As Good As It Looks

Well...this past Friday night, I took my new guitar out for it's "maiden voyage" out at Curly's barn..........plays great, sounds great............but what WASN'T so great was the weather and icy roads, that dwindled our crowd down to the point where the band almost outnumbered the folks who came to dance.

We had power problems too, spiratic, possibly due to the wind and too much snow laying on the power lines.

Anyway, as is customary every December, we've decided to "knock off" for the winter, and start the dances up again in early spring as everything "thaws out."

Fine with me, 'cause it was starting to get cool in there as well, which makes it difficult to play your best when your fingers are cold!

So......I'll just be doing some jam sessions for the next few months.....and of course, playing in church on Sundays.

Thinking back on years past, I can well remember the packing and travelling for "one night stands", where you might drive a hundred and fifty miles round-trip to play four hours in a bar where nobody really listens.

You could play your heart out, making the sweetest chords and most dazzling runs up and down the neck, but everyone in the place is throwing darts, playing pool, etc. Just making their "own noise"

You're up on a make-shift stage, putting out the best music you know how to play....breathing tons of cigarette smoke....the $35.00 apiece you're making will barely cover the gasoline it took to get you there and back........wear and tear on equipment..........

Speaking of which, you always had to be wary of some barfight breaking out, and having a beer bottle flung.....missing its "intended" target and finding YOU or the face of your thousand-dollar Gibson!

The packing and UN-packing....setting up, sound checks for the different accoustics of each place, tearing back down. And you play for "peanuts" because you figure sooner or later, some Nashville agent is going to walk into this $35.00 a night dive, DISCOVER you....and then you'll be on national TV.

But Monday morning, you're still in your old pickup truck on your way to work, and that bar you played in Saturday night would have done just as well, if there just a juke box.

Curly still does it on occasion, and that's fine....for him. But I don't miss it. I've done my share of dives, nightclubs, NCO and Officer's clubs...you name it.

I don't miss it, and this gives me inspiration to tell you all the story of my own "infamous" Nashville Raid."....which I'll do after I get home from church this afternoon.

Meanwhile...that new Epiphone guitar Donna bought me for Christmas has now had its public debut, and it plays every BIT as good as it looks. I'm looking forward to playing it more, as the years go by.