Rover is over, we made out ok-ish, but I think Noah Hebert now hates my guts. School is winding down and I'm getting really excited for CAMP! Also, I'm running for President of the school, in NHS, and starting to do a bunch of college stuff.
What I'd like to comment on, though, is all the band stuff I've been doing lately.
I had 3 gigs in 5 days, from Saturday to Wednesday.
First was Melody Miles with Jazz Combo. We had to be at the O'Neil's house at 9:30. I came home with a fever the day before but drank a ton and managed to sleep it off, though I still wasn't feeling great. It was overcast and kind of cold. We played for like an hour (including like 25 minutes of Listen Here), as runners awkwardly passed us. The parents stood around and watched us. Peter kept tackling Justin, calling it a citizen's arrest. Both Mrs. Thomas and Mr. Pacione brought us donuts accidentally, so we had 2 dozen. The guys were freaking out over the donuts and were wicked excited. Peter made Swizzy play a 10-minute solo so he could eat a donut. I got like 3 donuts, but my feet were cold and my air wasn't great.
Next, that annual bane of our existence, the Memorial Day Parades. This time with Mr. Fecke on crutches and painkillers. Sloane did a great job. I had to pee during the Hamilton parade and it was very sunny for both. No one had the music for Amazing Grace so Mr Fecke just said "Peter, can you knock out a round of Amazing Grace?" then started solfegeing it. He did and it sounded great. Jake Namaroff was hacking up a lung in the Hamilton Cemetery. The cookout at Henry's was fun, they threw Declan into the pool. The Wenham parade was hot and sunny, they made us march all the way back to Buker, and they song they played was really long.
I was sore and exhausted and mildly dehydrated when I got home, and what did we get for our miles of work? The usual "Hey, thanks Erik" for Mr. Fecke as the parade marshals drive away. An article in the Chronicle that in the part about Hamilton specifically mentioned the PA system mounted on the back of the police golf cart and didn't talk about us, and maybe five lines in the part about Wenham.
Then Wednesday was the EdFund golf tournament at Myopia. We didn't get info until the night before, via facebook from Mr. Fecke. We left school semi-illegally, had to load up cars in the rain, and Henry had to break into the Luddy's house to get a part for Swizzy's piano that Peter had left there. So Henry got lost on the way, and when we got there they made us unload around back in the rain and mud. We were put on a back porch away from the real dining room, and the guy in charge dropped not-so-subtle hints about us being too loud last year. Well, you put us in a slate tile and glass walled room, what do you expect? And then, when we're getting ready to start, he comes over, says "Remember kids, it's background music, so don't get too crazy" and shuts the door behind us and pulls the curtain. We play for an hour and at the end I'm starving and my lips hurt. We are sent up a hill in the rain to the drafty shed behind the pro shop where they give us food. We meet a few kids who were caddying, and are thankful we were indoors. I feel like we bonded as a group, and we had some fun at that meal, and playing. Peter gave me a harmony part for the head of Freddie Freeloader, which was a first. Its our last gig of the year and our last with Nick ever, so its a little sentimental. Peter threatens to citizen's arrest Justin. Anyway, we then load up in the mud and rain, go back to school (its now after the end of the day) we unload into the practice room because the teachers are having a very serious meeting.
We get a mention on the morning announcements that I don't hear, and supposedly some ice cream after school next week.
So for alternately freezing, frying, and getting soaked, going in back doors, lugging drums all over the place, fighting off a nasty virus, getting up early on a Saturday, missing a physics lab and spending my entire day off serving the community, I got: some awkward waves and a honk from Mrs. Frost, a few lines in the Chronicle, a morning announcement, donuts, a cheeseburger, and some ice cream, chapped lips and sore legs.
Yeah, being a musician is awesome....
