made breakfast for us, eggs w/the leftover sausage I'd brought for the sausage balls I didn't have to make. His sister had to go to the Galleria to make an exchange and Jon wanted to spend time w/her so I said we could forego the documentary at the MFAH. Jon's mom and other sister and niece also planned to go, but I didn't see how we could fit 6 people in any of their cars. Jon insisted we could, saying "We're Mexican!" and in the end, we took his car and I had to ride lying down in the back of his Dodge Magnum. Guess he showed me! (His 19-yo niece had offered first, and attempted it but she's 5'10" and I refused to let her when it was clear I'd fit better back there.) It was fine back there, I just lay down and played on my iPhone and the girls were complimenting me for taking one for the team. We dropped them all off at the mall and Jon took me to Crave Cupcakes for being a good sport! I got cranberry orange, yum, and then we ran by his house to get some needed items, including my iPod. After we picked them all up from the mall I even managed to catch a quick nap on the way back to Baytown!

The evening was taken up by going to the wake for his great-aunt that had died last week. I got to meet more relatives, and then we sat through the rosary. The rosary always makes me mellow--I get a lot of thinking done during it. Then we went to eat at a local Mexican restaurant w/his mom, sisters and niece and nephew, then back at Jon's mom's house Jon and I got out the guitars and practiced some more.

Monday we slept way in again--much needed!--and Jon made breakfast for us again. We got ready for the funeral and headed out to it. On Sunday Jon and I weren't sure we'd go to the funeral but then we decided to since if we hadn't his mom would have had to go alone. It was soooo cold all weekend long and Monday was no exception. At the cemetery we huddled with his aunt and uncle and his mom's cousin and I was wrenched between Jon and his mom! Then we went to the local community center for post-funeral camaraderie and barbeque. And dessert! I met way more Jon relatives, mostly cousins. Finally it was time to take his mom home, pack up our shit, and head home to Houston. It had been a really fun weekend and we ended it with a slow romantic night at my house last night.

Tonight I'm taking Jon to see True Grit since this is his only night free this week. He's playing Weds. night, Thurs. night, and of course Fri. is his NYE gig. He just found out their bass player is coming into town tomorrow and has been assigned to stay w/Jon at his house, so I told Jon to just stay w/me all week and he agreed. I'll enjoy that, not having to trade nights between our 2 places like we usually do!

Aaaaand It's ChristmasTime!

2010-12-23T14:49:00.005-06:00

Although I prefer Festivus, what with the pole and the Airing of the Grievances and the Feats of Strength! Today I have a short workday meaning just Job #1, no Job #2, yay!

Last night was way fun. Jon and I had taken Mon. and Tues. nights off (although he had to run out on Mon. night to the House of Blues to attempt to sell some tickets to his NYE gig) b/c we knew we'd be out on Weds. and tonight. Blues jam last night of course, and Aaron, my guitarist friend that I quarreled with this summer, came out and we hugged and drank and all was forgiven. It was warm enough for me to wear a cute outfit: black tube top and long skirt w/cowboy boots, though I did need my sweater as the night progressed. I got to get up and play w/Jon and later, LDB came out and we got to play together too, for the 1st time in like 12 years!!! It was awesome. He's a really damn good drummer. After the jam Jon and I went to a park at 2:30am and then we went to Kroger to get warm scones and then we went to his place where we finally got to sleep around 5am!

Thank God these slow holiday days of work are here, and I've spoken before of how much I love them. Tonight since I'll be getting home at a decent hour for the 1st time in months and months I get to wrap the few Xmas gifts I got and begin making the sausage ball batches so they can just be thrown in the oven in the morning. Jon's playing tonight and I'll go out there with him, meaning I'll also have to be there from 8:45p-1am. And b/c I got so little sleep last night (this morning) and we'll be out late tonite also I'd like to get some kinda sleep in the a.m. before we hit the ground running. Our schedule for this weekend is shaping up to be:

Fri: I finish making the sausage balls, get my stuff together, and Jon and I head to Baytown where we'll go to evening church service w/his family, then have Christmas festivities at his mom's house w/his aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. We'll stay the night, of course.
Sat: Back to Houston, pick up pater familias, get to Aunt P's by 1pm for those Christmas festivities.
Sat night: OFF?!?! I think so! Ahh bliss.
Sun: 2pm documentary screening of Boxing Gym at the MFAH w/li'l bro and hopefully Jon's sister. Back to Baytown immediately following so we can attend the wake of his recently-departed great-aunt.
Mon: Funeral of his great-aunt. Followed hopefully by lunch w/Tito J back in Houston before he leaves for San Antone?

Whew! Merry Christmas and a Happy Festivus to the rest of us!

Lovely Weekend!

2010-12-20T18:48:00.004-06:00

So the gig on Sat. night was kinda lame, mostly b/c George is just not with it sometimes and that makes mine and Leo's jobs harder. Also we were on our 4th song of the set when the power source to my and Leo's amps went out. Ugh!!! I said to Jon, who was there watching us of course, "You see why I drink???" In other weird news, the last girl Jon dated before me was there, as she also happens to be an ex of Leo's. It only bothered me a little bit seeing her there, since although she is pretty and tall, she is a total weird bird and is very neurotic and was a major headache to Jon when they dated. They didn't even speak at all at my gig since she's such a weirdo. Interesting that she still keeps up with Leo, though. One fun thing is that one of Jon's best friends from way back showed up to meet me and see me play and I was so touched at that! Also Jon's friend from our coffeeshop visit on Friday came by too and that really meant a lot to me b/c he's a guitar magazine writer as well as being an incredible creative writing teacher and so I kind of am impressed by him. Jon later said he enjoyed sitting in the audience w/George's wife and Leo's girlfriend Mir, that he never gets to be a groupie/roadie and liked it. Ha ha!

So once we were done playing Jon and I scooted outta there to his friend's house party. It was a nice little party with nice people and I immediately started in on the vodka. They had party munchies and I ate 3 cupcakes. Jon's friend had even made MY sausage balls, the ones I always make! The strange thing to me about that party though was that, let's say there were 20 people there--well 18 of them were obese/overweight! Whoa. At one point Jon and I went to a spare bedroom to have some quickie alone time but we got freaked out when we heard what we think was a mouse or something in there, so we skeedaddled. I won the party game of guessing how many marshmallows are in a glass jar and I won the jar and also a rooster kitchen towel/potholder set. We finally left around 2am.

Sunday we slowly got up and tried to attempt continuing fixing my downstairs toilet. Ma and Fred came by to bring me my bicycle and a pool lounge chair. I had run out to get breakfast tacos and I ran into a girl I know there who I found out lives near me! I got tacos for everyone and back at my house we ate, visited a bit and watched the Texans lose before Ma and Fred left and Jon continued with the toilet. We gave Ma one of Jon's new CD's and she was delighted. Jon and I realized after yet another trip to Home Depot that I either need a new tank or a new toilet; so I decided to think about it. We headed out for the day, stopping by the Big Easy for one of our guitarist friend's going-away party. My crazy dancing girlfriend made me dance a song with her and I couldn't believe this, but Stefano was there and he walked right past Jon and me holding the hand of a pretty, dark-haired girl! Wow. Well, good for him, I hope she deserves him b/c not too many woman would deserve an incredible man like him. (I'm just surprised he has someone so soon, I mean he hadn't dated anyone for awhile before he and I started dating.) Jon didn't even notice them, I had to tell him about it after we left.

So after we made an appearance (20 min. tops) we snuck out and went to his good friend Jim's house. Jim has a beautiful home and his wife had been wanting to meet me, so we went up there and they took us to eat at a seafood/sushi place near their house. It was a nice dinner and we had a good time, Jim's wife and I drinking "French-tini's." Jim is a great, very funny, very cool guy and I always have a good time hanging out with him. We made plans to do Jon's blues jam this Weds. night.

Slow Saturday DAY

2010-12-18T14:10:00.005-06:00

Because once I leave this quiet, sedate easy 9-5 shift at Job #1, I will be moving faster than the speed of sound! Well, once I do leave here I gotta swing by the Walgreen's photo and pick up the Christmas cards that Jon and I decided last night to send... then I have to rush home, get my gear together, shower/change into some kinda outfit that will work at both my gig tonite immediately followed by the party at Jon's friend's house. Whew!

So the last couple days have been nice and relaxing but I needed them b/c when I hit "publish" on that last blog post at Job #2, I began to feel bizarre-o. Not really bizarre-o, I knew exactly what was up and I was a-feared. I started to have body chills and aches. Shit! I got my damn flu shot in October! I texted Leo and said I was still willing to rehearse though--and I totally was!--but he called me and said let's call it off. I said well yeah, maybe we better, in case I have contracted some bug and therefore would NOT want to pass it on to him and George. I immediately went home and put on my furry leopard coat, put the heat on 77 degrees, took some zinc under Jon's strict orders, popped a mess of Ibuprofins, and curled up on the couch into a pitiful little ball. Jon came over before his gig at the Big Easy and brought me the rest of the Crave cupcakes, which I didn't even want so you know I was feeling poorly! He felt my head and tummy and sho' nuff, I had a bona fide fever! But I was determined to beat this thing, whatever it was, and by 11:30pm-ish, the fever had broke and I was sleeping fitfully. Jon came over when his gig was done and we were up 'til about 3am, hanging out and eating the cupcakes, at which point we finally went to bed.

I called into work on Thurs. though, seeing as how I had gotten very little sleep and now needed to recuperate and rest up in order to make DAMN sure I was well, or getting well. Jon and I spend the day together, going to eat at my local Teo (as opposed to his Teo near his house), doing a little shopping for parts to fix both my toilets, going to see his friends at his friend's little music gig at a local barbecue restaurant, and then Jon had his Thurs. night gig w/this annoying harmonica player that I played with this past summer. I stayed at Jon's house while he was gone, determined to work on my latest sheriff file, get some reading done, and make sure I was totally rested and relaxed and staying healthy.

I called into work again yesterday since I had to work the Saturday shift today, and just needed to make 100% sure I'd be well and rested up for it and as double insurance, stayed in bed w/Jon til noon. Then I ran home, ran by Job #2 briefly, then met Jon and a friend of his at a coffeeshop near their house where I also ran into my music-loving cameraman friend BB. Jon and I then headed to Baytown to see his mom. She made us a salad for dinner and Jon's real (biological) father (who he didn't meet until he was 25!) came over and we all ate and drank wine and had a nice long visit. Jon and I didn't even leave until midnight! But it was great to meet his dad who has a wonderful head of hair and is cute and charming so I keep telling Jon that I'll keep him since he got good DNA (chuckle!).

Good Lord, Where I Left Off?

2010-12-15T17:01:00.002-06:00

Ow, it hurts to even think right now. I just came from the annual networking event of the African American Health Coalition, of which I am a faithful member, thanks to Job #1. I grubbed seriously and ate way too much b/c today is one of those long-ass days where I will have been gone from home ALL DAMN DAY (longer since I spent the night at Jon's house last night). I went from Jon's house to Job #1 to the networking event, now I'm at Job #2 for 3 hours, then straight to rehearsal. We got a gig this Sat. at one of our usual haunts and I managed to negotiate the time to be 7:30-10:30 instead of 8-11 b/c one of Jon's friends is having a party and he and I want to get there toot suit. You can bet I'm gwine try to actually close the gig down closer to 10:15pm! Shit, when I took this gig way back when I didn't know I'd be dating Jon and would have his events to add to my social calendar!!!

So anyway I promised to write about the magical event that Jon took me to a couple Sundays ago. It was at the home of one of our local favorite keyboard players, a man of 74 yrs young. This is the one that we played a benefit for a few weeks ago, along w/Jon's band and other bands. Jon is like a son to Earl; so is some of my other musician friends. I don't know Earl that well, to be honest. But we went to his place and his wife served up a crapload of soul food: pigs feet, greens, cornbread, cakes, ribs, etc. etc. I wasn't that hungry but I ate 2 pieces of her delicious coconut cake. As a gift I'd brought a huge bag of oranges picked that day by Jon from my grandfather's tree. Several of our other musician friends were in attendance by the time we got there, a couple hours late. (We'd stopped by Jon's on the way from Pasadena and got distracted for a little while.) Their instruments were already set up in the "doghouse" which is a groovy icehouse structure out back in the yard. Lots of neighbors/friends were there too.

Jon got ready to play w/the band, all white boy musician friends of ours. I watched and drank a beer. They were awesome, of course and the blacks were dancing it up. A friend of ours in attendance, the owner of the Big Easy, Tom, was watching w/me and he leaned over and told me how fortunate I was to be witnessing this; I knew he was right. At one point Earl managed to come to the doghouse from his home and since he was weak and on oxygen, he sat down right near Jon and Jon did the O.V. Wright song that Earl taught him and that I love love love. Earl broke down and started crying and we all freaked out a little bit and I totally teared up! (So did Jon, I later found out.) Tom leaned over and told me that Earl probably knew there would not be too many more of these doghouse events. Jon had told me that they used to do this every Sunday!

Then our bass player friend called ME to the band so I could play a few songs, along w/Tom who plays harmonica!!! Oh boy, was I tickled! I didn't think I'd get to have the honor of playing a few songs in the legendary doghouse! I did fine, I knew the songs they called out and people kept dancing. No one in the audience had suspected that Jon's little girlfriend played bass and they were all tickled as well to see me up there. After we played about 5 songs we took a break and went to the house to spend time w/Earl and I finally got to talk to him a little bit. He's played with all my favorites, from Albert Collins to Gatemouth Brown and he knows Stevie Wonder, ZZ Top reveres him, etc. etc. Earl's wife had made a special pan of cornbread just for Jon and she sent us home with that, plates of food, tons of the delicious deviled eggs, plus the rest of the cake! As I said... it was a wonderful, magical evening.

Anyway, so in other news, things have been great w/Jon. He had to go to Ohio last Fri. for an annual concert/recording session/master class thing he does up there for a blues charity for cancer organization. I drove him to the airport and it was a good thing I did that, as my car Blue Lou ended up being in the shop until Tuesday and cost... Ugh... $1,400 to repair. (Puke!) So I drove his cool black Dodge Magnum all weekend. I also slept at his house on Sat. night after my (lame) gig since we were playing right down the street from his place. Also I was supposed to have lunch on Sunday w/Jon's mom, cousin, aunts at a restaurant near his house but that actually ended up not working out since they were running an hour late from Baytown and I had muchas cosas to do.

I picked up Jon from the airport yesterday afternoon and took the last part of the day off from work so we could spend time together. Everything is really going well and we are totally falling in love. It's just EASY with him, I don't know how else to describe it. He and I are on the same page about everything. We have nothing but fun w/each other, even if we're just lounging around. I was going to take him to the High-spanic Health Coalition holiday party last night but he was so tired and I was on the fence about it anyway (I really just wanted the free Mexican dinner) so we ended up blowing it off and going to eat at our fave Mexican restaurant followed by a trip to Crave Cupcakes!

Weekend With My Baby Daddy

2010-12-07T17:57:00.005-06:00

So me and Jon had a hell of a McCartney weekend. We are falling in love pretty damn fast. Everything is great. I'll have to bullet point the past few days though:

Weds: Can't remember if I mentioned the holiday gig w/Phillipo at the St. Arnold's brewery? Anyway it was fun.
Thurs: Justin Townes Earle show w/my bro. Awesome time. Me bro was wearing my fedora and a tie and looked adorable. He drank a double tequila w/a water back. I could only have 1 drink since before the concert I'd been at Jon's and since I felt like I might be coming down w/a cold I'd been drinking hot tea w/honey and Black Crown Royale. I had another Crown at the show and managed to sip it all night. Me and bro had a total McCartney time and JTE got a kick out of both of us at separate times. (He kept looking at me and smiling when I raised my glass (cup) to him and he loved it when my bro yelled out for a Lightnin' Hopkins song.) After the show I went back to Jon's since it was right around the corner.
Friday: Worked from home. Well, from Jon's house. Jon put me on zinc lozenges and sinus rinses for my cold-fighting and I continued w/the hot toddy teas. I went to the periodontist 1st thing in the morning and he said my gum was better but that now I have to get cleanings every 4 mo's, dammit, for prevention! At least my new Oral B toothbrush arrived in the mail this weekend. It was time to get back on the ultra-expensive yet incredibly effective electronical toothbrush action. Jon and I had soup/sandwich for lunch, then we went to the Dr. for him so he could have a painful lump on his lower back checked out. (Turns out it is his floating rib??? Wild.) After that we went to see his friend Jim and then we ran around a little and then we went to have chicken soup at the One's A Meal where the beloved mean waiter John gave me the business as he always does. I said "This is my new boyfriend" and John said I changed BF's the way I change shirts! Then Jon and I went home for R&R night and we slept about 10 hours, much needed for the cold-fighting.
Saturday: Tamalepalooza! Jon's family's annual day of tamale making. We went to his aunt's house in Baytown and I met more of Jon's family. I got along famously with all of them, as I've been doing with the rest of his family. I had to go to Baytown separately in my car w/my gear as I had a gig that night for a local incredible artist. He's moving to Paris and so we got to play for art, instead of money! I was pretty excited about that. Before though I had to shred a couple of rotisserie chickens for the tamales. Jon was having too much fun watching me in my apron in his aunt's kitchen. We ate fajitas since the tamales weren't ready before I had to leave. The gig was kinda lame but whatever. The artist's dad, who is a sweet cool guy, was dancing to us and he fell and broke his arm, ugh. We cut our set short, picked out our art (I got a huge piece priced at $2,600 called "Big Pink"!), and I headed back to Baytown and Jon and his family. We hung out awhile more and then repaired to his mom's house to stay the night.
Sunday: Woke up, realized I'd successfully fought off my cold, yay!, spent a little bit of the morning w/Jon's mom, then we went to Pasadena so Jon could meet Ma and Fred and we could have lunch with them. Ma is not doing too well--they put her on insulin last Friday for the 1st time ever. After lunch we went to her house and Jon admired Popo's orange tree, so we decided to strip the whole tree almost. I held the ladder for Jon and he picked dozens of oranges that were actually pretty yummy! We had a nice visit but then we had to head to Houston for a truly incredible experience which I'll have to write about in the next post...

To Live is to Fly, Cont.

2010-12-02T14:09:00.003-06:00

Ok, lessee, where did I leave off...

