One show down, 13 to go.
The pit for this show is on a platform above the stage about 5 to 6 feet wide, maybe 25 to 30 feet long (I’m being generous). There’s 11 of us on this platform, including a drumset, a piano, trombone, French horn, cello, violin, 2 woodwind players, trumpet, trombone, a conductor, video monitors, mics for all the acoustic instruments, music stands, chairs, my NS bass, and my Warwick combo amp. It’s tighter than most bar stages I’ve played….but necessary. The platform is part of the set design and Klien is a tiny theater…putting a pit in front of the stage is unworkable. It’s a lush stage design…great colors being used in golds and reds.
It’s going to be a busy weekend for me..check out this schedule;
Friday – Lessons at 5 PM, then UMW Drood – 7:00 to 10:30. I’m getting off easy today, Bass Forge is not meeting at Colonial Forge high school today.
Saturday – lessons 9 am to 3:30 PM, break, drop my bass rig at Colonial Tavern, then an evening performance Drood from 7 to 10:30 PM, then back over to the Colonial Tavern for a late show with Ashleigh Chevalier from 11 PM to 12:30 am. Show starts at 9 PM with Buddhagraph Spaceship opening.
Sunday – matinee performance of Drood from 1:30 to 4:30, then lessons from 6 to 8 PM. And of course, Daylight Savings Ends. Yup, I’ll be tired.
I have to admit, it kinda gets my blood pumping on one level, and most definitely the caffeine as well. There will be a “gig hangover” come Monday morning, and Monday afternoon I launch right back into teaching. But this is what I’m designed to do. And I do well when there is good momentum. I know I need time and space to rest, but momentum and a full schedule actually helps me focus and prioritize better.
I’m also working on three tracks…two of them for the holiday season. Tech week concludes, so next week we get to work on those projects. My live sound class is going to record the Double Koru Rock Ensemble doing a tune that one of the adult students arranged for the group. We’ve got two sessions scheduled for next week. I’m showing up and playing bass. This tune will (hopefully) be getting radio play locally around the holidays….more on that as I get details.
I’m working on two other duo projects with other artists. I can say one of these tunes will also be submitted for local radio play around the holidays.
Also – today is the 9th “anniversary” of the Spector bass coming home from Chuck Levin’s Washington Music. Where did the time go?
I depart on this quote…which taps into a bit of where my mind is at this week;
To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson~
Off to catch a few hours of general self-care (laundry, grocery shopping, cleaning, practice, working out, early voting, hopefully, I can get in a quick recharge in some form of introvert solitude) before the weekend schedule ramps up.