Update on Orbert's Band
We have a name. After much discussion, whittling it down six finalists, and voting, the band is Oh Zone. (I didn't vote for that one, but whatever.)
Also, we have two gigs lined up for next month. Both are gratis, but that's okay. We need the experience and exposure more than we need the cash, and this has never been about money anyway. Mostly it's the chance to play live. One is a charity gig featuring four local bands (of which we are one), and the other is the neighborhood block party in the neighborhood of the house we practice in. His wife is on the planning committee, and we got on the list. Actually, this was set up months ago and would have been our first gig, but the charity thing came up and happened to be two weeks earlier, so what the hell.
For each of these gigs, we'll need about 90 minutes of music. Two sets. As of this week's practice, we'll have two sets of music, then three weeks to practice our brains out. Actually, it won't be that bad. We've all played in so many bands before, we know how it works, and we've gotten to the point where every one of us is damned good. We work up our own parts, then spend rehearsal time putting things together, maybe working out vocal harmonies and/or who plays which guitar part, and each song is nailed down in about half an hour, maybe 45 minutes. As it should be. These upcoming gigs will help solidify things, then we start working up a third set, at which point we'll be ready to do real gigs. We don't have any yet, of course, but we'll be ready.
Weird Side Story/Update on Rick
Remember Rick, the original guitarist who turned out to be a head case, was a dick to our original singer and made him quit, and eventually got fired because he was a head case and a dick? Okay maybe you don't. Anyway, I got an email from him, started off with some "Hi, remember me?" stuff and went on to talk about the new band he's in, and they need a keyboard player, and he wondered if I was interested. Right now, I'm in at least two bands plus have some other musical commitments, so no. I gave him a quick update on Oh Zone and how we lost Rob because his cancer came back, and Terry got canned somewhat preemptively but it was pretty clear that he wasn't happy.
Rick's response was to totally blast John for how he runs the band, and that he thought maybe I'd had enough of it by now, which is why he asked me to join his new band. I thought that that wasn't a completely unreasonable reply, but then he went on to talk about how John had conspired to get rid of him (Rick) and probably told us all that he'd fired him, but the truth is that he quit. Also, Rob probably lied about his cancer coming back and just wanted out, and probably quit too, same with Terry, and John again just made it sound like he'd fired him. Whoa. Some of this might actually have been true -- I mean, all we have is John's side of the story when relating how the calls went to Rick and Terry -- but we were all in on the decisions, and Rob had actually contacted me on the side, apologized for leave us hanging like that, and I even told him we could jam some time when he's feeling up to it. Basically, Rick is out of his fucking mind. Delusional.
So at the next practice, I started telling John about this weird email I got from Rick. John says "Oh yeah? I got one, too. Did he ask to come to your house?"
What? Um, no. "Did he say he had a present for you or something like that?" No...
John told me about it, but it was so bizarre that he just ended up forwarding me the email from Rick. Rick had been doing a lot of thinking, and wanted to clear the air between him and John. He wanted to come over, maybe have a drink, and just talk. He also had a business proposal for him. He also needed John's wife's advice on a business matter (John's wife Kay is a real estate agent). It would take maybe 90 minutes; two hours, tops. In exchange for their time and consideration, he'd already picked up a nice gift that he wanted to give to them.
Seriously, what? Steve (new guitarist, Rick's replacement) read that and said "John, under no circumstances do you let this guy anywhere near your house!" Joking but dead serious. Of course, Rick knows where the house is, but whatever. John had already answered the email, saying they could talk on the phone, but he was really too busy to devote a few hours to chatting, wasn't really looking for any new business opportunities, and Kay wasn't either. This was a few weeks ago. Rick hasn't contacted myself or John since.
I am very glad that I'm not in a band with this nutcase.