Sunday: Left Jon's, went home to get showered/changed for the benefit at Big Easy for a local beloved old black blues piano player. (He has emphysema, or as I made up on the spot on Sat. night when talking to my li'l bro and Phillipo about it, "Black Key Lung." Guffaw!!!) We'd gotten the gig just a few days before and I was totally tickled to be involved in this huge day, also b/c Jon would be running it and playing as well. I promised Leo we'd play much better than we did on Sat. and we did! We also all dressed in black, it being warm enough again outside for me to wear a short, cute black dress. Jon watched us play and it's a good thing too b/c the stupid backline amp went OUT on me during our last 2 songs and Jon had to run up there and bang it--annoying!!!

Anyway... it was a great time and although Jon and I had planned to NOT debut as a couple in front of all those blues scene people and musicians, I was hanging around him enough for people to figure it out anyway. His friends came out to see us, including his ex-gf and her husband and 2 kids and I ended up getting along really well with all of them and even dancing w/the 14-yo boy in front of the whole club while Jon and his singer were playing, and she made up lyrics about us on the spot. Hi-larry!!!

After the long day of music and merriment and drinking (my 2-drink maximum in FULL effect--and shorts, even! Not talls!) Jon and I repaired across the street to attempt to get some Crave cupcakes but alas, they were closed, so we went and dropped off my car at his house and had a nice quiet dinner nearby. Then we ended w/a cozy relaxing night at his place.

Monday night I had my monthly sheriff meeting and Jon ended up meeting us at dinner since we always eat at this Mexican restaurant that happens to be right around the corner from his house. Mudflap was telling war stories all night, but later on that night when Jon and I were in bed he sent me a text saying he likes Jon, that Jon seems like a good guy. Which is funny b/c Jon couldn't even get a word in edgewise all night and I barely could!

Tuesday night Jon came to stay w/me at my house; I'd left my extra gate clicker in his car accidentally on purpose over the holiday weekend as I'd deemed him "gate clicker-worthy", so he let himself in after he was done stuffing envelopes w/his new CD that just came out. I'd just that day gotten a last-minute gig w/Phillipo for Weds. night at the St. Arnold's Brewery, a company holiday party and I was trying to find a drummer. After I'd struck out with like 3-4 drummers Jon made a couple phone calls and got me a damn good one! He rocks!!! Then the next morning he even loaded up my gear to take to his house so that I could go straight to the gig after work instead of having to go down south to my house to get everything.

The other momentous thing about Tuesday night was Jon told me to my face that he loved me. He said it a lot. He also said he wants to be with me forever! I told him I loved him too, and I do. He knows I've been crazy about him since Day 1. I think we all knew. I gave him my house key the next morning. (I've already had access to his house all this time, via the key he keeps in his mailbox for when he accidentally locks himself out, hee hee.)

Something else significant happened on Tues. night and that is that Stefano and I had a really great, therapeutic phone conversation. We talked for awhile, each professing how much we both still love and care for each other and how we want to continue to be in each other's lives. Stefano apologized for the harsh words he had for me last Friday but I maintained that I deserved them. He played a song for me on his guitar that he'd written about this whole situation called "Yellow Rose in the Wind"--since I love yellow roses and he bought them for me often. It was so sweet and touching. I cannot WAIT to begin hanging out with Stefano again. I've really missed him and I know he's missed me.

So the gig last night went fine. I went to Jon's beforehand to get my gear and change clothes. It was awesome to be gigging in the brewery although the acoustics were horrible since it's a warehouse, but it was a nice little party w/decent food. The pumpkin cheesecake was great. I had 2 of the Christmas ales which were sooo yummy! (Just 2!) And the songs went well and the drummer, who is a FB friend of mine and who I know from years ago, did wonderfully. A real pro! Our party songs ("Blue Christmas", "Kiss", "Johnny B. Goode" etc.) were fun and cheesy but whatever. I made an easy 3 figures (Phillipo also tipped me for finding a drummer--I'll use that $ to buy Jon breakfast this weekend!) so that'll go towards paying off the new amp and I'm also looking to buy a 5-string bass as well. Killer! I got home around 10:30pm and Jon let himself in around 2am after the blues jam was done.

Rehearsal tonite, followed by Justin Townes Earle in concert! I'm gwine w/li'l bro, and then I'll stay at Jon's since he lives right near the club. Working from home tomorrow--well, working from Jon's. We can't get enough of each other. Was it Confucious or Barry White who said, "Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Baby?"

To Live is To Fly

2010-11-30T19:01:00.002-06:00

...Low and High.

--Townes Van Zandt.

Damn, there been a lotta that lately. I'm gwine hafta do my bulleted recap of the past few days:

Wednesday: Blues jam at the Big Easy. I got all prettied up, pretty dress, boots, etc. Stefano confronted Jon, asking about the nature of our relationship. Jon said he was sorry for the way things went down. When I got there Leo was sitting at a table w/Stefano and Stefano's harp player. I shook everyone's hand and retreated to friendlier areas. I met Jon's mom, 2 of his sisters, and other family friends and they were all awesome. I even danced w/his mom! Good times. Until Stefano got up and played "Further On Up The Road" and his song "Big Big Mouth." I got it. Boy, did I get it. I danced anyway. I got up next and played and had a lot of fun. Visited w/Jon's family/friends. Got nice and drunk and closed the jam down and left w/Jon.
Thursday: Jeez, I'm straining to remember. Lessee, that was Thanksgiving. Went home from Jon's, baked the sausage balls, picked up my pater familias, we went to Aunt P's house. Had a lot of fun. Smaller crowd this year now that my dad is single. Me, my dad, and uncle got into my Crown Royal black... nice. Dropped off my dad, went up north to Jon's sister's house. Met Jon's other sister and her family and more friends/family members. Everyone was sweet and nice to me. We played Pictionary and my team won, hell yeah!!! I kicked some serious ass w/my cartoonist skills.
Friday Day: I left Jon's and went home to shower/change and then meet up with Stefano as we had "unfinished business." I met Stefano at the church near his house and I just let him talk and get things off his chest. It was difficult and he hurt my feelings, saying I had no class, but I supposed he's mostly right. I just felt like the shittiest person on earth. The whole thing made me sad, but I finally got my gate clicker and house key back. Then I went back to Jon's and he and I hung out w/his cousins and cousin's girlfriend and went pawn shopping which I'd never done before and which was very enlightening and interesting! Jon was very sweet and had brought me a breakfast taco AND a cupcake b/c he knew I'd need cheering up. Awww.
Friday Evening: We packed a bag and went to Baytown to see his family, go to one of his friend's bday party, and stay the night at his mom's. We had another T-giving dinner which his mom made and which was so yum. The friend's party started out great and we even played Rock Band (I sang) but I had way too much Black Crown Royale to drink and sometime towards the end of the night, threw up in the yard, thereby ending the party. Jon had to cart me home at which point I threw up in his mom's driveway.
Saturday Day: In the morning Jon said that was never, ever going to happen again, kinda scaring me straight, to be honest. We went to breakfast w/his mom and sisters and I couldn't eat a single thing. But it was still nice to hang w/them all and his mom called me "Mija" which Jon says she's never called any of his girlfriends before! They all left to go shopping and Jon gave me the $5 tour of Baytown, where I'd never spent any time at which is a little strange considering it's not far from where I grew up.
Saturday Evening/Night: Back at Jon's in Houston we lounged around and then I left to go get ready for my gig while Jon hung out w/his mom/sisters. Picked up my bro so he could accompany me to the gig. Stefano's band was there, of course; I was a little unnerved seeing Stefano. I still love him and feel terrible about what I've done. The gig was eh. I was subdued as I wasn't drinking a damn drop and also I'd barely eaten all day. Phillipo showed up and hung out w/me and li'l bro. Leo was drinking and George was playing sloppy. Whatever. I was just anxious to get out of there and get home to Jon.

Gonna hafta finish this later, tomorrow hopefully!

Thank God for the Blues

2010-11-24T14:30:00.005-06:00

Hey, that's not a bad song title. Anyway, I'm just glad I play in a blues band. It would be difficult to play in, for example, a reggae band these days. I'm just trying not to be so down but it's hard when you have people in your life that you really care about and love and they are down on you for your recent life decisions; plus you know in your heart you have really caused some serious damage to someone that you really truly loved and hated hated HATED to have to hurt. I wrote a song about it, like to hear it? Here it goes!

Actually I did write a song about it yesterday, in about 10 minutes. It's called "Crying and Lying." It may have to be a country song, don't know yet b/c I only wrote the lyrics so far. (Then again most country can easily be adapted to the blues.) I also wrote a song about my grandfather. BTW I did write a loving, heartfelt song about Mr. Wonderful Stefano early this year called "Constant Reminder" and I do want to go ahead and work that up, meaning get the music for the lyrics. I gave the lyrics to Leo so he could do the music and he never did.

Last night I made tons of sausage balls; they now await their fate in the fridge. Job #1 is so blissfully slow and quiet today. Job #2 should also be. Then the fun begins tonight in earnest. I am a little freaked out about Stefano being at the jam. How should I act? Should I smile at him? Give him a wide berth? It will hurt my heart to even see him. He is posting on the FB how happy he is and I can't help but wonder if he's trying to show a happy face when he's dying on the inside. I know, I know, the ego on me, huh? I know one thing, I'm gwine be drinking it up hard core tonight. I went to Spec's on the way home last night to buy another bottle of Black Crown Royale and a jug of sangria to take to Jon's sister's tomorrow.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Heavy Heart

2010-11-23T13:58:00.003-06:00

Lord, how my heart is heavy. These past couple days have been rough. Jon has been helping me, of course. I've spent the past 2 nights at his place. Tonight though I have got to make my batches of T-giving day sausage balls. It was Jon's idea to make them tonight so all I have to do on Thurs. a.m. is throw them in the oven and bake them--so we can sleep late together, I assume, before heading off to our family events. Tomorrow I won't be home AT ALL: Job #1 followed by Job #2 followed immediately by a cool blues show at this club I've never been to followed immediately by the blues jam at Big Easy. Jon's family will be there (he's picking up his youngest sis from the airport today) as well as his cool friends we had dinner with last week.

Unfortunately, it appears Stefano will also be there, at least he indicated so on the Facebooks. If he is there I need to have Leo get my gate clicker/house key back from him, and Jon and I are still playing it extremely cool. Stefano changed his FB status to "Single" today and of course lots of comments from our mutual friends and fellow musicians ensued. When I saw he did that I did the same thing but then I removed the status change post from my wall--trying to keep it as low-key as possible. Stefano sent me a text yesterday saying we needed to talk and he wanted me to come to his house tonight to do so, but I don't like the sound of that. I am so sad thinking of him and how I've crushed him. I mean it really, really hurts. It's bad/sad enough I will have to see him this Sat. at our shared gig. My brother will be there with me for support. Yes--I feel like a total heel.

Anyway. I guess one day we'll all get over this. This week should in fact prove to be activity-filled and promises to be very fun. Weds. will be killer, even if the jam is a little awkward at times. Thurs. I'll bake them balls and go to my beloved Aunt P's house. That evening I'll go up to Jon's sister's house for evening dessert/game time and meeting the rest of the family. Friday I may spend some of the afternoon rehearsing w/Leo, and Friday night is either 1. Patrol if Mudflap can do it, or 2. Family time w/Jon, or 3. Big Easy for a show. Saturday Los Lonely Boys are playing an afternoon free instore at the record store--awesommmmme!--and then that night is my gig. Sunday will also be sooooo fun as there's a great benefit at the Big Easy that Jon is playing but TODAY I got an invitation for US to open the show! I said HELL YES and notified the boys. Cool!!!

Lord, help me just get through this week. Seriously, I have begun to pray again, but it was time for me to start up again regardless.

My Life is About to Change

2010-11-19T18:29:00.002-06:00

Like... Big Time. I'll hafta do last weekend's recap continuation later.

Gig tonite w/Jon and Stefano. Tomorrow: rehearsal followed by live radio spot followed by evening gig. Sunday: to Pasadena to check on my mom followed by afternoon gig.

And tomorrow before rehearsal: A Huge Talk w/Stefano. It's killing me that I have to do this. He is the most wonderful man I've ever been with, the best boyfriend I ever could have dreamed up. And yet I still have to have the Talk with him. I'm going to be so sad. My heart is breaking over it. I don't want to have to do it, but I must. It's all about the future, which I've begun to contemplate again. And the likelihood that in all seriousness, perhaps Stefano and I do not actually have good odds for a future together.

It boils down to the one issue that's always been in the back of my mind anyway, and which he does know about, and that is my desire to have a family one day, most likely by adoption, and he has always been adament that he does not want children.

Of course, my friendship/relationship with Jon over the past month has indeed complicated things. And the death of my beloved Popo brought it all to a head anyway. Pondering the future seems to be part of the grieving process, or at least mine.

Tuesday night Jon invited me to dinner with him and his friends, and we had so much fun. It was 2 other couples and 1 baby. Afterwards Jon and I repaired to his place nearby and then Jon totally blew my mind. He said that he wants me, that he wants to have a relationship with me, that he thinks about me all the time, that he's developed real feelings for me, that this is all a surprise to him but he always has fun with me and he truly likes me a lot and cares for me deeply.

When he told me he wanted a relationship with me I said "You DO?!?!" truly surprised, myself. He said he wants me all to myself but that he doesn't want me to do anything for him, that whatever I do (i.e., w/Stefano) I need to do it b/c I want to do it. I said I had no words, and that I didn't know what to do. But I did tell him that I have the same strong feelings for him too and that I was going to have to think about how to proceed. I did mention the issue I have w/Stefano, about the adoption/family thing, and to my intense surprise, Jon took my chin in his hand, lifted my eyes to his, and said "Adela, I would love to have a baby with you." And I tell you what... ain't nobody EVER said that to me before.

We went to a movie premiere together at the museum on Weds. night, followed by the blues jam, which Stefano also attended. Last night I went to Jon's to spend the night and talk about my decision and my and Jon's future together. He kept looking into my eyes and saying how he's finally found me and I make him so happy and he feels safe with me and we have no walls up with each other and how happy we'd be together. I said that I decided that I wanted to give us a shot. And that I would be having the talk with Stefano this weekend.

As I stated before, I'm absolutely miserable that it's come to this. I didn't expect things w/Jon to force the issue, although I have thought about it a couple of times over this past year. My only consolation is that I do believe Jon and what he's saying to me. And I do think he deserves to have his shot with me. But he's got a lot to live up to. He's got big shoes to fill, the biggest.

Here we go.

WOW. What a Weekend. Pt. 1

2010-11-15T18:36:00.003-06:00

Good lord in heaven, where do I start? Lessee, I left Job #2 on Fri. evening and went to Jon's house to hang out for awhile. Got home late, spent the night w/Stefano at his house. Sat. a.m. we woke up DAMN early in order to go pick up li'l bro and get to breakfast, and hells BELLS was it worth it! I had the chicken and waffles. O. M. G. I didn't think I'd like it that much but godDAMN they got a good scald on that bird! Not greasy at all, full of delicious chicken flavor... I haven't eaten that much in weeks. Hot chocolate topped it all off.

We got to the Sam "Lightnin'" Hopkins thing and it was so incredibly wonderful and so damn cool. Almost everyone was there, meaning most of the Houston blues scene and most of us musicians. My pater familias was running around already drunk and interviewing and filming everything. The media was there. We'd brought a bottle of Seagram's 7 that didn't last nearly long enough, what with everyone taking pulls on it from time to time. Naturally Leo and George were there, even one of my librarian friends. Music writers, academics, degenerates--you name it! All our pals! I saw that the local councilman hadn't shown up so I promptly sat in his front row reserved seat--I knew he probably wouldn't come! Actually he did show up late, but took a seat on the stage/dais, so his seat in the front row would've gone to waste anyway, and I am, after all, Bella The Adela and SHOULD'VE been in the front row! Chuckle!

After they unveiled the marker (story here by my little music writer pal) much photo commencing began and then the music started. Jon's band was the opener. I was so proud of him! God he rocks my world. So we were there for several hours, taking pic's, visiting, networking, having a killer awesome time. Then Leo got it in his head that we would go visit Lightnin's actual grave, and Jon was even up for that, so when things finally wound down we all headed over to the cemetery, which was actually quite nearby. After awhile walking around looking for the damn thing (the cemetery guys finally showed us--hee hee) (we'd had a map drawn by the Lightnin' marker organizer guy but we didn't interpret it correctly) we took pic's and I had the idea for the 5 musicians (me, Stefano, Leo, George, and Jon) to place our cowboy boots (Converse sneakers in George's case) around the grave marker for a cool photo.

After that we bid adieu to Jon and went to Spec's for the UNT One O'Clock Lab Band concert. How freakin' cool is that! Besides I needed to stock up on Crown Royale, and I got the new Black label (90 Proof, yo!). While there Little Drummer Boy called me up to see what I was up to and he said they were going to eat at all our favorite Taqueria so me, Stefano, Li'l Bro, and Leo headed over there and commenced drinking muchas margaritas w/LDB and a bass player pal. Apparently I drank a lot of 'em. And got a little rowdy. Jon came and joined us later and the merriment continued. The waiter at one point wasn't sure he should serve me another, but he did, yay! Finally we bid adieu to Jon again and the whole dinner group headed over to see the documentary film, Thunder Soul.

Will be finishing this post later, to be continued...

Weary

2010-11-12T18:09:00.002-06:00

I'm just weary. I lost my beloved grandfather Popo this week. He died at around 11:37pm on Sunday night. Fortunately I managed to get it together enough to be there. I also took my brother and pater familias with me. It was an incredible thing, for him to take his last breaths with all of us--my mom, 2 aunts, 4 out of 5 cousins--there, holding his hand, hugging him, kissing him.

So it's been a numbing, sorrowful week for all of us. We had the wake on Tues. night. The funeral was Weds. I finally went out on Weds. night to rehearsal and then the boys joined me at Big Easy for drinks and toasting to Popo. We had SO much fun, and Phillipo met us there and brought me flowers--so fucking sweet. I stayed the night w/Jon. I have taken all week off from Job #1. I've just been too overwhelmed b/c I have had to take care of Ma and do some logistical things for her, now that she's alone at Popo's house. I also spent the night with her there on Mon. and Tues. nights.

