Well, we decided to add another full time vocalist to the None The Wiser fold. After three years of gigging through the harshness of Winter while simultaneously performing my assigned duties as the esteemed director of a high school instrumental music program, it occurred to me that no, I am never going to get through January, February, and March (known collectively in my phrasebook as “the bastard months”) without coming into direct contact with every form of upper respiratory infection known to medicine. The joy of attempting to sing Toto and Queen while under the influence of a cocktail of prescription antibiotics and over-the-counter medicines is one that I can only liken to walking off the end of a diving board while blindfolded, not knowing how high up the board was to begin with, nor knowing how far down or how deep the water will be when you finally hit it. So the solution finally hit me: GET SOMEONE ELSE TO DO IT FOR YOU. As the Germans say….”Ve grow too soon olt und too late schmart”.
The new guy is doing great. He’s not a teacher, so he should be able to stay healthy through the bastard months. Plus, with me harmonizing with he and Trish, it really fattens up the sound. Plus, I don’t have to learn all the lyrics anymore. Plus, I still sing a few leads. Plus, I don’t have to learn all the lyrics anymore. Plus I get to hang out away from “front and center” stage and just mess with my keyboards and guitar. Plus I will now get to add some sax and trumpet to the band. Plus, I don’t have to learn all the lyrics anymore. There are so many upsides to having someone take over the lead singer duties. Oh, and also, I won’t have to learn all the lyrics anymore.
I drive half an hour to school every day, and for the sake of those of you whose abilities to make rational deductions runs a distant second to your excellent taste in selecting which blogs you should read, that means I drive a half an hour home FROM school every day as well. When I have to learn lyrics, that means listening to the song whose lyrics I have to learn over and over. And over. And over. Ad nauseum. Half an hour up to school…..half an hour home from school. Next day. Half and hour up to school….half and hour home from school. Lather. Rinse. Repeat. Half an hour up…..well you get the idea. The same song. Until I can sing the whole thing, start to finish, without tripping on a lyric, without hesitating. Over. And. Over. Again.
Aside of not having to learn the lyrics, hiring a new lead singer also means that I won’t have to do this routine any longer. I can actually listen to music that I enjoy for a change, instead of listening to only what I have to learn for the band. I don’t actually remember what music that is, but I’m hoping that after a few months of decompressing from my previous routine, finding music that I like will start to become a natural part of my life again.
None the Wiser only had one gig this month. It was a bull roast to benefit a local rec baseball team. Lots of fun. The hotel we played at had this manager who told us that there wasn’t enough outlets available to plug in our stage lighting. So we were up on stage getting ready to play and we thought, “well, this isn’t too bad”. Then they shut the lights off in the ball room. Then we were in the dark, except for what minimal lighting was left because of table candles and wall sconces. No one in the audience could really see us.
I didn’t mind because the stage had a back wall that had all these mirrors on them. I could turn around and look at them and see myself playing, and it was really cool. It reminded me of when I was a kid and used to pose with my guitar in my parents mirror and pretend I was really something special! Only in this case, it was REAL! I was on stage with a real live band, in front of a real live audience, posing with my guitar in the mirror and pretending I was something really special. And because it was dark, I could do this without anyone noticing how narcissistic I am!
I should add that I use the term “live audience” quite loosely, because the only way we actually knew they were alive is because we could see the plates of food and glasses of booze on their tables when we took a break. When we were on stage however, we couldn’t tell because they never clapped. Never. Not once. Not once in the whole night. We’d get to the end of the song…
”brrrddddddddddddddddd-d-d-d-d-d-d----d-----d------baddaddaDUM!!!!”
…and all you would hear was crickets. No clapping. Not a sound. If it weren’t for being able to watch myself in the mirror pretending to be something special, it would have made for a long, miserable evening.
At school we had the Harford County Band Festival. The kids played great. They looked great, they played great, they had a great time eating lunch at Burger King after the gig. My tuba player forgot his black socks and when he sat up holding his tuba, you could see his legs between his black shoes and his black pants. He had to barter with another band member whose bare legs wouldn’t look so obvious on stage to let him use their socks. Two kids forgot their tuxedo shirts and had to call their parents. One kid forgot her bowtie and cumberbund. We got to eat lunch at Burger King.
Then we had a jazz coffeehouse on the 27th. Played to a full house. My 1st trombone player told me less than 48 hours before the gig that he couldn’t make it because he was going to a wedding. I always appreciate an advanced notice. I got to sight read the 1st trombone book at the gig. I didn’t do too bad, and the band got a nice standing ovation. Really great gig. I always appreciate an advanced notice. The band boosters put on a nice spread of desserts and drinks. Nice community and family event. We’re going to do another one in May. I always appreciate an advanced notice.
Well, that about wraps it up. The beat rolls on, and I just keep on trying to stay in step, which is not easy when they keep changing the tempo without telling me. I always appreciate an advanced notice. So, until next month….keep on keepin’ on!
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
AIG and the Partisan Illusion
The stuff that has been going on with AIG is unbelievable.
What I’m referring to is NOT the fact that AIG took billions of dollars in government bailout funds and then had the audacity to give 165 million dollars to its corporate executives as bonuses. I’m also not referring to the now seemingly endless parade of politicians who are lining up to bash AIG for this action.
What I’m referring to is that anyone is actually shocked or surprised by this.
I can’t believe that anyone at this point would be surprised to learn the depth of greed that runs in the corporate mentality. These are the people that bled the American economy right into the mess that it is already in and then came back for more.
