Five Minus One Equals Perfect

We have a standing gig at a local watering hole - Characters.
We play for a few hours, they provide a barbecue and the beer - we play music to get the patrons dancing and drinking.
It is an arrangement that works well. There are five of us in the "band."
It's really more of a loose association of players.
One guy invited another and it took off from there.

Friday morning we rehearse for the show Saturday. Run through a good ten or fifteen songs. Work the arrangements - tweak an ending or two, make the transitions smooth. Three hours and we've had enough.
It sounded tight.

Saturday I arrive at the bar and find no one. Fine. I'll go and grab my bike, it's a nice day. I can still get a hundred miles in before the sun goes down.

As I am sitting and thinking, Michael and his family show up, and then Jerry wanders in. So we sit and talk.
One of us is missing. Not answering the phone. Not acknowledging the others. We are short one integral piece.
The mover and shaker was nowhere to be found.

Seems the rest of us had something on our minds; no one had said anything for fear of damaging a frail ego and causing a ruckus. Now, it all comes out.

At four o'clock we decided, "Let's play...anyway."
(We normally go on at one thirty...two)

It gels. It sounds tight.
It sounds good.
We are having fun. Wait? Isn't that what this was all about to begin with? Have some fun, make some music and a friend or two along the way? I guess we had forgotten that somewhere during all this.

Egos are funny things. Feed them too much and they turn into monsters. Ignore them and you kill the underlying support. It's a terribly delicate balance.

I had assumed incorrectly that if I kept my mouth shut and played well - everything would work out.
It turns out we had to talk and air our concerns.
Having clear air made all the difference in the world. That and one of us not showing.
Sometimes, less is more - truly.


Diane Birch - Ben Folds - James Taylor & Carole King - great shows this week - more inspiration to keep the energy flowing.