I'm having a hard time caring about much these days. People ask me questions: what do you want to eat? Are you going back to work? Do you want to do ___? And I just DON'T. CARE. Last night was absolutely awful. My aunt ambushed my mom at Popo's house to begin taking things out of the house before we could even finish mourning or being in shock or how about DISCUSSING things like rational adults. I had to race down to Pasadena and meet my cousins there and they were all just shell shocked b/c no one could talk any sense into my insane batshit crazy aunt. And I just didn't care. I refuse to fight w/anyone. I don't care about STUFF. My aunt was forcing my uncle and cousin to dismantle furniture and haul it outside to put into their trucks and SUV's. Then my uncle began having chest pains and they had to take him to the hospital. Consequently we had to skip starting the rosary last night as planned and now my uncle is in the hospital and will have open heart surgery on Monday. Good job, Aunt T. Popo must be looking down at this and feel real proud. Real fuckin' nice!!!

Mr. Wonderful Stefano came over last night when I got back and spent the night with me. He's so amazing and wonderful. And Jon has also been such a great friend through all of this, and I get to spend time w/him when Stefano isn't available.

Killer amazing jam packed weekend coming up. Stefano and my li'l bro will begin tomorrow w/breakfast at the Breakfast Klub. Then we'll go to the Lightnin' Hopkins memorial dedication, which will be amazing. Jon's band is playing. Tomorrow evening we've got a documentary screening at the park which will also be awesome! Tomorrow night we end at Anderson Fair for Kelly Jo Phelps, who I've never seen!!! Sunday I'll go to the gun show w/L. as she is in the market for some home protection. Then all day we'll be at Blues for Food. Jon's band is playing. So I got plenty to take my mind of things this weekend.

Back to work and reality next Monday. Hope to finally start caring about things again, maybe.

Shine A Light

2010-11-04T14:03:00.003-05:00

Show me the way
Take me through the night
To the break of day

That Band song's been going through my head lately. The rough week continues. Monday night I managed to get a good night's rest thanks to popping a Valium on an almost-empty stomach. It was kinda fun b/c it took effect in less than 10 min. and I had to hurry up and finish getting ready for bed before I got too wobbly. I went to Pasadena on Tuesday morning to see my grandfather Popo. He is progressively worse, however the things he's doing are right out of the Hospice handbook. He's got the classic signs which is actually a little comforting in that they're so universal. My mom wanted to get out of the house so we went to breakfast and I had 1 breakfast taco. I'm still losing weight. I went to work shortly after that, saying to my Popo that I would see him later, which is always the last thing I say to him.

Tuesday night I was ready for a drink, but when I got home from work I passed out on my couch for a bit after drinking 1 glass of wine and also b/c my eyes were tired from crying. But I got it together enough to shower/change and go meet Phillipo at Brasil where we drank wine and saw this groovy fiddle player chick and her band, several musicians whom we also knew. It was a very nice scene to just sit there, sip wine, and watch the band play and they did lots of Grappelli-Django type stuff. We shared a slice of carrot cake and a hot chocolate (the weather turned cold on Tues.) then we ran down the street to Avant for the open mic, which Phillipo has been getting into lately. We got more drinks, hung around outside a little, shared my pipe. Saw a couple of musicians we knew. But I ended up leaving soon after midnight in order to go meet Jon at his place, as he was getting done w/his gig for the night.

Weds. I slept in a little bit though I barely managed to sleep at all since Jon snores like a BIG MF'er and did so in my ear all night long. I went down to Pasadena again to check on everyone. Tues. night my uncle had come over and played guitar for my Popo and sang some church hymns. I was trying to remain strong but when Popo saw me he took my hand and kissed it, which I couldn't believe, and I promptly lost it. My mom asked me to sing to Popo too and of course I drew a blank on any good songs that I knew, and could only think to sing "This Little Light of Mine" and "Amazing Grace" but it was hard to get through the songs b/c I kept crying. Then my mom wanted to get out of the house again so we went to the mall to walk. I hadn't eaten anything all day so I had most of a spinach/cheese calzone. After dropping her off and telling Popo I'd see him later I went to work.

I cut Job #2 off short last night so I could rush home, change clothes, dig out my 5-string fiddle "Felix" from the closet and tune him up and go back to Pasadena. I was sooo rusty, man, but my aunt was there and she made a few requests and I just played everything and anything I could think of, from Bach, to Schubert, to "Rancho Grande" (we thought he'd recognize it), to "Faded Love", "Uncloudy Day", even "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." My other aunt and cousin came by later and we were all there hanging out w/Popo until 10pm. A nighttime hospice nurse came by and said Popo's vital signs were good but that he could not rule out a transient ischaemic stroke (which my other cousin had theorized he'd suffered at some point that day, or maybe the day before). While I was there Jon was texting me, checking on me, and he offered to come by after his gig hosting the jam at the Big Easy was over and I agreed to that, since I was missing him and also thinking that I didn't want to sleep alone. I had planned to pop another Valium in order to get some rest but Jon advised against it, and when he got to my place after 2am I didn't need it anyway since it was comforting enough having him there.

I came in a little late to work today but my mom reports that Popo is still the same. Tonight I'll be able to get some music therapy in, as Allen Toussaint will be playing and I am so excited about that I can't even say; Stefano is taking me of course. He already brought some brandy for us to sip since a 40-degree cold front is coming for the next couple of nights, dammit. Thank God in heaven that tomorrow is my monthly work from home day. I'll be able to run down to Pasadena again at some point. I'm just not worth much these days, totally distracted, not eating much... Just wishing my Popo would hurry up and get better. I'm glad I can be there for my mom, mostly though.

Just A Few Seconds, Your Name and Your Time

2010-11-01T18:13:00.006-05:00

...And I guarantee that you will be mine!!!"

R. Kelly is also a bad influence on me these days, along with Prince and Curtis Mayfield.

Man, I totally blew Sunday. Lost. Gone! Well, Mr. Wonderful and I did go for a run 1st thing in the morning. Then I went home, showered, changed, and picked up li'l bro so we could go down to Pasadena again. My cousins were going to be there and Popo has held on so we wanted to go see everyone. It was a nice visit and my aunts were even civil to me, for once. I was civil right back. Ma had told me to be stoic and not cry (like I did last Weds.) and I did until right before we left. I said to Popo, "I'll see you later," and cried as I left. He was even worse then than he was before. Now he wasn't even really seeing us, or able to focus, or something, and he was talking about the farm from when he was a boy. He was also seeing people from the past: my grandma, his sisters/brothers, etc. Sigh.

I dropped off li'l bro and I had made plans to get together w/BFFF Jon but we didn't know what time, so I called him while I was driving home and he said he would come over then, in the afternoon, so that's what he did. He'd never seen The Last Waltz all the way through so I insisted we watch it; actually my copy was at his place where I'd took it last week, thinking we'd have a chance to watch it there. He brought it over and we watched the whole thing. Jon is actually so close to Bob Margolin (Muddy Waters' guitarist) that he stays at his house when he goes to Mississippi for the Blues Music Awards! ("Aaagghhh!" I screamed internally with jealousy!!!) Jon also threw out that he's opened for Taj Mahal "too many times to count"!!! Acccckkkkk!!! See why I wanna make Jon my new BFFF? Hence, the R. Kelly song title of this post. Which I am well on my way to doing.

Anyway, so the rest of the weekend... Friday night when I got home from Job #2 I passed out on my couch from exhaustion from 8:30p-10p. I woke up long enough to shower, change, and get to Stefano's house. Sat. we went to see the 1pm showing of the French Pastry documentary which was really wonderful--when the one chef drops his sugar sculpture I actually teared up! After the movie we had to hit the Chocolate Bar since I was going through DT's and needed a fix. The rest of the evening/night we hung around Stefano's house wearing very little clothing and ordered in for dinner and drank a good amount of wine. Damn, it's fun being a grownup!

So this week... I actually have a couple nights off which now feels WEIRD since I've been going going going for weeks now!!! I feel like I have to fucking force myself to stay at home tonight and behave which will not be that hard since Jon/Stefano/every other man it seems will be watching the football game and/or baseball game tonight. (Eye roll.) However tomorrow night I have allowed Phillipo to talk me into going out, and after that I have tentative plans to meet Jon after his gig and hang out. Weds. is off as I have convinced Leo to give me a week off. Thursday is the legendary Allen Toussaint in a free concert at the park!!! Aaaaaaahhhhh!!!

Weight Loss Note: I have been dropping pounds. Around 3 to be exact, in the past week and a half. I just don't have much interest in eating b/c I'm too busy going out, drinking, and carousing w/Phillipo, Jon, etc. It's kinda cool, seeing as how the holidays are upon us and the average person gains 6 lbs. over the holiday season. I'm getting a big head start should I get my appetite back someday. When/if my Popo goes that's gonna be another big hit to my system. I can't believe I didn't do a goddamn thing yesterday for Halloween, which is typically my favorite day of the year; I was just too damn busy w/Everything Else In The World to even think about H'ween. Here's what I really need to do tonight: work on my songwriting. Got a great title for a new song too, "Hellhound Riding Shotgun." Heh.

Da Blooze

2010-10-29T18:05:00.002-05:00

Whew. It's been a CRAZY ASS week. I got home shortly after noon today. Had too much fun last night. Had fun on Weds. night too. Also Tuesday. Monday was also great. Sunday too. Here's the breakdown:

Sunday: Brunch w/li'l bro and Stefano. I haven't had much of an appetite since last week. I ate a couple bites of queso and couple bites of hummus, but I drank 2 of these $10 decadent lemon vodka drinks. Then Li'l bro and I went to see Jackass in 3D where we were both kinda tipsy so we laughed our asses off. Dropped off li'l bro, went home, passed out on the couch for a couple hours. That evening, went to hang out w/my new guitarist BFFF Jon at his place. Met Stefano after that back at my house.

Monday: Monthly sheriff meeting. Had to turn in my Taser, dammit, but they said if budget allows me to get it back in the future that will definitely happen. Disappointed Mudflap, et. al. when I said I couldn't go to dinner as I was gwine to the blues show at House of Blues. Met Stefano and Phillipo there, but the sound was so god awful we split early. Stefano went home, Phillipo and I went to the Big Easy. I was still a little hungover from the day before so made it a relatively early night.

Tuesday: For the Sake of the Song Premiere at the River Oaks. It was HUGE. Stefano met me at the theater and my dad was there, natch, videotaping, and it was just so cool and awesome. I've never seen the big theater that packed before. I also got to hug Vince Bell who I love and adore so so so much. It was a wonderful event and just so soul-fulfilling.

Wednesday: Rehearsal. I decided to drink ONLY wine all night. Then I went to the Cont. Club to meet Phillipo. We drank more wine there, then left my car and went to the klassic kuntry show at Fitz where we drank even more wine and danced. I also danced w/my Music Editor friend who was there. Then Phillipo and I went to the Big Easy, on the way to get my car blasting Willie Nelson and singing very loudly. We got to the BE just as the house band (incl. Jon) was finishing up. I bid Phillipo adieu and headed out w/Jon to go hang at his place.

Thursday: We played live on KPFT at noon and it was so much fun. After that we went to have a couple drinks before I had to head to work. Then I had to rush home after Job #2 and pray that I could figure out how to work my new amp/cabinet since we were hosting the monthly Houston Blues Soc. jam at Big Easy that night and as the house band, we have to supply the backline. I had to call Rozzy and he walked me through some of it. When I finally got everything plugged in and going, I checked that my next door neighbor wasn't home, plugged in Big Red, and WAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHH. DAMN!!! That thing melted my own face off! I was floored and awed. And so excited! So Big Easy was a huge success--full dance floor, great crowd, and Stefano played and Phillipo and even my ex M showed up and lots of other pals and it was just a killer fun time. I danced some and jammed and drank... Stefano left early since he had to work today and when we closed out the night and played a last, quick set Jon showed up, having gotten a damn speeding ticket on the way from leaving his gig to hurry and come see us. We felt bad! But I went home w/him and hung out w/him til today so hopefully I cheered him up.

Tonight I was supposed to go see Chuck Prophet at the Cont. Club w/li'l bro but bro got a good deal to go see the Butthole Surfers in Austin, so now I'm not sure what I'll do. Stefano is waiting for me, of course. Jon is back at Big Easy tonight but I'm kinda wanting a break from there since I was there 3 times this week! I definitely need some kinda beauty sleep and I haven't been home ALL week and it would be great to just chill. This weekend I have nothing booked (except for a French pastry documentary tomorrow at the Museum of Fine Arts) and I'm so glad to get some down time, though I will be spending some major quality time w/Big Red and my new rig to become intimately familiar w/it and just work on some bass lines.

Can Never Be Satisfied

2010-10-25T16:05:00.002-05:00

I play the Devil's music
And I'm going straight to hell.
Woman, I'm trouble...

Yep, we do a cover of that Muddy Waters tune. I love it. Shit, I live it. I have been suffering lately and I got no one to blame but my damn self. Don't want to get into it too much here but I've lost my appetite too. The good thing is I've dropped a couple lbs. over the weekend. All I ate yesterday was a couple of bites of hummus and a couple bites of queso at brunch, then that evening I had 3 small bites of string cheese and a Blow Pop. I drank a lot of booze all day though. Sigh. I guess it's a fortuitous thing, what with the decadent holidays soon upon us. Heh. Heh. Ugh!!!

I guess it all boils down to the fact that I am still affording myself the luxury of Not Thinking About the Future. Because it's Adela Time and my happiness is my #1 priority. Because of what I went through the past 5 yrs. But.... how long can/should I continue to bang that experience like a cheap drum? Then again, to whom am I answering? It's MY life, right? So what if I need to be selfish and narcissistic for awhile? Then again, that's not very Christian--at all.

My li'l bro has coined a certain syndrome "Male Insanity Syndrome." I think I'm going through "Female Insanity Syndrome." Maybe I'll write more about the symptoms later. Maybe I won't.

Monthly sheriff meeting tonight. I have to turn in my Taser--waaah! Then I'm meeting Mr. Wonderful Stefano and Phillipo at the House of Blues for a big blues show. Maybe that'll be a little good medicine, we'll see.

Whoo Whee... It's PartyTime with Goodtime Charleena

2010-10-21T16:44:00.003-05:00

That would be me. Hot damn, I didn't get home 'til 7:30 this morning. Last night was way too much fun and I maybe got an hour of sleep so, ouch, it hurts today. "It" being everything. Mommy! Uncle! Someday I'll get too old for this crap, but I kinda doubt it, heh heh.

So rehearsal went fine but I was drinking box wine. Leo and Mir got into an argument in front of us, so I'm glad I was drinking the wine. I had 3 travel mug fulls then it was time to get to Fitz, where Phillipo said he'd meet me. Leo begged off b/c he was tired but he said he really wanted to go except for Mir would get pissed at him for partying w/me. I said that I was more fun than a barrel of monkeys, to which he and George agreed. Then I headed to Fitz and Phillipo had a bar tab going so we had a couple drinks. My friend FM was there and later LDB showed up, though I was mad at him for calling cops "little piggies" on Facebook. He apologized profusely and at first I was mean to him but later I let him hug me before Phillipo and I took off for the blues jam at Big Easy.

Naturally my #1 latest fave guitarist, Jon, was hosting the jam--he's the one that won the IBC's back in 2005. For the past couple of months I've been trying to buddy up to him b/c I am totally crazy about him and also yes, have a tiny crush on him. Phillipo gets jealous when I talk about Jon, but he needs to get over it. Jon made me get up and play bass out of nowhere and I didn't want to at all, but I told Jon he'd owe me and I made him kiss the new blister on my right thumb that I'd developed at rehearsal earlier. Then later on I pretty much ordered him to let Phillipo play guitar so that Jon could sit w/me and we could shoot the shit. I was drunk by then for sure. Jon asked what we were doing later and I said I didn't know and he said he was going to eat somewhere after the jam shut down at 2am. I was down for going anywhere Jon was going!

So by 2am and after much drunken shenanigans Philipo wanted to come over to my place of course, but I said I was going to hang out w/Jon so Philipo was a gentleman and took off. Jon and I went to a local taqueria; he had a taco and I had an iced tea b/c I'd made the mistake of mixing box wine, beer, and Crown that night. Shit! Then he invited me over to watch a DVD of the Howlin Wolf story and since he knows I am dating Stefano I figured there'd be no harm. We watched the DVD and then I wanted to see a DVD of a live Albert Collins concert in Germany but by then I'd decided I was going to crash there and just drive home in a couple hours when it was time to get to work. I sooooo admire Jon, soooo much and we have a lot in common, being Taurus blues musicians from east of Houston. Yeah, we ended up in his bed watching the Albert Collins but it was a big bed, and hey, I don't have a ring on my finger or nothin'.

Ugh. I've said it before and I'll say it again... that 6th drink is almost always a mistake! But I'm still looking forward to the concert tonite, I need to get some jazz piano infusion.

Gotta Get My Groove Back

2010-10-20T17:25:00.004-05:00

So I've been takin' it easy the last couple nights. This week I got to sleep in late and get to work late(r) than usual (heh) b/c everyone is at MLA/SCC in Austin. It was only me and our Info. Assistant on Monday and then yesterday it was just me, her and our newest entry-level Librarian, and today she was gone and it was just me and entry-level Lib. Niiiice! Also I got to leave early for a meeting offsite, and am now at Job #2 for a bit before heading home to put on a cute outfit for rehearsal tonight followed by some klassic kuntry at Fitz. LDB will be there and Leo said he'd come w/me too, so I hope he does.

Last night I did however, work on and pretty much complete my Personnel report that I hadn't even worked on for over a damn week, so that's good. But even on my night off I still had work to do. (I swear, I must secretly love work, I do so much of it...)

We've got a gig this Sat. for the MBGC (hey, see our name on the flyer, cool!). So tonight we'll work up our songs that have gone by the wayside while we were preparing for the IBC's. Should be fun to get back into those songs and work up some new ones. Leo says we'll work on harmonies too--I love to sing harmony and this makes me so happy! Tomorrow night will be fun as we're gwine to Discovery Green to see Jason Moran, who graduated from my high school (years after me, natch) and is getting amazing press in the jazz world. Gawd DAMN the weather has been so fuckin' McCartney! High's in the mid-80's and not too cool at night. LOVING IT. Thank you Jesus!

IBC Letdown

2010-10-18T17:51:00.005-05:00

So I got IBC Letdown today. Lots of great things happened yesterday. We really brought it and we melted some faces. We played a killer set. And it was close, very very close. The judges took forever to tally the scores: like over 20 min. It was then that I began to worry, b/c everyone kinda knew it would be between us and this one other band, led by a guy who's been in the music biz for over 30 yrs. But when it was announced, we were 1st runners up, so we came in 2nd. An extremely close 2nd, from all accounts. So that's a good sign. Also that hell, we've only been together just under a year, and Mr. IBC Winner's been doing this for decades! Good sign for us! We really showed the Houston blues world that we are CONTENDERS, baby!!! (BTW Mr. IBC Winner was 2nd back in 2007 when he made an attempt then.)

