I said I wouldn’t do it any more. Much more trouble than it is worth. What am I talking about, you ask.? Well I’m talking about herding cats or because I wanted another non cliche’ way to describe this very thankless enterprise, minding mice at the crossroads. I had quit this task a number of times but somehow I keep getting drawn back in or As Michael Corleone said in The Godfather Part III, “just when I thought I was out they keep pulling me back in”. Again, you may ask, what am I talking about?
You keep asking so I guess I’ll tell you. I’m talking about booking gigs for my band. Not so much finding the gigs but rounding (herding, minding) band members to commit to the gig so I can confirm with the booker. Finding the gigs is plenty hard enough but then going back to booker and telling him that we have to back out because the guitar player’s second cousin’s confirmation or bar mitzvah is on the same day and her significant other insists the she attends. That’s what I’m talking about.
A couple of years ago I swore that I wouldn’t get caught in this situation any more. I quit a band and let another one slowly dissolve just so I could quit my minding. I sold most of my PA equipment, as I was sure I was out. I wasn’t quitting gigging, only organizing the gigs and being in charge of the PA.
Life was good. I was getting some calls to play and I only had to show up on time with my ax and play. Admittedly, I wasn’t playing nearly as often as I was before or as much as I liked as when I was chasing the gigs but (borrowing from John Karsemeyer’s Sunday Welcome) maybe that was alright and it was time to quit.
I don’t know who I was fooling. The urge to play out has come back very strongly and the casual calls I am getting are are not satisfying my jones. That left me with two choices (as I always tell you, there are always two). The first is the hope that my “have bass will travel” scenario grows and I start to get more and enough calls. Being the mindful self aware guy I am, I deduced that I may have topped out the number of casual calls I’m getting and that leaves number two. If I want to gig more, I need to find a couple of like-minded musicians and start hustling my own gigs again.
Judging by the title and content of this column you probably surmised that I have progressed down this path and I have started herding again, albeit in a somewhat scaled down version of my previous enterprises. I have found a couple of old friends (either meaning applies) who are willing as well. We have started rehearsing and have a couple of gigs coming up.
It is never as easy as it seems though. I have a couple of microphones and stands and a mixer left over from my last iteration and I have a couple of new speakers on order. This new scheme better work out.
I have to run now. I need to make a couple of calls to some coffee house venues and if they have any openings, I’ll need to check with the band for baptisms, weddings, etc that would conflict with those openings. Such is the life of a minder.
Oh yeah, I am going to drink some tequila to get me through this.
