Catch-up!

OK, a lot has happened since I was last on here. A chance to start up to speed s-l-o-w-l-y.

My writing class ended and a new semester began. I have worked for two different locations on internship. My first was Okmulgee Public Schools. This was going to be a free internship. I was told to look for a paid one by an instructor but the other location I looked didn't have anything available. As it turns out, after a few weeks of "free" the other location lost their IT guy and voila! I now have a paid internship, Although it isn't much more than minimum wage, it has one thing no one else could offer, the promise of a full time job once the internship is complete. Woo Hoo! I just hope I don't screw it up too bad between now and then!!!

On another note, the band! This is enough to make me wonder what is going on with some people. At least I don't have to be the bad guy now, someone has already done that for me. More on that in a moment.

As most who know me know, Uncle P is the name I use when I do Karaoke. I have done Karaoke for 10 years now. Mostly for free and when I do it for pay it is at the Elks lodge, where I also volunteer for a lot of other things. The Elks have kept me overly busy for over 15 years now. I use Karaoke to put on a show with 20-30 of my closest Elk friends each February to raise money for Oklahoma Elks Major Projects. This group provides funding for several youth related activities in Oklahoma. That is what Uncle P is all about.

I have been balancing my Elk life, school and playing in a band for over two years now, which hasn't been an easy task. I like live music and always will. It is great to see people play and have fun. Karaoke, like DJ work has a place in the music business as well. It isn't always to take the place of a live band. I have found several really good singers through doing Karaoke. These people go on to play and sing in bands, sometimes once they have overcome their fear of being in front of a crowd while doing Karaoke. Karaoke is also forgiving, whereas these people have to sometimes get really "looped" before they sing. If they are not any good, it is usually blamed on the booze. No matter, part of the Karaoke entertainment value is the ones who CAN NOT sing, but try. I always tell everyone, "If you can't clap because they are good, clap because they are done!"

Anyway, enough of what sounds like I am defending Karaoke. It is just a balance. I like to play music. I have played the drums for 41 years now. I am trying to learn a few different instruments now to be able to do other things. Both of my kids are in band and learning how to read music and play. My youngest plays Sax and was in the beginning honors band last year. My boy plays baritone, but also has a trumpet, bass guitar, dulcimer, plus my old drums. Me, with the discovery of Apple's Garage Band app, can lay just about anything now. (on the computer!)

So, where does that leave the band, hmmm, leave the band, what an interesting concept. This was one of those bands that HAD potential, providing one, we could find a market to perform, and two, providing we had some direction and professionalism about us. The original concept was great. Bob Dylan. Yes I know he is still alive, but casinos everywhere have tribute bands to different real groups. Some of these bands stay at one casino as their "draw" while others travel between a group of casinos as a tour. All was great in the beginning, We played a few shows to "get tight" then we recorded a demo to include in our press pack, an item required by most casinos to hire a band. $1,200 a night to start sounds great, but after two years, it still never materialized. The band changed lineups several times. Recently we added an old friend of mine and a guy who I had played in a band with years ago, and started doing more main-stream music so we could get jobs in regular bars. OK, all good and fine except now we are just spinning our wheels. We learned some new, Non-Bob songs and started playing in a bar. The things that did not change are the goofing off between songs and the lack of professionalism when it comes to being an act you want to see in a casino. I can tell you, we may be able to GET the job at the casino, but we could not KEEP the job if we got it. The sheer lack of professionalism between the songs and how the songs seem to drone on and on forever would have us fired at the end of the first set.

Fast forward to this past weekend. We played Thursday for a retirement center here in town. We did it w/o our main guitarist and with a fill in keyboardist. An hour and a half set went very well. Friday we played our regular gig at the bar. The club owner has been trying to get me to do Karaoke for him, and I have been trying to put him off. Mainly because I do not want to do it there. He cornered me on a break and asked me to do Karaoke the following Friday, He has 4 bands outside on Saturday and wanted something different for the Friday crowd. I told him I could not because of a prior engagement. His statement was that he had to do something because he already had advertised Karaoke. I told him to give me his number and when I got home I could contact him with info on others who did Karaoke and may be available. The band leader overheard a small portion of the conversation and sent me a text msg at 2am telling me I was out and I was not a team player.

As I said, "Out of the Band" let me see for just a second, how do I feel about something that I was going to do anyway? At least I'm not the bad guy who quits just as things start to come around. The part that bothers me is how I'm "not a team player".

After all I have done for them, I'm not a team player? OK what ever you think is fine with me. At least it helps me to get out. I didn't know how much more I was going to be able to take.

More on this later. Look for part 2.