Yet I still can't quit the second guessing and replaying today. I'm bummed and I know it'll pass soon... but I still can't help but question certain things yesterday, including the shit that is completely out of my control. For example, of the 6 judges, only 2 were musicians?!? (A drummer and a sax player.) For real?!?! Seriously?!? WTF is that all about??? (Another was a singer but I've never counted singers as musicians, ha ha.) And one was a radio DJ and one was a friggin attorney, no joke! An attorney who produced a harmonica documentary, but still! The last one was a producer from a local recording studio. Anyway... One of these days I'm gwine get the nerve to ask the Houston Blues Soc. prez (who is a buddy) why in the hell they got these judges for an International BLUES competition. I guess I would be more at peace with the decision to score us 2nd if the judges were blues musicians of the highest caliber or at least some blues friggin' experts. Then I would respect the decision, 100%.

Regardless, it was a good experience and we had a lot of fun during this whole IBC process. Maybe we even gained some fans too, who knows? There was a community table where all the bands could sell CD's and merch, and apparently we sold 3 CD's and that apparently was 3 more CD's than any of the other bands sold! Leo says we may not even want to do it next year, it'll just depend on where we are in our Leo Trio life and career. And yesterday, bottom line, was fun. I had so many people come out, I couldn't believe it. My dad's 2 cousins came out w/my aunt and uncle. My old college benefactor came out w/his wife and son. L and her sister came out. Phillipo of course. My dad and his ex-girlfriend. My li'l bro was my escort/bodyguard. Stefano was there all day, natch. And the place was packed and we played for an elbow-to-elbow crowd which is always so much fun. So, que sera, sera. Now we move on to our next endeavor/success, whatever that may be!

Sigh. I'll get over these blues in a day or so. It's also just plain ol' letdown, after building up and up to something and then it's just OVER. Like post-wedding day letdown, post vacation letdown, etc. That kinda thing. We rehearse as usual this Weds. for our upcoming gig on Saturday. But tonight, I'm gwine go do a little shopping at Target after work, then try not to think about music for a couple of days. But when I come back to it... it'll be bigger and better than ever. I'm sure of it.

Lockdown. Off the Grid! It's Go Time.

2010-10-15T16:05:00.006-05:00

So my handlers and bodyguards are now insisting that I go Off The Grid from here until Sunday. It really shoulda started last night, but I was talked into going out to Discovery Green park to see Two Tons by the music editor of the Press. (He likes me.) I didn't really want to go, except kind of; I can take Two Tons or I can leave them and I usually leave them. But I knew my cousin would be there and it was an incredibly beautiful night last night and also, Stefano and Leo insisted I go hang w/Music Editor b/c they said it'd be good for all of our careers. I said to both of them I do not befriend people b/c I have an agenda, that I don't use people and I certainly wouldn't want anyone to use me (not sure what anyone would use me for, but still...). I said if he ever wanted to write a piece on me/us then it would have to be him that brings it up, NOT me.

So I went! And had a pretty good time. Most of my pals were out there, I found my cousin, brought some box wine w/me, me and Mus. Ed. had beers, I made him dance with me, and I made a local photographer take a pic of us that turned out pretty cute. Then I gave Mus. Ed. a ride to the Continental so he could see/review the Old 97's show (I definitely didn't want to go to that--not that I don't like them, I was just TIRED--but it was sold out anyway) and on the way I blasted Bonecrusher for him, which made him giggle. These 2 black guys were stopped at a red light next to us at one point and b/c I was tipsy, I rolled down the window and saw that they were laughing at me, a crazy Hispanic girl blasting Bonecrusher!!! Musta been my 2 ponytails on top of my head. Anyway, it was kinda funny.

Tonight is just a bday party at a restaurant and it's one of Stefano's friends who's turning 50 so it shouldn't be that crazy of a shindig. Afterwards we'll go home, I'd love to catch up on the 2 Weeds episodes I've missed lately, and then we'll sleeeeep... Tomorrow is supposed to be Easy Like Sunday Morning. I'll sleep late but not too late b/c I need to get to bed early tomorrow night. I'll relax, then I hafta go to U of H for this website thing for my Women's Health Board, then go across the freeway to Leo's for rehearsal. After that it's home for a night of relaxation: a nice satisfying healthy dinner, doing my nails, getting my outfit ready for Sunday, doing some laundry, reading, movie watching, NO drinking and NO valium to help me sleep--I'll want to fall asleep early on my own.

There's a chance I might go to dinner at a new restaurant w/Mus. Ed. and my cousins, but that'll be early, around 7-ish if we do go. Mus. Ed. wanted me to go out again tomorrow night but I had to tell him that if I went out on Thurs. night then Sat. was out. Leo was on me like flies on shit about this, and he was very happy when I told him a happy medium had been reached. Stefano also angrily ordered me to NOT go out on Sat. night! (He'll be at his gig and therefore I'll be left alone and unsupervised.) Damn, these guys are serious. I can't blame them though. I have little to no resistance when it comes to going out, as we all know. Even Phillipo offered to babysit me at my house on Sat. night but then we realized that that would be a very bad idea, since whenever we get together we always start drinking... a lot.

Sunday a.m. I'll get up early, go for my run, listen to The Holmes Bros., Taj Mahal, SRV, Bonecrusher, and then get my neighborhood breakfast tacos, just like I did before the Semi-finals. I'll get dressed and do my hair/makeup carefully and thoughtfully (haven't decided on my final accessories yet), then get to the straw-drawing by 1:30pm. Immediately after that I'll go to my bro's place where I will relax, finish getting dressed (I don't want to show up at 1:30 dressed b/c I want my final outfit to be a surprise to the other bands), finger my bass and practice a little so that I'm warm all day long, and then me and li'l bro will get to the gig around 3ish. Maybe even 4ish depending on what order we'll play in. I don't want to watch the other bands if there's any that go on before us. I want to be fresh and deliver The Leo Trio w/no distractions. But after we play... oh the partying shall commence! I'm bringing my own party supplies: flasks, lollipops, and my pipe. No matter what happens, I am definitely going to have a good time!

Ooh My Little Head

2010-10-13T14:15:00.005-05:00

Owww... just a few drinks last night and my head's had a slight, almost-under-the-radar ache all damn day. Gimme a break. All's I had to drink was 1 Crown and Diet Coke, 2 Miller Lites, and 1 Frangelico mit lime!!! Then again, we didn't eat very much. There were 4 of us sharing 2 appetizer platters, so I was mostly just picking at it. Then I was busy dancing for awhile. It was so fun though! We saw this band and they are old timey! I love them! They got mandolin and washtub bass and gong! I'd talked Mr. Wonderful and Leo into joining me last night and natch, there were plenny of our music-loving friends there. At one point on the dance floor the harp player came out and leaned against me as he played. Aw shucks!

Rehearsal tonight. We had rehearsal on Monday night too; was supposed to be Sunday but George's brother came into town and he hadn't seen him in 2 yrs, so we postponed. Having Sunday off was soooo awesome... especially since I was exhausted from working Greek Fest on Saturday. We'd gone out on Fri. night, of course, to Festival Chicano, then to Big Easy after that, so I didn't get much sleep before having to be at Greek Fest at 8am on Sat. I usually don't work the day shift at Greek, but I'd signed up for day this year so I'd be free at night for musical festivities.

Greek Fest was groovy. My adrenaline got pumping once, when there was a possible heart attack victim in the gym (where they have the Greek dancing kid shows) and I was working in the kids' area which is right next to the gym. Me and another deputy RAN INSIDE and this woman was on the floor, leaning against the wall. We lay her down and I unbuttoned her jeans in case we'd have to do CPR--I was thinking I wanted her clothes to be loosened. Fortunately the deputy I was with is also a paramedic, and then a woman ran over, saying she was a nurse. They monitored the pulse in her carotids and I checked her pulse in her wrist; but I was so nervous at 1st I was searching for it with my thumb before I realized what I was doing (you don't check pulses with your thumb as we have a pulse in our thumb!) and quickly switched to my fingers, where I detected a pulse, indeed, thank God. They called an ambulance and we tried to clear the many people in the audience out of the way. Then the Chief showed up and asked me if I'd had lunch yet, to which I said no and he said to go ahead. I trotted off just in time to meet Mr. Wonderful at the gate, so I escorted him inside and we got to have lunch together!

They were shorthanded for the evening shift so I worked an extra hour, then grabbed my free Greek plate and pastry box and headed home. I had just enough time to shower, change, relax a little bit, then Mr. Wonderful picked me up for a nice pizza dinner. We ate totally vegetarian, including the verdura! We decided to skip the last night of Festival Chicano, then we went to see our friends play at the Big Easy. One slow dance and one drink but then I was sooo tired we went back to Stefano's house, where I proceeded to sleep for almost 12 much-needed hrs. After I finally woke up we went for a nice run/walk, and then went to see our other friends play at Central Market. I love Central Market! I got 2 kinds of chicken salad, these huge cranberry/blueberry muffins, and this totally decadent "white chocolate pumpkin bread." Stefano let me pick out ingredients for our dinner that night and I picked fish, veggies, risotto, wine, and some beautiful bread. Stefano grilled everything and I brought over the Greek pastry box for dessert.

I had to take Monday off from Job #1. I'd been so drugged up on Benadryl last week but I had too much important stuff going on and couldn't take any sick time off. And I had so many things to catch up on around the house (the usual: mail piling up, dishwasher needed emptying, laundry, towels folded, etc. etc.) that I figured I was due for a damn break. So Monday was great and I got a lot done before heading to Job #2, then rehearsal. At rehearsal we ran through our set twice but George's bro and their friends headed over while we were in the middle of everything and they had beer and they requested some of their fave songs, and we did them but it was kinda distracting so Leo told them rehearsal tonite and on Sat. will be closed rehearsals. I didn't mind the distractions 100% as I figured it would be good training. I remember in high school this fellow violist who would practice, uninhibited, while the entire room was filing in, tuning up, getting ready, etc. and he said it was good to training to remain focused while a bunch of stuff was going on around you and there were lots of people in the room, also to not get as nervous in auditions, playing for large groups of people, etc.

Benadryl Funnnnnnnnn

2010-10-07T19:01:00.003-05:00

Not really, it's making me stoned and drowsy. After I got home from rehearsal last night I passed out on my couch around 9:30pmish, lights on, tv on, still in my clothes. I took another one today at lunchtime (7 hrs. ago) and am STILL drowsy and my heart is beating weird. But I'm still gwine out tonight! I must! It's the 1st night of Festival Chicano. Phillipo will meet me there, also George and his peeps will be up on the hill. However I cannot sit on the hill as I'm in a nice pinstripe suit and pumps b/c I'm at Job #2 and will be heading straight to the Fest, so I'll need to sit in the seats.

I ain't got much else to report except that we finally decided on our final 5 songs for our setlist. 2 straight shuffles instead of 1 (and I feel so good about that, b/c I am a straight shuffle bassist--that's where my strength lies), 1 classic slow blues, 1 jumpy one, and our cover of "Roxanne." 4 originals and the 1 cover, which is a unique cover indeed. We come in at 18 minutes so we're golden, golden, golden!

My Name is NOT Bella

2010-10-04T18:26:00.005-05:00

People constantly call me "Bella" and I don't really like it. That's not my name, it's my stage name. It's a pretty enough name but when I was given that name about 10 yrs. ago it wasn't one of America's most popular girls' names, like it is now! Ok, rant over. Hee hee!

How did yet another perfectly good weekend get away from me again?! Oh jeez. Well, Friday night was SO worth it, with the free Texmaniacs concert. It was me, Mr. Wonderful Stefano, George, his wife, Phillipo, and Phillipo's mom and stepdad. We ALL danced! The .99 cent margaritas were flowing! It was so great. We only stayed for the 1st set though, as I had to get up early on Sat. to work on my Personnel file for the new applicant I'm investigating. That's b/c I made the appt. to interview him on Sat. afternoon.

Before I left to go downtown and pick up the unmarked patrol car and get to the applicant's house (a goddamn HOUR away from my house) Stefano called me, urgently saying that the cheesy sports bar we played at last week needed us to play at the last minute that night--however we had no drummer. So we immediately got on the horn to all our drummer friends. All my drummer peeps were either already gigging or busy with other commitments. Then I was busy w/my interview for a couple of hours. But after I was done and driving back Stefano said they got a drummer, actually one I'd played with back in August when I sat in with that other band for the outdoor gig the night of our in-store performance.

I hated to have to miss the live CD show at Anderson Fair but god knows I need the gig and the $ for that cabinet I still have to buy for my new amp. It was still a very hard decision, but my li'l bro made me feel better by pointing out that Bill Cade would totally understand. Anyway, the gig was lame, as I knew it would be. The prob with playing at sports bars is no one's paying attention to the band in the corner. They're all smoking and drinking and watching the big screen TV's. But I always enjoy playing w/Mr. Wonderful and his harp player and the drummer is also a pal, so it was all good. Several Crown and Diet Cokes also took the edge off. And that $ at the end of the night sure didn't hurt either. We also went to Waffle House afterwards for a pecan waffle--yum!

On Sunday I slept 'til noon. I had to, as we didn't get to bed 'til 4am! Then I had to get up and work on a new bass line for one of Leo's songs. I wanted to spruce it up a little bit. Rehearsal was short and sweet thankfully, but we are still a little undecided on our 5-song set list. It's a delicate balance between "types" of blues songs--i.e., we have a standard slow blues song, then we have a straight shuffle, and then our blues cover of The Police's "Roxanne" which everyone always gets a kick out of, but now we have to decide on the final 2 songs. Song order is also a major consideration, due to style and keys, etc. Hmmmm.

After rehearsal I ran by Express, a store I rarely go to but I had a gift card and I had some ideas for our look for the finals. We decided on a black and white color scheme and I'd gotten some look ideas out of the Victoria's Secretions clothing catalog, so I was curious to see if I could find something similar at Express. I did, actually! These really cool black shorts that were sparkly as they had silver thread woven throughout. Unfortunately there were only 3 prs. left and the largest size was a size 4. FORTUNATELY I fit into them!!!!!!!!!!!! Hello, Crown and *DIET* Cokes and all this running I force myself to do!!! I then found a snug, long-sleeve white cotton shirt w/silver cufflinks (size SMALL!) to go on top and my outfit is now complete, once I add shoes from my closet (black cowboy boots?) and maybe a silver tube top under the shirt, which I also already own. Total cost: $91 but with my gift card and another discount I paid $57. HELL. YEAH!!!!!

Then to celebrate, I went for a run along the bayou. Last night Mr. Wonderful came to spend the night at my house and today he started his new job. He was a little subdued last night as his 3 weeks of freedom came to an end, but I already talked to him today and his 1st day went fine. I'm so happy to hear it. Tonight is a night OFF for me, and tomorrow too but Wednesday begins the nonstop madness again. Rehearsal Weds. night, and Thurs. night is the 1st night of the 3-day Festival Chicano that I must make appearances at. Friday night is when I'll take Stefano to the Festival; after that I want to go see our friend's band play at the Big Easy; Sat. I have to work security at Greek Fest from 8a-4p; Sat. night is the final night of Festival; after that I want to see my new guitarist friend that I'm obsessed with play at the Big Easy; and Sunday we have rehearsal again. Madness, I tell you, madness!

My Kingdom for Some Beauty Sleep

2010-09-30T15:31:00.006-05:00

Agh! I been living it up too much this week, and the fun continues tonight, tomorrow night, and of course, Saturday. I can't help it, can't help it, the girl can't help it.

Monday night we all went out to dinner after the meeting. When I got home around 10pm SC called me, as he was a little tipsy on gin and we ended up talking for 2 hours. He had mailed me 3-4 of his CD's last week as a gift. His songwriting is hit-and-miss for me, and he has a god awful singing voice but it's still sweet to listen to his music. Fortunately he sings on very few of his tracks, relying on pros to do most of the vocals.

Tuesday night (and I have to consult my Google calendar to remember what the hell I did that night), OH YEAH! Stefano's band played at this new club that is a beautiful club but in a not-so-great neighborhood. They charged a whopping $7 to get it--on a Tuesday night?! I don't THINK so. (I was on the guest list, natch, but damn!) Consequently there were only like 10 people there, and I'd brought Leo and Phillipo! Later on a couple more people showed up, including the older woman singer who we beat out at the IBC semi's last week. But she was very friendly to all of us (we've all known her a long time anyway) and it was fun hanging out. I drank 2 gin and tonics (goddamn $8 each!!! Fortunately I didn't pay for either of them) on an empty stomach and then Phillipo invited himself over to my place to have cigars and more drinks, which ended up being several Frangelico's. Stefano came over as well after he'd gone home and unloaded his gear and showered/changed and by then I was feeling very little pain.

Last night I had rehearsal and come to find out the IBC finals are only *20* minutes long! So we had to figure out which 5 songs we want to do. Then I wanted to run by the blues jam to see my guitarist friend who has actually WON the IBC in 2005, and also I'm a little obsessed with him these days! Tee hee! When I walked in, the house band (which he leads) was already taking the stage but they all had to comment on me as I walked over to where Phillipo was sitting waiting for me, calling me "Lady in Red" since I was wearing a tight red top. The bassist is in one of our competition bands in the IBC, but again, we're all friends so it's all good. Phillipo was already a little tipsy and he and I began throwing back Frangelicos since they'd been so tasty the night before! An hour later when the jam finally started (and no, I don't play in jams anymore even though Phillipo kept trying to make me sign up) and Mr. Fabulous Guitarist finally got a break he came outside to talk to me and I asked him for some general IBC advice, and then we just talked for a little while. I sooooo adore him!

At one point he had to run back inside to check on the jam and I was outside smoking my pipe w/Phillipo and some guy popped his head out to ask me if I wanted to play, and I was like, "no." A minute later Mr. Fab popped his head out to ask me the same question, to which he got the same answer, but then he said "You can play with me!" and I jumped up and practically ran inside, excited as a little girl!!! We got to play with a vibraphone dude who was awesome, though Phillipo said they were calling it a "vibrator", hee hee hee!

So tonight Leo is hosting the blues jam at the place where we'll have the IBC finals, so George and I are gwine go and perhaps sit in. Stefano will also join me and Phillipo too. Tomorrow I'm working from home which is timely and MUCH NEEDED, although I have probably had enough drinking and raising hell for the week. Tomorrow will be more drinking and raising hell however, as the legendary Texmaniacs are playing a FREE show in South Houston at that groovy Tejano club Phillipo and I went to last December! George and his wife are DOWN and so am I and Stefano and Phillipo!