And I can’t believe that anyone would actually fall for this tiresome act staged by our elected officials. The government sponsored AIG with money that belonged to the American people. I’ll venture a wild guess and say that no one in congress ran out and loaded their portfolios up with AIG stock the day after the bailout. These people now have the audacity to claim that they didn’t know AIG would do this with taxpayer funds. True enough; maybe they didn’t. That’s not the point. The point is that they also didn’t CARE enough to make sure it didn’t or couldn’t happen.
The nonsense that these bills are so big that there is no way that they can know every last line of detail that is involved in them is just that. Nonsense. First, it is their job to know. Second, they sure didn’t think it was too big a job to make sure their earmarks made it into the final draft. Third, the government sure doesn’t think it is too big a job to check all the millions of pieces paperwork involved each year when it comes time for Joe Average to file his taxes. It’s too big a job for the government to make sure some corporation that already drove itself into the ground with greed doesn’t take 165 million of our dollars and snarf that up too. But it’s not too big a job for them to make sure you have the receipt from that $75 donation you made to “Save the Squirrels” last year.
Remember when President Bush wanted to go to war with Iraq? Remember when congress voted to let him? Remember when all the Dems then claimed that they were duped? Well, it was their job not to be duped. Same goes here, only the other way around.
But now of course, the next step is going to be the usual partisan finger pointing with all the adherents to the respective sides lining up to take part. Lefties will point at the right, and righties will point at the left.
When are American’s going to learn that their dollars are not partisan? The war in Iraq cost billions of dollars. They didn’t cost Republican dollars. They didn’t cost Democrat dollars. They cost YOUR dollars regardless of what party you belong to. Likewise, the money that AIG execs got came out of your pockets regardless of which lever you pulled last November, and they got it courtesy of all the people (who by the way, are also getting paid a pretty hefty sum) you thought were looking out for your best interest.
Partisanship is a wonderful illusion perpetuated by our politicians. It is the illusion that keeps the taxpayers from seeing that all politicians work for the same organization. And they have an incentive to keep the illusion going.
What is really unbelievable is that more people have not figured out the trick yet.
A few more thoughts:
The same government that gave AIG your money so they could pass it on to their already wealthy execs is the same government that wants to manage your health care system.
Both Obama and McCain received campaign contributions from AIG. I’ve been hard pressed to come up with exact figures (I’ve read anything from 50 to 100k), but I don’t think it matters. Neither Obama nor McCain have been heard expressing outrage that this company would donate to their election campaigns and then look for a taxpayer bailout.
When you got a guaranteed student loan or a home mortgage loan, did the government just hand you the money and let you do anything with it, or did they give the proceeds DIRECTLY to the company who was owed money? Why didn’t they do the same thing with the companies they bailed out?
What I’m referring to is NOT the fact that AIG took billions of dollars in government bailout funds and then had the audacity to give 165 million dollars to its corporate executives as bonuses. I’m also not referring to the now seemingly endless parade of politicians who are lining up to bash AIG for this action.
What I’m referring to is that anyone is actually shocked or surprised by this.
I can’t believe that anyone at this point would be surprised to learn the depth of greed that runs in the corporate mentality. These are the people that bled the American economy right into the mess that it is already in and then came back for more.
And I can’t believe that anyone would actually fall for this tiresome act staged by our elected officials. The government sponsored AIG with money that belonged to the American people. I’ll venture a wild guess and say that no one in congress ran out and loaded their portfolios up with AIG stock the day after the bailout. These people now have the audacity to claim that they didn’t know AIG would do this with taxpayer funds. True enough; maybe they didn’t. That’s not the point. The point is that they also didn’t CARE enough to make sure it didn’t or couldn’t happen.
The nonsense that these bills are so big that there is no way that they can know every last line of detail that is involved in them is just that. Nonsense. First, it is their job to know. Second, they sure didn’t think it was too big a job to make sure their earmarks made it into the final draft. Third, the government sure doesn’t think it is too big a job to check all the millions of pieces paperwork involved each year when it comes time for Joe Average to file his taxes. It’s too big a job for the government to make sure some corporation that already drove itself into the ground with greed doesn’t take 165 million of our dollars and snarf that up too. But it’s not too big a job for them to make sure you have the receipt from that $75 donation you made to “Save the Squirrels” last year.
Remember when President Bush wanted to go to war with Iraq? Remember when congress voted to let him? Remember when all the Dems then claimed that they were duped? Well, it was their job not to be duped. Same goes here, only the other way around.
But now of course, the next step is going to be the usual partisan finger pointing with all the adherents to the respective sides lining up to take part. Lefties will point at the right, and righties will point at the left.
When are American’s going to learn that their dollars are not partisan? The war in Iraq cost billions of dollars. They didn’t cost Republican dollars. They didn’t cost Democrat dollars. They cost YOUR dollars regardless of what party you belong to. Likewise, the money that AIG execs got came out of your pockets regardless of which lever you pulled last November, and they got it courtesy of all the people (who by the way, are also getting paid a pretty hefty sum) you thought were looking out for your best interest.
Partisanship is a wonderful illusion perpetuated by our politicians. It is the illusion that keeps the taxpayers from seeing that all politicians work for the same organization. And they have an incentive to keep the illusion going.
What is really unbelievable is that more people have not figured out the trick yet.
A few more thoughts:
The same government that gave AIG your money so they could pass it on to their already wealthy execs is the same government that wants to manage your health care system.
Both Obama and McCain received campaign contributions from AIG. I’ve been hard pressed to come up with exact figures (I’ve read anything from 50 to 100k), but I don’t think it matters. Neither Obama nor McCain have been heard expressing outrage that this company would donate to their election campaigns and then look for a taxpayer bailout.
When you got a guaranteed student loan or a home mortgage loan, did the government just hand you the money and let you do anything with it, or did they give the proceeds DIRECTLY to the company who was owed money? Why didn’t they do the same thing with the companies they bailed out?
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