March 29, 2006 - 2:44 PM

Cello, How Are You Tonight?

The show last week went...ok. Victoria, Mike, and I practiced for about 45 minutes before the show, and I learned that I would have to be playing cello/bass lines for two songs that I had not rehearsed. Egads. There were very few people in the audience for our 10 PM slot, and 2/3 of them were invited by me. Thanks to cousin Carol, who flew in from Vegas a day early so that she could finally see me play (she had a conference in Pasadena the next day); my friend Flori; and my co-P.A. Ryan (yes, the gay one) and his roommate (yes, J's ex) for all showing up and enjoying the music.

I have to apologize to you guys again for flubbing around the first set of songs. Victoria started her set off with four tunes that Mike and I accompanied her on, including the two that I hadn't practiced, and my brain froze. Usually, when there's no pressure, I can "hear" at least a few bars ahead of where I am in a song and aurally visualize what I want to play. I sort've sing the part in my head, and it's just a matter of connecting that inner voice to my hands and hoping that muscle memory well let my fingers play the right notes. When I get nervous, when stage fright hits me, it's impossible for me to look ahead of the very next note. Even if I've got the part down flat, if it's all worked out and I'm not doing any improvising, I can't unlock my brain to recognize where the melodic and harmonic lines are going, what the musical phrase is doing. I'm stuck with "oh god, what's the next note (note) oh god what's the next note (note) oh god what's the next note (note)" and if I hit a wrong note, it's tough to recover.

So, yeah, the first four songs, I was winging it, and the more constipated my musical brain got, the more paralyzed my fingers became. My friends insisted that I did a fine job, but I know how crapulent it was. I left the stage after the fourth song so that I could retune my cello (this was a planned retuning), and Victoria played four more songs. I then returned to the stage for the last three songs, ones which I had spent the most time working out cello parts for (both on the recordings and for the show). That in between time, when I was off stage, allowed me to run through those three songs several times, and the mini-rehearsal paid off, as I nailed each one with Victoria. That was good.

I was very happy to see Victoria, by the way, and it wasn't awkward hanging out with her. Too much. What with the whole having a crush on her and professing it to her via text message last year. I think I'm getting slightly better at letting crushes go, so that they don't linger on in my heart for years. The abatement of the Victoria crush was helped by the whole J thing, probably. Anyways, V and I talked about how things are going in Baltimore, and on the road, and how she got played on WXPN in Philly (best radio station ever). She'll be back out in L.A. in a month for an ASCAP conference, and I think me and Mike will be joining her at a show in Alta Dena, if any of you losers who didn't make this last show want to see us.

*********
I'm just kidding. I harbor no ill feelings to you L.A. denizens who couldn't make it. I know that Matt and Sharon had just returned from a skiing trip to Big Bear that night, so they get a pass (plus, i got to hang out with them on Saturday as we had dinner at Fuddruckers and watched Inside Man [sneaky little movie...go see it]); LDBL and Mer live too far away to be able to make a 10 PM show in the middle of Hollywood on a school night; and Tony and Margaret...well, I don't know what their excuse was. But at least I saw them the previous Saturday when Tony and I did prep for a big fantasy baseball draft, and we had dinner in Koreatown.

Besides, I'll be playing with Angela in two weeks (the 11th of April), so you better frickin' show up for that.

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