I thought I had this upcoming weekend completely free but I cannot resist the Texmaniacs and frankly, that would be a crime against nature if I could. Then my dad also let us know that another favorite musician of ours, this totally awesome folk singer is doing a live CD on Sat. night, and goddamn, I CANNOT miss that. Look y'all, these are deathbed memories. I'll rest up someday on my deathbed and think back on all these incredible musical adventures I had as a young woman. Live now, sleep later!

Day OFF yesterday!

2010-09-27T14:11:00.003-05:00

Yesterday was literally the 1st day I've had completely OFF--nothing scheduled at all!--since Sunday Aug. 1. And hot damn, did I take advantage of it. First I slept til noon or so. I'd had a gig the night before with Mr. Wonderful's band where I drank several Crown and Diet Cokes, followed by a 2am trip to the Waffle House so I was READY for some damn sleep! Then I had a 16-item "To Do" list, including going for a run, getting groceries, doing 3 loads of laundry, getting gas, running the dishwasher, going through the pile of mail on my kitchen counter, etc. etc. ETC!!!

Last week was just nuts, but as I've said so many times before, what else is new? The Amy Tan reading on Monday night was awesome and just what I needed to cleanse my palate from my world of nonstop work, music, work, music, these past few weeks. I even made a friend, this really sweet woman who let me sit by her and her friend and we exchanged info so we could become friends on Goodreads. After that event I headed to a club where they do open mic comedy night as it was the birthday of a friend of Mr. Wonderful Stefano's, so we decided to go say hi to him and have one drink. The comics were mostly terrible, but it was still kind of amusing.

Tuesday night I had to go pick up Mudflap so he could come get his plain white wrapper car which has been at my house for awhile now. Then Stefano called me to tell me he and his brother made chicken and broccoli and invited me over for dinner, which was sooo nice! Wednesday night I had rehearsal and that went well, with us adding 2 songs for the upcoming IBC finals. The semi's were 25 min. max sets (we timed ourselves at ~22 min.) and the finals will be 30 min., so by adding 2 songs we should be golden.

Oh yeah, Tues.-Thus. I was also at Atascocita all day for the Use of Force class, which I have to say, was so much fucking fun!!! The instructor was this legendary instructor, one who is retiring this December, and who I've never had a class with but have heard tons of stories about. He's so awesome! He truly is a treasure, and it's a wonderful thing that when he retires, he's going to join up with us Reserves!!! His powerpoints were so funny, with hilarious videos, pictures, etc. He told tons of incredible stories. He's also totally country so it was so entertaining to listen to his vernacular. Oh my God, I loved every minute of it. And when we took the final test ("knowledge inventory", as he called it) I got a perfect 100. Yay!

Thursday night was LEGENDARY. The Texas Tornados were playing a free concert at the park downtown and I was prepared! Phillipo came to my house and since he'd come straight from work I supplied him w/a t-shirt and I had plenty o' coco rum and a cigar for Phillipo and my pipe and my camera, so off we went! I knew EVERYONE would be there, and I was right. We descended upon the scene and immediately I had to greet, like 20 people that I knew! Hugs left and right, kisses, etc.!!! LDB was playing w/the opening band and he came up and hugged me. My cousins were there. Tons of my musician friends and music-loving friends were there! It was so fun!!!!!!!! Phillipo took my only $2 I had on me and we borrowed another $1 from a friend so he could buy a sno-cone that we could spike.

When the TT's took the stage I was right up front, against the stage in front of Flaco! I've never seen the dance floor covered w/people at these concerts, but I'm not surprised it was for this show. It was a KILLER FUN AWESOME SHOW! When Louie Ortega sang Freddy Fender's "Before the Next Teardrop Fall" I couldn't help but start to cry like a damn baby. It was bittersweet! Otherwise, I kept raising my travel cup (of coco rum) to Flaco and smiling and winking at him. My late great grandmother Julia used to have a crush on him... and so do I! I could see the set list so as soon as they had 2 songs to go I escaped from the front and ran over to the merchandise table so I could buy some shit and have it signed. Before doing that though, I ran into one of the music writers from the Houston Press and made him dance w/me.

However--the merch table only took cash, of which I had $0.00 on me! So I raced over to Ricky, the host of the Lonestar Jukebox radio show--it's good to have friends!--and asked him for a $20, which he promptly handed over. Thus I was able to buy a TT CD and have them all sign it. Except--while waiting in line this woman recognized me from the IBC semi's and we chatted a minute, and then she handed me her CD so I could get it signed for her b/c the throng was mad and autograph-crazy, but in doing so I returned to her my CD instead which had all the autographs and accidentally kept hers which was missing one. Oh well.

Then Phillipo and I went to the Big Easy and I bought us a couple drinks. Stefano had said he'd meet me at my place later (he and his siblings were busy as hell moving their parents into the new condo all day long) so Phillipo and I headed to my place and I immediately poured some more drinks and put on some Townes Van Zandt so I could school Phillipo on his better songs. Stefano showed up after awhile with red roses--awww!!!--and we bid Phillipo a good night.

Friday night was also fun as it was finally the night when I could spend with Stefano's entire family. We made plans to eat at their fave Vietnamese restaurant, and I brought a bottle of white wine and Stefano brought a bottle of red. We grubbed seriously, then went to get ice cream at Ben & Jerry's. Yum! The 'rents also gave me a lamp as they are still trying to downsize belongings and I need furnishings for my spare bedroom. Score!

Saturday morning was highly amusing as I ran by the radio station to pay Ricky back his $20. I ended up finding his unopened copy of The Leo Trio CD and he allowed me to open it, pick a song, and introduce it live on the air! It was so awesome! My dad has started calling our drummer George the "Denver Harbor Flash" and so that's how I introduced George on the air as well. I played our song "Pawn Shop"! And actually a few people I know were listening in and they heard me, I found out later! Killer!

(Unfortunately, then I headed up to the gun range for my annual qualification, only shooting the handgun as I didn't have time for shotgun, and I shot pretty poorly. Passing score is 196--I scored 196. FUCK!!! My grip on my handgun is too low, for some reason. God knows where I picked up that bad habit!!! I need to work on that, FOR REAL.)

So then I had to go to the U of H-Downtown campus for a training session for my Women's Health Network Board, as I volunteered to work on our website. (Why? Why do I continue to load myself down with obligations??? Sigh.) However, I stayed only an hour and a half, then skipped out to do some needed household shopping, then to have just a little bit of downtime before my gig w/Stefano's band. Damn, is that too much to ask? Apparently so!

The gig was groovy. We got there early enough for me to have a whole 1/3 lb. cheeseburger and fries. Their drummer loves me b/c I spent about 12 years of my life stuck in a tiny room with just my viola and a metronome and so my meter is SOLID. We played a great 3 sets, and I even sang Albert Collins' "I Ain't Drunk, I'm Just Drinking" which was so fun! At the end of the night the bar owner bought us all rounds, then Stefano and I went to Waffle House, where he'd never been! I said, incredulous, "You mean you've never known the pleasure of 'scattered, covered, smothered'?!?" I had a pecan waffle. Yum! Best of all, I've got 3 more gigs w/them at this place over the next 3 months, and sister, I need the money!

Now begins another crazy damn week. Monthly sheriff's meeting tonight, followed by dinner w/Mudflap and co. Tomorrow night Stefano's band is playing at a nice-looking new venue, and Leo and Phillipo said they'd accompany me to that. Weds. night is rehearsal of course. Thursday night I FINALLY have free, and Friday night, too unbelievably.

McCartney Weekend: IBC Success!

2010-09-20T16:44:00.004-05:00

Yesterday The Leo Trio won a spot to compete in the IBC finals next month!!! We were up against 4 other great bands. We rehearsed last Weds. night and again on Saturday afternoon. We were ready. That's how you get to Carnegie Hall, baby: PRACTICE. We were locked in, we were in the zone. We had other things going for us too, such as our dress/appearance and that we were there on time and that we kept strictly to the 25-minute set rule.

Another rule we followed (that the other bands seemed to blatantly disregard) was that we used the backline provided as opposed to bringing our own amps! I actually had to say something to one of the Houston Blues Society (HBS) officials about that. It wasn't fair! I said to them "Leo would never say anything but I have to say something" and brought it to their attention, asking would those bands lose points for doing that?!? Not trying to cause trouble but Leo has been practicing with a damn pedal for the past few weeks in preparation for not being able to use his amp and furthermore, I'm positive they don't put up with any rule shirking at the national finals in Memphis!!! Well, it turned out not to matter in the end, b/c OUR band won! Along with 1 other band. We both now proceed to the finals which will be held next month, and we compete against the 2 bands that were chosen from last weekend to determine who will represent Houston in Memphis next year (which will be us!).

I passed out on my couch on Saturday night at 9:30pm, lights/TV on, still in my clothes, and didn't wake up until 7:30am on Sunday. I needed that rest--I was mentally, emotionally, and physically exhausted! (Stefano was at his gig all night.) It was kinda nice to wake up so damn early on Sunday however, b/c I wanted to go for a run and clear my head and listen to Taj Mahal and the Holmes Bros. and Bonecrusher and mentally prepare for the competition. After my run I got myself some huge breakfast tacos which I'd been craving and figured would be awesome fuel for the day. Then I had a relaxing shower and did my hair/makeup and slid into my killer short black sequined dress, paired with big gold earrings and black high heel sandals. I did my eyes up in black glitter and false eyelashes. I crimped strategic sections of my hair and left the rest straight and long. All my nails were painted this metallic purple/blue color. Hey, the rules said "Dress to Impress"!!!

I wanted to run through the songs one last time on my own, but unfortunately my false eyelashes took so long I only had time to go through a couple of songs. But I was ready! I knew them! I just wanted to be a little warmed up. Stefano came by and gave me a good luck kiss before having to go to the airport to pick up his brother. I got to the venue a couple minutes before the 1:30 straw drawing and was surprised to see that only 2 of the 5 bands were there as we'd all been ordered! Already I could tell some of the bands seemed to be lackadaisical about the rules! The HBS officials were ticked off, I could tell. Leo and George looked great, Leo in a dark blue suit and George in a black guayabera and black slacks and his black hat. My friend Albert showed up around 1:45 for crying out loud and finally there were enough band members from each band that could at least pull a straw. I got to pull for us and I got to pull first.

I'd wanted Slot #2 for a few reasons: we wouldn't have to open the show, we'd go on early enough to be done and then have plenty of time to drink/relax, and I certainly didn't want to go last b/c by then everyone (judges and audience) would be kind of drained/tired. I also wasn't sure I wanted to have to watch the other 4 bands in their entirety--not that I was too worried about getting psyched out, but you just never know. I rarely got nervous at the many auditions in my former classical music life and almost always nailed them, but this is different music/different scene, etc. I've never competed in a blues competition before. Anyway, I went for the lucky green straw and pulled.... Slot #2!!!!!!!!!! Immediate texting began to Stefano and Phillipo and our other peeps to tell them they needed to head over there to see us. Albert pulled the bad straw of #1 and had to hurry up and go on immediately at 2pm sharp w/hardly any down time. We noted that his band didn't have much of a stage presence w/nary a smile and he only did ONE original. Also he used his verboten amp! He also finished his 25-min set with only 2 seconds to spare (he said later).

So according to the rules we had 5 min. to set up and Stefano and Phillipo helped us carry items to the stage. I did a little dance I'd learned from, of all places, Justin Beiber while Leo played the opening notes to our 1st song "Don't" then George and I fell into place after the intro. I made sure to smile, dance, look up at the judges, the audience in the back, sides, etc. We put on a show! I used a couple different bass plucking techniques to show I had some chops to show off besides killer legs. I mouthed choice lyrics along w/Leo. George nailed all his parts. About 1/2-way through our set (I found out later) the Vice President of the HBS found Stefano to ask "Where the hell has this band been hiding???" Stefano told him that we've been playing around, to which the VP said that the rest of the bands are going to have their work cut out for them and he hoped they were prepared to follow us!!!

I guess we surprised a few people. The band after us was a band not to be dismissed however, as he's a local boogie woogie piano old-timer that everyone loves, and he also brought 3 girls to play horns with him so it was a good show too. The band after them was a band of "old coots" as one of the HBS board members told me, and then the final band was a local older woman singer I've known a long time and who is a friend to all of us although she can be catty sometimes and two-faced. (She used to talk smack about JFu, for example.) This was her 4th time apparently competing in the IBC. I spent most of the time outside chatting w/people, smoking my pipe, drinking, etc. I was just glad to be able to relax. Finally when it was all over I went to the bathroom and while I was in there I could hear the emcee naming the bands one by one for one last time. When he said our name I heard FROM THE BATHROOM the audience roar the loudest!

Then the HBS Prez asked us if we'd participate in the jam session, to which we said sure! My ex, Marvin was there and he got on stage with us, to play on Leo's 2nd guitar. I thought "Well, here we are onstage again and if we don't win, then at least we look like good sports getting up here to still jam and have a good time." The Prez asked us to hold off starting while the judges gave him the scores, then he took the mic and announced the winners. Stefano had predicted it would be us and Mr. Boogie Woogie--and he was right! Stefano had kept telling me how we'd blown everyone else away that day in every category. He said many people kept coming up to tell him we were sure winners. The HBS Vice Prez told Leo and me he was so impressed with us that he wanted our band to do a showcase with him and his band. But my jaw still dropped when I heard our name! There's actually a pic of me and my hand is over my mouth in amazement. I mouthed "Thank You" to the judges, 2 of which were women! Then we jammed and the dance floor was full!

I gave my bass to Phillipo after 2 songs and let him jam awhile, and I went to chat w/people, including Albert. I pointed out that the rules needed to strictly be followed and that he should try again next year. Albert and I have been friends a long, long time which is why I felt comfortable bringing it up with him. He protested what originals are James Cotton known for? See, here's the thing: the IBC is a CONTEST. A contest with RULES. It's like those reality shows, like Top Chef or Project Runway. It's not just about the raw talent, but it's also about completing the challenges in the allotted amount of time. It's about sticking with the GUIDELINES. But I swore I'd not say anything negative about any of our competitors and I haven't been. While I was watching the 4th band one of the HBS Board members sidled up to me and said "They're kinda mechanical, huh?" and I just grinned and shrugged, refusing to comment.

So today I saw one hint of a negative response, and that is a comment an older white woman HBS Board member wrote on the Facebook wall of the older woman singer who made her 4th unsuccessful IBC attempt and it was something to the effect of, "Will less clothes help you in the IBC?" Now gee, who could she have been referring to? I was waiting for those kinds of comments to come through. Then again, at the bar yesterday when I was complaining about the other bands disregarding the rules and using their own amps I said to Leo and George, "That's not fair!" Then I said, "Then again, this isn't fair either!" and moved my hands down my body! Hee hee hee! Still--I knew the men judges would like my dress and the 2 female judges probably didn't have a problem with it either, since they were black and Mexican. It seems to be the older white women who weren't crazy about it, apparently. Leo says it's jealousy and they can't find fault in our music so they're gonna find fault in our dress and he says just wait for them to start in on HIM for not being US- or Texas-born!

Riding on a high. When it was all over I went across the street and treated myself to some cupcakes, then met Stefano and his brother for Chinese food in our neighborhood. Tonight is a real treat, as Amy Tan is doing a book reading and signing downtown and so I am gwine to give myself a night of literary fulfillment! I'll be at the Sheriff Academy the next 3 days for an all-day class so that'll be a nice little break too, despite that awful early morning drive. Rehearsal resumes on Weds. night!

Fortuna Spinning That Crazy Wheel

2010-09-17T15:53:00.011-05:00

Wow. What a few days this has been. Fortuna has been spinning me up, then down, and back around again. It's been crazy! A bunch of bad... mixed in with a bunch of good. The good always beats out the bad though! Today for example, Mr. Wonderful took me out to lunch because he loves me. Stuffed shrimp, yum! We went after the appraiser was done with my house this morning. I have been doing my darndest to clean and tidy up for the past few days. Fortunately I am NEVER home so the house wasn't even that dirty, I just had to mostly clear away the clutter which piles up b/c when I AM home I drop stuff--mail, CD's, Sheriff paperwork, newspapers, magazines, etc. etc.--on the couch, the floor, kitchen counter, etc. and then try to deal with it when it gets too out of hand. Mr. Wonderful had brought me 2 kinds of beautiful flowers on Weds. night when I was crying and sobbing so that gave the living room a nice, pretty touch.

I need the appraiser to give my house a market value of $10,000 more than it is currently/temporarily worth on the tax rolls in order for my refinance to come through at the best possible outcome!!! That shouldn't be too much to ask, I don't think; after all, the place was at that value when I bought it 4 years ago, plus Janie and I made all these wonderful improvements on the place, PLUS he measured wall to wall today and said that I have almost 200 more sq. ft. than I (and the tax office) thought! Come ON, man!

Ok, so why was I sobbing and having a crying binge on Weds. night? Well, basically Aaron disrespected me and insulted my honor as a bass player at rehearsal in front of Sundance, Sun's wife, our drummer, even Aaron's girlfriend who was there, and for absolutely no good reason. He was frustrated at other things but took it out on me. Why? Because he's known me for 12 yrs and thinks he can talk to me that way? Because in J2's opinion he's a womanizer/male chauvinist? Because he's a total asshole and a big fuckin' meany? All of the above? I was SO PISSED, but I didn't say anything until I had to leave to go to rehearsal at Leo's, and Aaron and I were alone and he was walking me to my car. Then I told Aaron I didn't need his attitude or his shit and he argued back with me and insulted me some more and I honestly just couldn't believe it. I was really angry with him and as I was about to drive away he all of a sudden opened my car door and said not to be mad at him. I said I was mad at him, but that maybe I'll get over it.

As I drove off I called Stefano to tell him what had happened and then I just started crying. Aaron committed a mortal sin with me, as one of my Absolute 100% Deal Breakers is to NEVER DISRESPECT ME IN FRONT OF OTHER PEOPLE. I divorced my husband for doing that to me! I broke up w/DA for doing that to me! If you got a problem with me then by all means, bring it to me, let's put it on the table and discuss--but NOT in front of others. Aaron said so many shitty things to me like I "don't know the songs" and "haven't done my homework" b/c I missed 2-3 notes in the end of this ONE song we were working on. We had just done 4 other Sundance songs and I had my charts and notes with me and the songs were fine. And Aaron and Sun were messing up left and right too--Sun on his own songs! But b/c I missed a couple of notes at the END of this one song, Aaron took off his guitar and said to me and Sun as Sun started to show me those last notes, "Y'all learn the song and let me know when you got it." Meaning, Adela learn the song and let me know when Adela has it. Never mind all my hours and hours spent on my charts, bass transcriptions, and notebook full of notes or my success on the other songs--he was basically saying I hadn't done SHIT.

