Lately, my weekends have been a whirlwind. This one was absolutely no exception. From Friday morning until tonight, it felt as if I was going non-stop and thinking back over it, I pretty much was. It was fun, though, paid fairly well and gave me some odd and interesting experiences. Here’s a recap…
I had an interesting meeting with a potential client first thing Friday morning. We sat in Mama’s Cafe and had coffee (well, I had Dr. Pepper – big surprise). It was a good meeting that I think will ultimately be beneficial for all of us. The only down side was that I wasn’t able to have any of Mama’s breakfast food because I knew I was going to lunch with Angie afterward. Sigh.
After my meeting, I had an hour to kill and went to the Galleria. I stopped in Buckle and bought a belt. Three of the sales people there know me. I buy a lot of cool stuff there to wear at shows. One of them (Mary) often just picks out my clothes for me. How cool is that?
Around 12:30pm, I picked up Angie and we went to Cafe Lili for lunch. I had never eaten Lebanese food before and I’m not exactly the adventurous type when it comes to food. I often think of Marge Simpson when it comes to my eating habits. Marge quotes like “you might say the secret ingredient is salt” and “Eight spices? Some of these must be doubles,” may be slightly more intensely bland than my tastes, but not too far off.
I had a falafel sandwich with hummous on the side. Actually, it was all very good. I wouldn’t eat it every day, but it was quite tasty and I’ll for sure go back.
I headed back to the house and did some work. At around 7pm, I went to the Starv Art Gallery just off Westheimer and Shepherd to see the work of my friend, Sidone Olivarez and catch the set of the band she has with her husband (Lupe), Love of Peace. I played with Lupe in the Basics for many years and his wife, Sid, is a wonderful artist. I even sat in on a couple of old songs for the hell of it.
Once I got back home, I entertained the idea of heading out to see my friends play with Norma Zentno at Cosmo’s. Javier, Norma’s brother and drummer, is a good bud of mine and a fantastic musician.
But, after getting home, I just decided to hang and watch back-to-back-to-back episodes of CSI on Spike TV. Is that show addictive or WHAT? Sheesh.
Right about the time I was getting ready to call it a night, I get a phone call from my good friend, Stacey, and we end up talking until after 4am. It was a great, meandering conversation as per usual with us. I’m still trying to figure out what trains do. I think they roll, but she insists that can’t be correct. I mean, what else do they do but roll down the tracks? If you can explain it to me, let me know because this is bugging both of us.
I woke up early for some bizarre reason and Rebecca and I ate breakfast together at the new Baba Yega’s Express, which is right next door to Baba Yega’s in the Montrose. Excellent French toast! Mmmmm…
A quick shower later and I was on the road to Chris’ to do a session with someone he booked at his studio. Leesa and I were hired to do the rhythm section tracks and managed to blaze through six songs we’d never heard in under four hours. The stuff was pretty easy, but I found it pretty humerous that Stone – the songwriter – apparently leaned over to Chris after explaining the first song to Leesa and I (we told him we understood) and said, “They’ll never make it through this.”
One take later, he had his tracks for the song. I also was able to remember places in songs where I needed to fix mistakes. I would say, “punch me on the second line of the first verse” and things like that.
I learned years ago that when you are in the studio working for someone else, you need to work as quickly as possible and remember your mistakes to correct them quickly. I knew where mine were making it faster to find and punch them in.
But, truthfully, I have a photographic memory for music. I often remember other people’s songs better than they do – a blessing and a curse no doubt. 🙂
I was home by 6pm and Rebecca and I headed out to Tien Ren, our favorite vegetarian Chinese restaurant, on Westheimer and Voss. If you’ve never been, go. Even if you eat meat, you will freak over how good their food is and how much some of it tastes like real meat even though it is all vegan.
We made a stop on the way back at the Galleria because Rebecca wanted an iPod Photo. She also owed me some cash from last week and bought me a new pair of jeans to pay me back. I wouldn’t have bought them because they cost more than I generally like to spend on jeans, but they were 32’s. Thirty-freakin’ two’s! I haven’t gotten into 32’s since I was about 25. I know, I sound like a girl. Whatever. 🙂
Her iPhoto is iKilla. Man, photos, thousands of songs…how kick ass is that?
I was pretty much spent but I wanted to see Drop Trio at Helios. Ian Varley, the keyboardist, is a friend and they are a terrific band. I made it down to lower Westheimer, but I must’ve driven by the place. On the way, my phone rings and I’m caught up in conversation when I realize where it is, but decide that at that point I’m really too tired to bother and I head back home for sleep…zzzzzzz…
This morning, I rolled out LATE – around 11am. I rarely get up that late anymore, but I needed the sleep – clearly. I headed over the Angie’s to help her pick out some clothes to take to London. She and her boyfriend are going there for a week. Mainly, I was the voice of reason reminding her that it gets cold there (forecast calls for highs in the low 60’s all week) and she should bring at least one sweater and a jacket or two.
Plus, I tried to remind her that luggage can be lost and carrying at least one change of clothes and your toiletries in your carry on is a very good idea. My father learned this the hard way when we went to Egypt and he wore his dress clothes not wanting to pack and wrinkle them. When the airline lost his luggage and he was hiking around the pyramids in slacks and dress shoes, I made a serious note never to go without a change of clothes in my carry on.
I swear, that girl has enough clothes for two weeks, but she is going with her long-distance boyfriend. They’ve only seen each other once for a weekend, so impressions are everything I guess.
Then, the crowning glory of the weekend. For the past week and a half, I’ve been rehersing with Pete Bailey, the former singer from Josephus. Leesa hooked she, Chris and I up with this paying gig. Pete (referred to as Kamikaze Pete from his days as a strip club dj) is an interesting guy. He is really a unique singer and a fantastic harp (harmonica for the uninitiated) player. The songs weren’t bad either.
But, Pete is a tad on the eccentric side and it made it intereting reciting lymrics he used to audition for the Renaissance Festival and showing us his homemade weapon – a hammer with the blades of steak knives taped to the sides – seriously. That’s the great thing about music, though. People are just fascinating.
The gig today was at an ice house/biker bar in Hitchcock called Cruisers. It was essentially their Sunday jam and we got up and rocked through half a dozen songs. What a trip. There were some outstanding rides in front of that place. There were $30,000-$40,000 bikes sitting out there!
I was fortunate to make it out in time to meet Angie for the birthday party for her friend, Michelle. Lots of interesting people – what a shock, considering Angie has a bazillion friends – and good conversation. I was, as I figured I would be, worn down by 9pm, so I stopped off at One’s a Meal to have a late dinner and headed home.
What a crazy weekend! Next weekend, I’m in the studio with my band orange is in recording our first full-length CD. Supposedly, my friend, Laura, is also coming in from Dallas – it’s Memorial Day weekend after all. That should be fun. Should be another busy and productive few days.
Oh, and I do have photo evidence of the gig in Hitchcock and the party for Michelle in my photo gallery, so have a look.