Monday, September 27, 2010

Trainspotting a nice cocktail and why to never start a rock band

I'm sure you have all missed me and I apologize for my tardiness in posting as of late. Friday was supposed to be a great time playing with my band on a clear cool night under the stars for the throngs of people who frequent our neighborhood on those evenings. What it was instead was a giant stressful disaster that almost ended in me killing someone. The truth is almost all musicians are quirky in one way or another and a large portion of them display this quirkiness by being completely unreliable. We should have guessed that it was going to be a disaster when the venue owner texted Joe on Monday to ask "who are y'all playing with again?", mind you this was his responsibility. We actually offered to book another band. That eventually got straightened out and all was thought to be well. So when we were loading the truck on Friday and the thought crossed our mind to load the PA we said "No, they got it". Never underestimate the ability to get screwed by second guessing yourself. We arrive on site about 6:45 for our 8:00 slot and set up. We meet the second band Prospect Rider and then we wait. "Hey, where the hell is the PA?"."It's comin'". Sure enough at 7:30 a truck rolls up with what appears to be a PA and it gets unloaded. Then the truck leaves. There is a strange collection of speakers and a powered mixer from the mid-seventies and that's it. No cables, no mics, no f'n way we are getting started on time. "They gotta get the rest of the stuff, we're right around the corner". Finally, after an hour or so and more cursing than I have done in a long time, the rest of the PA shows up. We decide, in the essence of time, to switch the set up and play our instrumentals while they set up around us. With some more difficulties and ineptitude this plan mostly works and we are off and running. We play our set and while we play there is a group from the local arts high school who dance and make the whole think worth while. Prospect Rider follow up with a great set and we retire for a good night sleep.
Saturday morning, feeling better than expected we get up and travel to the market and as we are finishing up we decide on a trip to the Frugal MacDoogles. The Mrs. has recently purchased a couple of old time cocktail books and we need some more ingredients. We have mainly been working out of Dr. Cocktails "Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails". Drinking, my friends, is a very expensive hobby. We pick up some Bourbon (Buffalo Trace), Cherry Heering, and sweet vermouth (Noily Prat). I also picked up a bottle of Rogue XS for the beer cave. With that we headed home. Saturday night we had made plans to check out the Citizens of the Universe production of Trainspotting. We started with a lovely meal at Soul and since I have written about them a number of times I will forgo another round. Needles to say it was very good, as always. The production is in a small theater space in Plaza Midwood called Story Slam. It is a fairly bare bones venue but gets the job done. The set was spare but used to very good effect. The acting and directing were top notch. If you know the story line to Trainspotting, you know it is not the lightest fare, but the production managed to tell the serious side of the story while still keeping the dark English humor intact. This was helped along by a girl in the audience who was having a hard time with the bodily functions portrayed on stage and was laughing as a coping method. It was a brilliant evening with friends.
The band is playing again this Friday maybe there will be more tales of woe next week, or maybe something tasty will occur. Until then....

A Sia Saide

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