(Not to mention that nobody had even bothered to tell me until that day about this mid-week rehearsal occurring on the same night I always have rehearsal with Leo but that I'd still managed to move mountains in order to be there--leaving work early, telling my mom she would now have to get a cab ride from her doctor's appt. [the cab only took her 1 mile to meet my stepdad so it was no big deal but still!], having Stefano go to my house to pick up Henry the 5-string bass and meet me in the parking lot of a bank on the freeway to make the exchange, and pushing back Leo's rehearsal by a 1/2 hour so I could have a good solid 2 1/2 hours of rehearsal w/Aaron and Sun [and BTW Sun didn't even show up until 6pm, while I'd been waiting at Aaron's since 5pm!!!])

I was just so hurt b/c it was so unfair. It was wrong, unwarranted, mean, and 100% completely unfair. Stefano listened to me sobbing and sobbing and said that music is supposed to be fun, not like this. I said maybe I should just get through the 2 gigs coming up with Sundance and Aaron and be done with them. Stefano said if it were him he'd be done with them now! After I spoke to Stefano I spoke with Phillipo and just kept crying. Then I got to Leo's, still crying, and George and he had to hug me and listen to what happened too. They both said FUCK AARON and that the Sundance project doesn't deserve me. They also said if it were them they'd be gone now too. George even said not to even give them the courtesy of an official resignation, just to disappear on them.

That night when I got home late I sent Aaron a text message: "You're right, I'm not anywhere near the level of musical genius that you are so go ahead and get JT [the drug addict/untrustworthy bassist in another of Aaron's bands that Aaron threatened to give the Sundance gig to] to play with you and Sundance. I'll get your bass back to you Saturday. Thanks anyway for the opportunity." And I sent Sundance a facebook msg b/c I didn't have his # and it was a very nice message, saying that I have really enjoyed playing with him, learning his songs, getting to know him and his wife, that I am still a fan of his, that Aaron confirms JT can pick up where I left off which I believe, thanked him for the wonderful opportunity, and that my best wishes and prayers go to him for his musical career. Then I felt SO RELIEVED. Relieved that now my already-practically extinct spare time can go back to reading books, watching movies, chilling out at my house, spending more time with Stefano/my friends/family, etc. INSTEAD of eating, drinking, and breathing Sundance's music so that I could learn it as fast as humanly possible for these upcoming gigs.

And then... yesterday morning the shit hit the fan as they say, and yes, I actually was surprised at that too. Sundance sent me a msg. back saying to please give him my # so he can call me and talk to me. He said he thought I was doing great and didn't understand what was going on. His wife called me and had a long talk with me and said how they also were appalled that Aaron had been talking down to me like that in front of everyone but they weren't sure how to intervene. She said that I had been doing just FINE on everything, and noted that Aaron was messing up too. She said Sundance loves working with me, they both really like me and my great attitude, and she begged me to reconsider. She couldn't believe I was still willing to continue working after Aaron was treating me like that, that if it had been her the bitch would've come out right then and there. I said that I did have words with Aaron outside, but that I was just trying to be professional and continue working before I had to leave. But I also told her that I have to leave the project b/c I can't work w/Aaron. I said that the way he talked to me is 100% unacceptable and I won't have that in my life and I can't have that in my life. At all. I have too many people that want me to play in their bands--I get asked every other week to consider playing in other people's projects--people who would NOT treat me like shit the way Aaron did. She begged me again to just think about it, b/c they want me for the project, not this drug addict JT guy. I reiterated that Aaron said JT can do it and I have to believe him.

Then the text messages from Aaron started. My eyes were all puffy from my crying binge, my head hurt, my chest was tight, and I was trying to get over it all but Aaron's text messages were making it impossible for me to move on and recover. He sent message after message about how sorry he was, how I'm the right "man" for the project, not JT, how I'm a phenomenal bass player and JT doesn't have my blues/country roots, how JT was never actually a consideration after all, how he hoped I would let him crawl around on his knees in dog shit begging my forgiveness, how he was stupid and wrong to say all that crap to me, how much he loves me as a friend and loves being onstage with me, how wonderful of a person I am, how much he respects me, how sad he'll be if we can't put this behind us, please call him so we can talk, blah blah blah blah BLAH!!! I was tempted to turn off my phone just to get some peace. It all just made my chest tighter and my head keep hurting (and I can't take any Ibuprofin or anything like that b/c I'm donating platelets on Sat. for a retired Reserve deputy's wife who is in the cancer hospital and you can't take stuff like that w/in 48 hours of donating). I sent Aaron back a few choice texts saying I had nothing to say to him, so where/when would he like his bass returned?

SC and I were Yahoo chatting about this too and he asked was I just being sensitive. Seriously, I have absolutely no time to spare on anyone who is going to be mean and shitty to me for no reason. If there's one thing I would have a genie give me a wish on, it would be MORE TIME. More hours in the day, more days in the week. I cannot give one second of my precious time to someone like Aaron or allow them to be in my life. It's MY life, after all!!! And as far as reconsidering my resignation, well the whole project is ruined for me now isn't it? It's not fair to expect me to be able to come back to rehearsal and NOT be nervous about any more wrong notes or NOT be fearful that Aaron will snap again and give me attitude or say something shitty again.

I was feeling better finally last night by the time Stefano picked me up from work so we could go see the free Cyril Neville concert. Oh lord, did we have fun!!!!!!!!!! Philipo also joined us, and of course we ran into so many other friends/musicians we knew! We danced, drank (Stefano and I had Crown/Coke/ice with us), I even led a conga line briefly! The music was killer and it was just the best time. Then we went to have a drink at our fave blues club and unfortunately there was an ugly incident there involving yet another stupid guitarist with a big mouth that I had to put in his place--but he deserved it.

Basically this guitarist, a friend of all of ours--who is also around 8-9 yrs younger than me BTW!--had told Leo last week that The Leo Trio hasn't paid our dues so we won't make it past the 1st round of the IBC. Oh my God. Appalling!!! When Leo told me this I went to my car the next day and yanked off this guitarist's bumper sticker that I was nice enough to be driving around with and de-liked his Facebook page! So idiot was at the bar last night and I made sure to ignore him when he said hi to Stefano. Perplexed, a few minutes later he had the nerve to come over to my table where I was sitting w/Stefano and say that he just wanted to say hi to me. I glared at him and didn't say anything; he looked at Stefano, who shrugged, so idiot slunk away and went outside w/his tail between his legs. SERIOUSLY?! You're gonna talk shit about me and then act all buddy buddy with me??? I won't tolerate fakeness or hypocrisy either! It's true that he also caught me at a time when I am in no mood to tolerate any crap from anyone.

Idiot stayed outside while we were there, even when the band started up. Philipo showed up a few min. later and confirmed he was outside and I made sure to tell Philipo and another guitarist friend of ours what a "big fucking mouth" idiot guitarist has. (I heard a great line from the new "Wall Street" sequel that just came out: "You quit telling lies about me, and I'll quit telling the truth about you!") After a couple drinks and lots of dancing, Stefano and I headed home and a text message came through on my phone: it was Leo! Leo said that he and idiot have just "set things straight so give him a wink and let's move on." I texted back NO! Then I called Leo, first singing the opening lines of "You are the Sunshine of My Life" to him (I was a little tipsy by then), then asking why in the world would idiot call LEO after being dissed by me?!? Would it be because, oh I don't know, perhaps he added 2+2, figured out he was BUSTED by me, and thereby proved that a phone call to Leo means he deserves a big fucking "Guilty!" sign around his neck???

Ok so anyway. Big weekend ahead! Tonight we're going to see some live music w/my cousin to celebrate her recent B.A. in nursing. Tomorrow I'm donating the platelets at 10:30 am and they say it should take about an hour and a half. I'm a little nervous, never having done this before, but I'll eat a good breakfast and I should be ok. After that is our final rehearsal before the IBC on Sunday which is gonna be HUGE. (To the IBC I'm wearing an incredibly short black dress w/sequins on the top. It's like 1960's short! I'm gonna wear some black bike shorts underneath and fold 'em up just in case, I mean I want to be respectful and not slutty towards this crowd.) After rehearsal I'm gwine go down to the gun range for one final practice session before I qualify next Saturday; right after that my dad is having a pre-housewarming party party. Stefano has a gig that night way far away and I am sooooooooooooooooo looking forward to having some down time at my house, by myself, with my books and DVR. Oh mannnnnnnnnnnn..........

Sunday I think I'd like to go for an early morning run to clear my head and get ready for the competition. We have to be there at 1:30 to draw straws to determine the order of the 5 bands--2 bands of which are close personal friends of mine. We're just gonna have fun and do our best to melt people's faces off with our high voltage blues!

Whoo Crazy Busy Times

2010-09-13T18:44:00.003-05:00

You know, I might as well place a temporary hold on my Netflix account (you can do it for 3 months, I believe) and just forget about the 116 books on my GoodReads "To Read" list. Shit. I am so fucking busy I can't even believe it. And I'm so sorry to say the horribly ugly green monster "Jealousy" has invaded my spirit since Mr. Wonderful got a great new job last week, tendered his resignation at his present job today, and was promptly ordered to tie up all loose ends and vacate the premises immediately since his job as an HR software technician is a sensitive-secure position, meaning they'd prefer you gone sooner than later, meaning he left work by noon today and meaning he now has 3 WEEKS OFF until his new job starts in October!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OH MY GOD. I'd give my right ass to have even just 1 week off from everything. I am so jealous I can't even think straight. I am so jealous my chest kinda hurts trying to think about it.

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.

Labor Day McCartney Times

2010-09-07T14:05:00.008-05:00

Wow, what a last few days I've had, in terms of BUSYBUSYBUSY but as I've said un millon times before, what else is new. Like B.B. King sings, "Movin' faster than the speed of sound / Faster than the speeding bullet / People living like Superman / All day and all night / And I won't say if it's wrong or if it's right / I'm pretty fast myself..."

So jeez, uh, last week (and I have to consult my Google calendar to refresh my memory--I survive by that thing--Red is Job #2, Yellow is Job #1, and Blue is my personal schedule/social life/music gigs/rehearsals/Sheriff's Office stuff) I was actually glad that rehearsal got cancelled b/c George flaked out on us and I had some much-needed and extremely rare free evening time! Then Aaron flaked out on me too but it's ok b/c I did some work on Sundance's songs on my own.

Friday Leo called a necessary make-up rehearsal but b/c I clearly wasn't happy about giving up my and Stefano's Friday night together Leo sweetened the deal by offering to make a dinner of his famous beer-butt chicken for everyone, so we agreed. I worked from home on Friday and that was so relaxing, and after Job #2 I picked up Stefano and we headed to Leo's. I brought a big bottle of sangria I've had in my fridge since that crazy guitar player friend of mind came over that March afternoon to entertain me and brought the 2 bottles; we'd drank one. Stefano and I picked up fruit on the way and pie for dessert. After a nice dinner and some business talk (we have entered the IBC and so have some SERIOUS strategizing and tightening up to do!!!) we had a quick rehearsal, working up 3 new Leo original songs. I tell you what, after all this rehearsing w/the monster Aaron and learning Sundance's songs, I am quickly becoming a fearless bass player. Leo's songs were easier to pick up for me now that I'm quickly building my bass vocab as well as chops.

Saturday thank God was a mostly unscheduled day, although I had to do some work on my sheriff Personnel file and tidy up my house which was getting out of hand, and honestly I can't remember right now what else filled up the day but I know the day was chockfull until B's 50th birthday party that evening. Oh now I remember, Stefano and I met Rozzy to buy the GK amp head ($400) and then went to Guitar Center to try and find a cabinet but GC didn't have what I wanted, damn them! We met Bonnie and her friends at a healthy restaurant near her house and I had to have two of their Pomegranate-tini's! All the food there is way healthy and YUM! Then we headed across the street to a neighborhood bar for more drinks and homemade cupcakes but I was tired and we receded into the night as I do and were back at Stefano's house at a somewhat decent hour.

Sunday I had to be at the Marine Base for my annual day of working with the Marine Division. It turned out I was with the same Sgt. I worked with last year, and his platoon. There were 5 of us and 2 boats and the Sgt. paired me with him. Another deputy said of course the Sgt. would pair himself with the pretty girl and send the 3 dudes out on 1 boat, ha ha! I said then he needed to take the next Sgt's exam when it came around and make Sgt. so he could exercise such power! We all headed to Subway for lunch but just as we pulled into the parking lot we got a call that there was an asshole on a red and black jet ski sideswiping people on the water and acting a damn fool, so no lunch for us as we headed straight to the river to try and see if there was anything we could do, which was doubtful. That's b/c we were about an hour from even getting on the damn river when you consider we had to drive to that part of town, launch the boat, and then get to that specific beach where the idiot was spotted! But we had to at least make a show of it.

Natch, we didn't find him. And b/c I'm so out of practice packing for an all-day shift on the river, I'd forgotten a few key items back at home that I'd planned on bringing, specifically my snacks which were forgotten and sitting on the damn counter!!! Thank God I remembered 3 bottles of water and my radio holder but I forgot my stupid ticket book at home, also my flashlight which I didn't think I'd need but you never know. Also thanks to Jesus H. Christ I'd found a couple packs of leftover Orbit gum in my bag which is what I ended up having for lunch! Now all you boys and girls see why I don't like working Marine Division? TRAPPED on the water, man.

After a couple boring hours the Sgt. remembered that I know how to operate a Duracraft so he scooted over and let me take over. Yay! (Said slightly sarcastically.) And of course that's when all the real work began, when I'm at the helm! 1st we had to tow a boat to shore that had a conked-out motor. I've never towed a boat in my life and since it's been a year that I operated a boat, I felt miserably out of practice and not just a little skittish, but I had to just put on my professional police game face and pray to God for the best and most importantly, BELIEVE I could do it. And I did! I was soooo nervous operating near people and the beaches were so incredibly packed with swimmers and kids and canoe-ers and dogs and all their friends and family but when in doubt I just threw the throttle into neutral in hopes of not killing anyone TOO quickly. But I did just fine! I also always get soooooo nervous around the dock, always scared I'm gonna crash the boat into it, but again that was all right too. WHEW!!!!!

Later on I successfully managed to get the boat right next to both a jetski and another boat at the same time (Woo-hoo Dep. Adela!!!), dock the boat 2 more times, got the boat up at top speed (~35 mph) a few times (when I was bored), and more annoyingly, navigate through manymanymany other boats' and jetskis' wakes. I had told the Sgt. though that I absolutely had to be out of there by 8pm for my paying gig in Pearland and although there had been drownings almost every weekend the entire summer (people are so fucking stupid--I swear the potential for human stupidity on the water year after year will never, ever cease to surprise me) the Sgt. said that he would do his best to make sure I got out of there in a timely manner, even if it meant I had to have Stefano come pick me up, which he agreed to do as a last resort.

Towards the end of the shift around 6:30pm we had a call of a boating accident and my heart sank, but really it was just an idiot jetskier who collided with the back of a boat, scratching it. The boat owner wanted a report done--of course he did! So we headed over there and I docked the boat w/out incident although I relied on the kindness of a nearby stranger to tie me off, heh heh. The other deputies were already there and one of them came over and said he liked the way I handled the boat. I thought he was kidding but he was totally serious, and the Sgt. said they were gonna make a boat operator out of me yet! After that the Sgt. said to go ahead and head back to the beach where we'd put in and he asked if I could go get the truck and back up the trailer. Now that is DEFINITELY something I'm not the best at--I can do it of course, but I have to go reeeeeal slow and I almost did jackknife the trailer once a couple years ago! So after he saw the hesitation on my face he said he'd go get it but I offered to trailer the boat! I can do that all right, usually. And even though by the time he backed the trailer down the ramp and there were other deputies there (including the Lt.!) and that used to make me sooooo nervous, having other deputies and the general public watching me attempt to do anything boating-related, this time I really didn't care and I trailered the boat with a self-grade of A-. How's THAT for personal growth!

After I picked up my car I raced home, driving through KFC b/c I was starving and wouldn't have time to eat once I hit home and had to shower/change/load up, etc. Stefano came over to help me get my amp in the car and he drove us to Pearland which is not too terribly far from our 'hood. Leo, George and George's wife were already there. Stefano and I took a breather and went outside to smoke and some older guy spotted me with my pipe and was so tickled he offered to buy us drinks, so we sat w/him and his lady friends for a bit. We were the middle act in the 3-band night but it was kinda lame b/c the room was huge and not really full and the folks that were there were mostly into their eating. It seemed like no one was really paying attention but when we were done I was already headed offstage and they all of a sudden wanted an encore but I told Leo they could have an encore if they tipped! I didn't mean to be a bad sport but seriously, tipping will get an audience what they want every time and if they wanted more they could cough up some cash and/or buy the CD!

Oh man. That's enough of an update for now. I don't even have time to drink much these days, which is always good for keeping the calories down! Rehearsals galore this week are on the horizon with my 2 bands. Also I have GOT to finish this Personnel report and I have a work book club book to read too, by Thursday! Lemme got on some o' this...

NOLA McCartney Weekend! Pt. 3 and etc.

2010-08-30T14:06:00.006-05:00

Owww it hurts to type. The 4 fingertips on my left hand are killin me. This is from playing the 5-string bass "Henry" at Leo's party on Sat. night and then again at rehearsal last night w/Aaron and the singer and Aaron's drummer. We played for over 4 hours. I was worried I might lose out on the audish to Yo-Yo Ma's cousin but in the end Aaron told him not to even show up. I had been working really, really hard at learning the singer's 5 original songs that I had recordings of, making chart notes and everything. I mean I worked on those songs for hours on Saturday. It was great ear-training practice, that's fo' sho', but I have to say I am so out of practice from years of playing mostly country and blues--and his songs have a lot of things like flat 7's, minor 6's, minor 2's and stuff. Also I decided I'd learn them on "Henry" since it's Aaron's bass and I wanted to put it to good use. So I really gave my brain a serious musical workout.

So last night went well for the most part, I believe. Aaron is such a natural, amazing musician and though he loves me, he did scold me later for bragging to him that I knew the singer's original songs note-for-note and it was clear I missed a couple of notes--but I told him I had said that for Yo-Yo Ma's cousin's sake, that I was just letting Aaron know there was no way YYM's C was gonna be the better bass player for the project than me and there was ALSO no way he had learned as much of the material as I had! And anyway, I learned 90% of the original songs so jeez. And the singer likes to do songs like "Going Down" by Freddie King and "I Been Loving You Too Long" by Otis Redding and I can do "Going Down" all day long (we do it in Leo's band) and I knew the weird chord changes in the Otis song!!! Anyway, to be continued I guess... the singer posted something nice about us on his Facebook today so that's encouraging, but Aaron still has to iron out the business side of things. He did tell me that the singer's wife had said she really liked my bright, sunny positive attitude or something like that. Still, no one actually came out and told me I have the gig, so until I hear some finalities on the whole thing I'm gonna let myself take tonight off of this music and with "Henry" and see what happens next... I have my monthly sheriff's meeting tonight anyway so I'll be getting home too late to even do much of anything at all.

All righty, let's see if I can finish the N'awlins recap. Ok so we slept in late on Saturday and I finally got caught up on my damn sleep. Then we went to meet Stefano's sister outside our hotel so we could follow her to the Tulane dorm since Stefano had his niece's new comforter set in his possession (it was bought and shipped to his house, so we'd brought it with us). I'd never been to Tulane before; it's past the Garden District from the French Quarter. 1,700 freshman all moved in on the same day, and though it was well-organized with labeled piles of possessions and stuff and tons and tons of upperclassmen to carry the stuff to the dorm rooms for the new students, it was still a bit of madness b/c it was 1,700 freshmen moving in at the same time! Stefano's sis was completely frazzled; it was just her helping her daughter move in, unpack, make runs to Target and Bed, Bath, and Beyond, etc. etc. whereas her roommate had 2 parents and 2 siblings there to help.

So we got there and it brought back so many memories of moving into the dorms and all that and I just got so excited for Stefano's niece! It was fun seeing all the kids at the beginning of a 4-year adventure, one that I enjoyed and would never trade for anything. I even took pic's to commemorate the moment in pictures! I stayed mostly in the hallway though b/c there were too many people in that tiny dorm room as it was, unpacking, etc. etc. Stefano helped make the bed, he hung a few posters, we gifted the voodoo doll, and then we made plans to meet his sister that evening for dinner at Vincent's.

On the way back to our hotel we had to make a quick stop at Xavier University, as my mom had requested a baseball cap from there, the one with the "X" on it. Parking there was not nearly as much of a hassle as it'd been at Tulane, where we'd had to leave Stefano's car in the nearby neighborhood, about 5 blocks away. I soon realized Xavier is a "black" university, and we kinda stood out, heh heh. But I asked a co-ed where the student union store was and we were right near it. We found the store and found the caps: $38!!! For REAL?!?!?! I called my mom toot suite, not telling her how much they were (or else she'd call the whole thing off) but to ask her what color she wanted. She wanted a black one and I had to try it on b/c all the "X" caps were fitted. $38 later we were outta there!

Before heading back to the hotel I'd wanted to drive past a certain address on N. Rampart st. and take a picture. The reason I wanted to drive by was b/c N. Rampart st. faces Louis Armstrong park, one of the most dangerous places in America, even in broad daylight. I just read this book and since I'm such a ghoul I wanted to see the place where the murder happened, and take a pic of course! Then we went back to the hotel to ditch the car. The hotel had sent us a gift basket the day before, which held sparkling water, a banana, cookies, apples, and an orange. I'd never been given a gift basket at a hotel before, and was totally charmed outta my high heel sandals! Anyway, I'd had the banana and a cookie for breakfast but Stefano had only had coffee, so by the time we got back to the hotel to drop off the car he was famished. He'd said we would definitely go have a muffaletta at the Central Grocery which is one of his own N'awlins traditions, so we headed that way on foot, me with my cup of ice/Coke Zero/Crown.

Stefano was so hungry he ordered an entire muffaletta! I had 1/4 plus chips, and then 1/2 of another 1/4 so the total math is beyond me now. We also stopped into the little store on Decatur where I had bought my mom Posada earrings back during the NYE trip of '08-'09 and this time I bought her some Frida Kahlo earrings. I dropped a dime on my mom that day! Walking back through the French Quarter we got more of those fun jello shots, and I wanted to stop into a bar and hear this awesome funky band but it was really astoundingly loud and Stefano couldn't handle it, to my disappointment. We walked back to the hotel in the 100+ degree heat and cooled off a little before heading up to the pool. The pool had a bunch of people around and in it this time, and we overheard that a lot of them were parents moving their kids into college that weekend. We managed to snag the very last pool chairs and it was so so SO hot that I kept dipping myself into the pool before Stefano had enough and went back inside. I went inside soon after b/c it started to get overcast and rain threatened.

(BTW, while I headed inside my cell rang and it was my neighbor AB who told me we'd had 2 units broken into on Friday and they knew who it was [the turd grandson of one of the old biddies who lives there] and what could/should they do about this, blah blah. I said call HPD! Then I asked him to keep an eye on my place for me. Ugh. Glad I'd left my car there in my space though.)

So we cleaned up, washed up, rested a little, then got picked up at our hotel by Stefano's sis. My feet were absolutely killing me (earlier I'd worn these new brown sandals that I thought were more broken in than they were, to my great misjudgment, so I'd switched to my black sandals which were broken in, but the brown sandals had already damaged my feet) so I was glad we decided not to ride the streetcar down to the restaurant. Plus I'd already learned my lesson about that streetcar the last time I was in N'awlins during the NYE trip of '08-09 and how we'd waited so annoyingly long for the return streetcar we all just ended up taking a cab back to the Quarter! (Except for the studs J1 and J2 who jogged back.) Vincent's restaurant was really dark and cozy and wonderfully romantic and Stefano's sis was so ready for her dirty martini. Stefano and I had wine and we all grubbed seriously, so much so that I couldn't even look at the dessert menu. Besides, Cafe du Monde was in our future!

Back at the sis' hotel we dropped off her car and walked to Cafe du Monde. My feet were hurting so bad though so I had to go a little slow. By the time we got to the Cafe we were all hot and sweaty; by now it was probably only about 97 degrees. The beignets were as delightful as they always are and we sat inside, where I'd never even stepped foot in before! I didn't even finish my beignet though, as that's how hot it was outside and that's how full I still was. We walked around the Quarter a little more and I had to buy some gifts for my neighbor AB as well as a coworker. Then we made our way back to our hotels and bid Stefano's sis adieu. Stefano and I had debated going to see some live music at one of N'awlins' many must-attend venues, and I'd been in regular text message contact with an incredible bass player I know that lives there, getting his many valuable venue suggestions... but by the time we got back to the hotel we just had no motivation to head back out. Besides, Stefano kept saying how now that his little niece is there we have ample reasons to return to N'awlins again and again over the next 4 yrs!

So the next morning I got up early enough to actually to do a little elliptical machine in the exercise room, which was much-needed after all those jello shots and Crown and grubbing. We checked out around 11am and went to meet Stefano's niece and her roommate at Camellia's, a popular Tulane neighborhood eatery. There was a line out the door but apparently it is always like that; the girls had walked over which took them about 20 min. and the poor things were dripping w/sweat! Then we still had to wait in a long line out the door. But it was kinda quaint, what with there being no tables inside, only counter dining so that was different and fun, sorta. After lunch we drove the girls back to Tulane and said goodbye, then we had 1 final task: touring the Lower 9th Ward, which Stefano wanted to see.

The Lower 9th is east of the Quarter and the iPhone maps showed me how to navigate us there. We just did some random driving around until at one point Stefano asked, "Should I turn here?" and I said "sure." And suddenly we found ourselves driving right past Fats Domino's house on Caffin St.! I spotted it and told Stefano to stop, and we pulled over and got some pic's, natch. It was pretty cool to see! Finally we headed west and back home to Texas. We stopped outside of Beaumont for some cajun food; Stefano's oysters on the 1/2 shell were not nearly as big as they'd been in N'awlins!

Yawn... I didn't get much sleep last night and I was so late getting back home from Aaron's that Stefano was already asleep by the time I got home, so last night was a rare Sunday night we didn't spend together. Tomorrow night is a night off for me (I really need to go on a run, I haven't had time to run in 2 weeks at least) and then Weds. is rehearsal. Leo told me mere hours ago that he forgot we have a gig on Sunday night in Pearland and I had already put myself on the schedule to go work w/the Marine Division, so it appears I'll be doing that from around noon-7pm, then I have to rush home, shower/change since I'll be covered in sweat and sand, and get to the gig by 10pm since we play at 10:30. But I need the $ for my GK head I'm planning on buying in the next couple weeks!

NOLA McCartney Weekend! Pt. 2

2010-08-27T19:00:00.004-05:00

So ok, Stefano and I made it N'awlins FINALLY and got to our hotel which was SO lovely. Man... oh man! Unfortunately Stefano had been chain smoking all motherfuckin' day which was actually starting to get on my nerves, I have to say, for several reasons:

When he chain smokes I know that means he is extremely anxious/uptight about something and that consequently makes me a little uptight wondering what's going on. (In this case it was trying to make it to N'awlins in good time.)
The stank in the damn car
His rolling the car windows down and it was literally about 110 degrees outside

So we checked into our room and he called his sister who was staying in a nearby hotel. We made plans to meet her and her daughter and then go lunch at Mother's, one of my fave places to eat and which was located a mere 2 blocks from our hotel! But on the way to try and find them Stefano was trying to light yet another damn cigarette and he dropped his iPhone on the sidewalk. The screen went white and nothing could fix it. Fortunately we actually ran into his sister and her daughter on the damn street, so that was quite fortuitous! Because it was a Friday afternoon Mother's did not have a line out the door and down the street for once, and we only had to wait a few minutes for a table. It's been years since I ate there and it was fun to get to go back!

It was a nice lunch and we all split the famous bread pudding. Then we made plans for the next day to go and help his niece move into her dorm at Tulane. I was feeling very excited for her--the big adventure of college right before her! Then Stefano and I had to go to the AT&T store to seek help for his phone but they directed us to the nearest Apple Store, at the mall in Metarie!!! Lame, man. So we had to go get his car from the hotel and scoot over to Metarie. Fortunately I had Job #1's iPhone w/me and I was having a good time playing w/the maps feature which is very groovy! The mall expedition only took about an hour and a half (the Apple store was packed) but they replaced his screen for free, which was awesome since the warranty had already expired, so he lucked out!

We went back to civilization and our hotel and decided it was time for the rooftop pool! Since the sky had been threatening rain when we pulled into town there was no one up there, so we had the whole pool and hot tub and roof all to ourselves! We spent time in the hot tub b/c the pool was kinda cold. It was decadent and sooooooo wonderful. After that we got ready to go out to the Vieux Carre, natch. Stefano hadn't been to N'awlins in about 12 yrs. so I had to navigate us around initially when we set out on foot; I always remember where everything is every time I land in the French Quarter area. It's almost instinct! I took my cup of ice/Coke Zero/Crown with me.

On our to-do list was go buy a voodoo doll for his niece, so of course we headed to the Marie Laveau shop. I always pay a visit every time I'm in town anyway. We also had drinks at the famous Old Absinthe House on Bourbon, where I don't think I'd ever been before?! I had their mojito which was KILLER, even if it did cost $12 fuckin dollars!!! Hey, it was an experience. Later we stopped in a dacquiri place (I was kicking myself for leaving my notorious famous green cup from the NYE Trip of '08-'09 at home in Houston!) and got these wonderful jello shots that came in these huge plastic syringes--2/$5! Hell of a deal!!!

We walked all over the Quarter and of course we went down to the river to worship it and take my customary river picture. Back on Bourbon St. I got Stefano some silver beads (they were thrown and landed in the street) but I was so incredibly tired I really couldn't stay out too late. I was going on fumes, man, on about 15 hrs of sleep the past 4 nights, TOTAL. On the way back to the hotel we stopped in some restaurant and he got some oysters on the 1/2 shell and I got some nachos; then we headed home and I passed OUT.

Ok, Pt. 3 gonna hafta wait. I'm at Job #2 and need to head home to Stefano. Last night I played a last-minute gig w/his band and I'm so glad b/c I need the $ for my Gallien-Kruger head that I need to buy in a couple weeks from Rozzy, who's giving me an incredible deal. The Leo Trio's legendary gig that was scheduled for this Saturday got cancelled and I was counting on that $ so I truly appreciate Stefano's band calling me for their backup last night! The gig also included drinks, food, and even dessert (pecan cobbler ala mode!). Busy fucking weekend coming up, I gotta totally learn these songs tomorrow for sure, and Leo's gonna throw a party tomorrow night in lieu of our gig. Oh yeah and I also have some Sheriff Personnel work to do--haven't forgotten that's another job of mine! Sunday is busy with a benefit for one of our most beloved local musicians and then I've got the audition w/Aaron and the famous singer. Praying I get it, I have to say!

NOLA McCartney Weekend! Pt. 1

2010-08-24T18:40:00.005-05:00

Oh HELL yeah we had a Stellar Mccartney weekend in NOLA! And I have to say, San Antonio on Thurs. w/my pater familias and his friend "Little Bitty" was great too. I am SO glad I went with them, even if I'd only had 4 hrs of sleep the night before. Last week was just crazy. I had a killer awesome time on Weds. night too w/Aaron's crazy ass and our friends! Jeez, where do I start...?

So Weds. at the LCC was packed! Sooo many hippies and what looked like a bunch of college studes too. Young folks. I saw several musician friends and I also ran into my ex-boyfriend who was playing bass with the featured band, Pot Roast. He was not in a good mood when I got there so I just said "See you on the dance floor" and split to find Aaron and Co. I found him in front of the stage jamming out to the opening band, then I found the girls. Philipo and Migl had said they'd be along later. After a couple drinks and a couple smokes Aaron disappeared and then all of a sudden commandeered the stage away from the featured band and announced that me and the fiddle player girl were to get up there. I just stood there b/c my bass was in the car and my ex was not looking happy onstage about Aaron's shenanigans. But then he slowly unstrapped the bass and so me and the fiddle player headed up and I was sure to thank my ex very sweetly as I passed him and put on his bass. Then we ROCKED OUT! I had a cigar in my mouth and I just left it there since everything happened kinda suddenly. We played 2 songs and the whole place was dancing and loving it. It was AWESOME!

After the 2 songs and we left the stage dudes were high-fiving me as I went back to our table. A few minutes later Philipo finally showed up, 20 min. late! I only hung out w/him and his friends for a short time b/c I was exhausted from lack of sleep all week and I absolutely had to get home and get ready for N'awlins since I was gonna be gone all day on Thurs. I went home and tried to get as much done as I could (had to dye my roots for example, ugh, get my clothes ready to pack, etc.) and got to bed close to 3. Drunk Aaron and girls wanted me to come over and drink champagne but I just couldn't.

So Thursday I worked a 1/2 day and left work at 1pm, wearing a black sundress which I thought would be comfortable to travel in and also serve nicely at the church. Before meeting my dad I had to make a liquor run for us and a beer run for him. Then I met him and Little at my dad's girlfriend's house where for traveling inspiration we watched my dad's footage of Steve Jordan at Canto al Pueblo in 1977, where he did "Squeezebox Man" which I to this very day still remember seeing! Then we hit the road.

My dad Laszlo was in rare form. Tons of stories, tons of bad jokes... it was a lotta fun I have to say. He started in on the beer immediately and after we stopped for a gas/bathroom break I got my typical cup with ice and Coke Zero, some Cheetos to snack on, and cracked open the Crown. I was also busy in the backseat texting a bunch of dudes, from Aaron to Leo to Migl. Aaron and I spoke for a bit and he offered me a free motorcycle, a 1200 CC Harley Roadster. He's so nuts. By the time we made it to the west side of San Antone I was a little buzzed. We got to the church plenty early and I spotted one of Steve Jordan's sons outside, so my dad approached him and asked/reminded him about videotaping everything. (He'd already been in phone conversations with them about this previously.) It was ok'd, my dad got his cameras ready, I went into the church to get a choice pew seat behind the family, and I lit a candle in honor of Esteban.

I had my drink with me in the church, but it's ok b/c it was a Catholic church. As Wendell Holmes is fond of saying, "Jesus made water into wine, not the other way around!" Later my dad's associate Carmela showed up--since she moved to SA a couple yrs ago we all miss her so it was good to see her. We predicted the church would be SRO and we were right so I'm glad we got there early enough to get choice seats. My dad indeed filmed everything, including the scene outside (which I missed b/c I was guarding our pew) of the family walking from the house to the church. The sons had set up their instruments and the band played a few songs. I was worried I'd start crying, even though my dad had said that this event was going to be a celebration, and sure enough I did tear up during one of the damn songs. I kept looking around to see if there was anyone there I'd recognize, such as famous Tejano musicians, and my dad said Mingo Saldivar was there, who I LOVE!!!

After the memorial mass we repaired to the adjacent hall for food and camaraderie. The food was tuna sandwiches on white bread, bags of chips, veggies and dip, bean soup, and soft drinks and beer. I got some for me and my dad. My dad said later that this is exactly the kind of post-funeral food for Chicanos in San Antonio. Little Bitty said he'd thought they might serve mole or something but my dad said that's what high-spanics would serve; these people were salt of the earth people! I was excited to get my picture taken with Mingo; also I met Esteban's longtime bass player, this rich white guy from Rochester NY who abandoned his life of wealth and Yankee privilege to move down to San Antonio over 30 yrs ago to play with Tejano musicians. He took a shining to me and I took a pic w/him too.

Finally we headed east, towards home. I was still soooo tired and managed to catch a few minutes of sleep. We arrived in Houston around 1:30 am, I got to Stefano's house close to 2, and we tried to sleep but we were both kind of wired up. I think we nodded off close to 3 and the alarm went off at 5 freakin' AM since Stefano was determined to be in N'awlins by lunchtime!!!

We grabbed kolaches on the way out of our neighborhood and I was still a little wired up, telling Stefano about the rest of my San Antonio adventures, but I managed to nod off for about an hour. Then we began drinking a little of the leftover Crown and there was no way I'd be able to sleep anymore b/c now the party was ON! At one point we made a pit stop so I could get my cup of ice/Coke Zero and I bought a black cowboy hat w/flower design on it; I knew J2 would be so proud! Unfortunately we hit some bad traffic due to an accident after Baton Rouge, annoyingly b/c that's soooo close to N'awlins we could taste it, and the Crown was making me have to find a bathroom which there was no obvious one on our detour, so I told Stefano to pull over and I'd venture into a cornfield. Normally I would never do such a thing but the Crown made me drunk and desperate and plus, I pretended I was James Jamerson needing to take a leak on one of his many road trips to gigs far and wide. Stefano joined me and said "I hope there's no snakes around here" and I said "No way would any snakes have the nerve to bite the legendary James Jamerson!" forgetting momentarily that I was not, in fact, James Jamerson.

Ok, to be continued next post. I am still beat this week but now it's just b/c I've been shedding seriously all week on Aaron's purple 5-string Fender bass, which I took home and have named "Henry" after Taj Mahal (real name Henry St. Clair). I have to do some serious shedding and learn several songs before Sunday and I have to learn some of Aaron's 17 songs he gave me on CD as well. I've no time for much else, including sleeping.

Happy New Years! Again!

2010-08-18T16:41:00.002-05:00

So it looks like I'm gwina make it New Year's Eve for the 3rd time this week tonight. As I gchatted to J2 earlier, "Times is WILD."

I am outta my damn mind (then again this is nothing new) with the schedule I've given myself this week: it's chockfull and jam packed of work and partying. It started Monday night. I've been in discussions with this certain awesome guitar player, Aaron, who is a local bonafide and national superstar. We're the same age and have known each other for over 12 years and I have always always always been a huge fan of his. So he hit me up recently about possibly playing with him and another local superstar who has achieved some national fame and I was just like, "Not yes, but HELL yes!" I needed to get the CD's however to start listening to the stuff for my upcoming audish. But both our schedules are so crazy insane we were texting about possible meeting times this week and nothing was working out. Finally we realized that while we were texting each other at that very time was a good time, so I zoomed over to his place to meet him.

He pulled up outside when I pulled up and he had this cute girl with him, but that's not surprising at all since Aaron is very much a heartthrob too. We went inside and he began burning CD's and also serving us champagne (he only drinks champagne which I think is so funny). He has recently started learning to play the fiddle (and is already awesome at it!!!) and had it out, so of course I had to pick it up and do a little "Faded Love" for him. The cute girl took some kind of shining to me, said I look just like her BFF. I'm all like, "oh is she also stunningly beautiful and fascinating etc etc?" I ended up hanging out with them for about an hour and a half and we were just blabbing and telling stories and I was playing on Aaron's guitar and the chick was playing with my hair and we were drinking champagne.

When I got home he sent me a text msg saying that I "astounded" him and his friend, that I'm "the most wonderful" person to be around, that I "paint bright colors", that his friend "almost cried" when I had to leave. I can't even explain how touching that was to hear!!! I was blown away and now of course I'm just praying that is a good sign for me to GET THIS GIG. I was a little wound up from everything so when my old college buddy Tommy up in Dallas sent me a txt msg I just gave him a call and we talked for almost 2 hours.

Yesterday morning I had to leave work for a bit (after getting in late due to my late night before) to have the AC guy over as apparently I've had a leak for about 4-5 days now. But when you are NEVER home like me these things--like a weird dripping noise in the downstairs hallway--take time to register in my pea brain. I called the same AC guys that Mr. Wonderful Stefano uses and they were able to take care of me quickly, efficiently, and very friend-ly. I had to go meet Aaron again briefly so I ran over there and he had a present for me. When I'd been at his place on Monday night I saw his rhyming dictionary and had mentioned that I need one for my songwriting. Well he had one for me, his dogeared old one that he used to use!!! I was SO. FREAKIN. TOUCHED. Then I ran him by the convenience store so he could get more champagne (heh), then we told each other how much we love each other, then I got back to work toot suite.

So I had a board meeting last night at this Italian restaurant and I had a $21 piece of lasagna. Actually it was very good. The restaurant is one parking lot over from a couple cool music places I've hung out at a time or two and I'd seen earlier on Facebook that LDB (Li'l Drummer Boy) was going to be there later to see a good reggae band. I decided that he and I needed to catch up so we made plans to meet there for a drink. However when my dinner was over it was still an hour til we were gonna meet, so I texted him to hurry it up but he suggested we meet at another bar down the street. I headed down there and killed some time by going in the next-door hip used clothing store and SCORED! 2 hot new dresses for gigs. Short, sparkly, sexy, the whole shmear.

Finally LDB showed up and we went to this bar neither of us had been to before. I began drinking the double coco rums on the rocks. He's been so incredibly busy playing in a new band, touring a lot, going to Iraq to play, even. It was good to catch up with him but then his ex-girlfriend showed up and he was a little distracted, so I decided I didn't want to go see the reggae band anymore and I headed home to behave myself and rest up for this crazy ass week. But NOOOO!!! Right when I got home Philipo texted me that he and a buddy were going to the blues jam. Oh crap. I have little resistance to this kind of thing. He called me to try to talk me into it and that wasn't hard to do. I got all dolled up and got ready to go but then figured I'd call Aaron to see what he was up to. He answered the phone with "I need you!!! Here! Now!" so I called Philipo and said we'd go have a drink w/Aaron and his friends at a bar before going to the blues jam.

We met at the bar and I met Philipo's friend Migl, an old pal from high school, and found Aaron on the patio with 4 chicks! But the girls were all soooo nice to me and fawned over me when Aaron told them all about me. 1 of the chicks is a badass professional touring violinist and I fawned over her! I was glad there were a bunch of chicks for Philipo and his friend to look at, although we all began chattering and clucking like women do. Aaron couldn't even get a word in edgewise, heh heh. But after a couple drinks Philipo and Migl and I were anxious to get to the next event, a jazz jam we'd decided to try instead of the blues jam. Aaron and Co. said they'd join us--Yay!

Anyway, suffice it to say by the time we got there the jazz jam had shut down, so we ended up going to the blues jam down the street anyway. More coco rum, more drinks for everyone, lots of musical camaraderie, and Aaron taking my sandal off and kissing my feet in front of everyone, twice. Finally Aaron, Philipo, and I were the last jammers of the night and it was Hella Fun! The girls loved us. We shut that damn place down!

So the rest of the week should go like this: Rehearsal tonight. And Aaron called me earlier to insist I come out and party with him and the girls again tonight. Who am I to try and say no to that?! Then when I get home I have GOT to pack and get ready for N'awlins b/c tomorrow my father has convinced me to go to San Antonio for the day for the funeral/memorial of the great Esteban "Steve" Jordan! I'm sure we'll get back to Houston around 1am, midnight if I'm lucky, and Stefano and I are hitting the road at 6am on Friday.

What the hell. You live once!

Green Diamond Weekend

2010-08-16T14:30:00.002-05:00

I saw green diamonds for my 1st time ever yesterday at the Science museum! Li'l bro and Stefano and I were there for the exhibit on "Magic" which was of course, way groovy. We've always loved magic in my family, in fact I was an amateur child magician for a brief time, heh heh. After the magic exhibit I just HAD to stop in the Gem Vault to look at the rocks and crystals and of course, the fine jewelry on display. It was so dark and beautiful in there and the glass cases had peoples' greasy nose prints on them. At one point I heard someone say "How many dicks I gotta suck to get some o' this???" Well, actually it may have been me that said that. When I came across the green diamond jewelry I insisted my brother take a look at it, and asked where Stefano was? "Hiding", my brother said.

Today I am in much pain from Krav Maga on Sat. morning. I'm also in pain from the death of the greatest accordion player ever to breathe air, Esteban Jordan. I have a few blog posts dedicated to him here. Anyway, as if I haven't talked to enough reporters lately yet another one contacted me this afternoon for some of my memories regarding Esteban Jordan for an article. That's b/c I was posting on Facebook all weekend about him and a music writer who I'm FB friends with sent my name to his colleague, which was kinda cool of him to do. I told the writer he probably wants to talk to my dad too, and he agreed. So we'll see what happens when this article comes out.

Speaking of articles coming out, my dad called me last night to give me a heads-up on the article that will shortly be coming out about him. It'll be published in this Sunday's paper--I'll be out of town of course but I'm sure I can buy a copy on the way in from New Orleans (if not in New Orleans itself, you never know) and Stefano takes the paper so it'll be waiting at his house when we get back anyway. My dad said he has suggested to the writer that she also do a profile of Leo b/c Leo is so fascinating, and he said he wants to also suggest a profile of me. I said I am not interested in that at all. I know I'm vain and an attention whore, but I actually don't need my personal shit out there for the world to see. I don't need my library coworkers and fellow cops knowing certain things about me. NO THANK YOU. Seriously. It would be one thing if I were only a musician but b/c I work so many damn jobs I just can't cross that line, psychologically for myself. But then Leo called me (and he never calls, we only text each other!) to say that he won't do a profile of himself unless George and I participate. I said I couldn't guarantee my participation unless it was stricly as his bass player, with NO personal stuff mentioned. We had a pretty intense conversation about this. He did say it was a great opportunity and one that most people never get, and that's true yet... I just admire celebrities and musicians who remain so private and mysterious and do minimal press. People like Dylan, Springsteen, and even Clapton that jerk. That's how I feel and that's the end of the discussion.

So it was also a green diamond weekend b/c Stefano and I were SOOOO decadent. We grubbed at the Belgian bistro on Fri. night. Then we went to the Dessert Gallery (which is owned by a woman he grew up with) where we had to spend $20 b/c I had a certificate for that amount! I'll have cookies for the next few days! On Saturday he offered to cook for me dinner whatever I wanted, but b/c I had spent 2 hrs doing Krav Maga and it was so hot outside I just wasn't hungry and inspired. In the end we decided on turkey sausage links w/peppers and onions, spinach/cheese tortellini on the side, Caeser salad, and french bread and we ate and ate. I got tipsy on just 3 glasses of Reisling b/c frankly, I'm out of practice with the drinking these days, having been sick for almost 2 weeks. Then I slept for like 10 hrs b/c I was sooo wiped out.

We are so freakin' excited about our New Orleans trip this weekend! Gonna be FUNNNNNNN! This week should fly by b/c I'm so busy: board meeting tomorrow night, rehearsal Weds. night, and Thursday night we pack and get ready to leave at 6am on Fri. morning.

Back Amongst the Living

2010-08-13T18:07:00.002-05:00

While mucus production is still excessively high, it was low enough for me to go back to work yesterday. Still, I did come in late and left early since I'm still not at 100%. Fortunately last night Leo had to cancel rehearsal which I was SO glad about, as I was NOT looking forward to heading out to do that and much preferred another night on the couch. Which I got and needed, frankly.

Today I'm feeling much better, finally OFF the Benadryl though still on the Afrin. I had to be up in the motherfuckin' dark to get to the academy early for an all day class on Gang ID. Turds! I learned soooo much though. Needed knowledge, too. Saw lots of video and photos of tattoos, graffiti, hand signals, etc. Tonight Mr. Wonderful Stefano and I are gwine to eat at our fave Belgian bistro. Up early tomorrow for Krav Maga class, which I haven't been to in months, although they haven't held it for months. I hope to both beat up on some deputies, and get beat up by some!

Cough Cough

2010-08-10T18:23:00.006-05:00

Ugh! I'm still running with mucus! What is UP with this weird summer cold? I managed to hold it together for my 2 gigs on Saturday. Sunday I even went out and danced a little at Big Walter's 96th birthday party. Then Sunday night, BAM! The mucus came out in full force. I was scared to sleep, worried I'd drown/suffocate. Poor Mr. Wonderful was by my side the whole time though he managed to sleep. I kept waking up to blow my nose. Then I had to get up way early to take my mom to the Dr. Then I went home and lay on the couch but had an appt. with the Dermatologist at 1:45. She said my skin is looking better and it is, for once. Then she said I could get a chemical peel, so I did! Whoooo! That'll wake you up!!! It cost $135 and I'll know in a few days if it's worth it. Meanwhile I have to stay completely out of the sun and be very careful washing my face and everything.

So Saturday was fun if tiring. I woke up at 9 but was moving real slow due to my cold; I kept having to wipe my damn nose every 30 seconds so naturally I was running late. I managed to pick up the dozen cupcakes in a decent time though and get to the gig just in time to tune and warm up a little. Stefano helped me out by going to pick up little brother. The guys were nowhere to be found when I arrived, in fact they were at the bar next door having drinks. But I had a lot of people show up and I was very happy about that! My mom, stepdad, dad, his girlfriend were there. Also my friend F. and his kids. Also JFu and her baby. And Stefano's friend and his son were also there. I had 13 people there just for me, not bad for an in-store and we had a decent sized crowd in front of us--thank God. My dad videotaped some of our performance though he made me upset a little bit by telling Leo that Leo used to have a good bass player, and now he's got me. See what I have to put up with?

After the show we enjoyed cupcakes, signed CD's, loaded up, and went to the bar next door so I could get some Brandy which I thought would help my cold. We hung out there for awhile, the band and Leo's girlfriend, an artist friend of ours and his dad. Leo was getting drunk though and getting into philosophical arguments with me. Soon Stefano and I split to go drop off my car at home and take his car and our gear to the next gig with Sonny Boy. Sonny Boy saw my 120-watt Fender combo amp and made a remark that I'd probably want a more powerful rig for an outdoor gig such as this one, with more depth. I didn't say anything but was thinking, Jeez, criticize me already and also, Damn, this is my ONLY rig!!! Anyway, we had gotten there early enough to go inside the restaurant and eat and cool off a little so we did.

I had never played with Sonny Boy or the guitarist and drummer he had there, though I of course knew them through the local blues scene. Sonny Boy had told me previously we had to do the song "Big Mamou" so I looked it up on YouTube and got it down (see? I do my homework). After the 1st couple songs he called Stefano up to sit in with us and Stefano ended up playing the whole 3 sets with us. We had fun and none of the songs were too challenging, a few minor slips aside. I thought I was pretty solid and I even knew songs such as "Sugar Coated Love", "Wade in the Water" and "Walking to My Baby" although the Rolling Stones' "Miss You" gave me a little trouble since I hate that song. I played a funky bass line on it and thought it was ok. There were plenty people out there watching us, dancing, and having a grand old time. It was actually pretty fun and it was awesome getting to stand next to Stefano and play with him! Later on crazy Leo showed up in his kilt and skates and, clearly drunk, began dancing alone right in front of us. Philipo also showed up and I made him go get water for the whole band. My dad's girlfriend was also nice to drop by too.

I got bit by some kind of insect while playing--not a mosquito? The bites are small and red and still itch today! But all in all it was a fun gig though Leo at one point yelled for us to "Play something you know!" and I had to threaten to kick his ass in front of everyone. When the gig was over I complimented Sonny Boy on being such a good bandleader and he said there were some bad chord changes but he thought he handled it like a pro. I was like, ?!?!? I mean, the guitarist--who's played with Sonny Boy before, BTW!--missed a couple chord changes that even ***I*** caught! I was a little upset and told Stefano that Sonny Boy didn't need to be so down on the band and that if that's the way he feels, see if I play another gig with him! Stefano said not to take it personally, that Stefano missed some changes too. Whatever. The next day the guitarist, the drummer, AND Sonny Boy all posted nice things to me on my Facebook page. I responded to the guitarist's and the drummer's and left Sonny Boy's alone.

Sunday we slept in reaaaaal late and then I decided I needed to replace the dead geranium and cactus on my patio (both were murdered and that's all I care to say) so we went and bought some kind of succulent plant and some other kind that don't require much watering. Then Stefano had a hankering for Vietnamese sanniches so we went and got some ($2.50 each!!!) before heading to Big Walter's bday party. Tons of our blues musician colleagues were there and it was fun and I even danced a few songs, also drank some Johnny Walker Red since the bartender said straight booze is best for a cold.

Yesterday a reporter from the Houston Comical called me to say she's doing a story on my dad and would I answer a few questions. I had voicemailed her b/c I don't answer #'s I don't recognize. When I heard what she wanted that gave me time to think about: 1. If I should even call her back, and 2. If I did call her back, things I would not be willing to talk about. So I did call her back after discussing it with Stefano and I decided I would not discuss anything personal such as about my family.

Her questions were: 1. What kind of dad was he? 2. What kind of person is he? and 3. Something about what contributions I think he's made to Houston, the filmmaking community, etc. So for #1 I said "I can't comment on that." She said my dad told her that he was a "pretty bad dad." I repeated that I couldn't comment. (Seriously--this subject is strictly for my psychiatrist's office, if I had one. And for my book that I'll write someday, Daddy Dearest!) For #2 I said "Unique." She asked me to expand on that if I could and I said something like he's a real charismatic Houston character. For #3 I did in fact state some good things about my dad, his films, his work, his regard/respect by all in the filmmaking community, etc. Then she asked if me and my dad were "friends" and I didn't respond b/c I knew that if I said something like "I wouldn't say we're friends" then THAT would be the quote! I know how those damn reporters operate!!! She continued on, asking if we had a relationship and I said yes, that we support each other by attending each other's events, he comes to my concerts and I attend his things, etc. Then she ended by asking if I wished he would live his life differently, like not living on the edge so much, saving his money, things like that and I said "He has his reasons for living his life the way he does and I don't question it." Sooooo... we'll see how this article turns out. Should be interesting.

I'm taking tomorrow off from work again, just to recuperate from today. I spent all day on the couch, watching movies and catching up on DVR. I need to finish some of my damn library books, as always.

Sick, Man, Sick!

2010-08-06T18:29:00.002-05:00

As in moi. I got a cold or something. I haven't had a cold in years. The Dayquil in my kitchen cabinet dated from 2007 so I had to rush out and get some more. I took a Benadryl last night along with a couple shots of Johnny Walker Red to desperately try to stave this thing off but here we are. I'm also on Zyrtec (made me sleepy, dammit) and Afrin. I am drugged up! But I gotta get bright since tomorrow is gonna be an even longer day than I thought. That's b/c I got called today to play a gig tomorrow night at this huge event in the Heights, White Linen Nights. It's straight forward blues and pays enough $ for 3 Crave cupcake trips, so I couldn't turn it down! So now my stepdad is gonna have to come pick my mom up as I'm completely booked now, all day long.

Rest tonight. Mr. Wonderful is gonna make mussels. I'm already starving as the chicken soup doesn't stick to the ribs. I also got another interesting call today about a gig with the local son of a national legend. I would love to nail this audish! (audition) Although this son was a finalist on American Idol I really really really loved his singing. I hope to meet him and jam with him soon. We'll seeeeeeeeee...