The Great Gig In The Rain

A fellow starving musician friend of mine came knocking on my door the other day with some rel good news. It seems that the band that was scheduled to play at a nearby venue had cancelled, and the owners wanted us...Greg and me, to do a show of our solo stuff..., and get PAID to boot. Well that was just the best news Id heard all day...I was very excited to say the least....Ive been playing in a band and we've had a few paying gigs, but this is to be my first, "solo" gig to get paid for. Things are starting to look up!!!

So at 830pm we get our gear set up and get tuned up.., then kick back to relax before things get started at 9pm. And then it happens....rain. Oh, did I forget to mention, the bar/bandstand is set up like a outside patio type thing...its really cool...most of the seating area is covered, and the bandstand is covered, but the section between the two, the dancing area, is not covered. So, as the rain slacked Greg did his set, and a great set it was...about 45 minutes later I took the stage, and flowed through some of my songs and covers......the rain would come and go. It was a great night...each of us doing our musical sets...at one point a few friends from a local band came up and did a few songs.....the rains came again. We had to keep moving stuff around because the wind was starting to blow and the rain was getting the stage wet.

I went back up to close the night out with one last set...,that's when it happened.....the thunder...the lightning.......I have a book on a stand with songs in it ....one song I had written I'm still trying to memorize, was what I was singing....the wind started blowing hard....., all the pages started flipping in the book...I'd only gotten through the first verse.....man!! So, not to be faltered, I just started adding verses from different songs I know....and it worked! And the lightning crashed...and the thunder rumbled...and the rains fell at a 45degree angle ...I was getting wet...my guitar was wet.......so, at that point , I decided, with the encouragement of Greg, to end the show. It was a great show despite the storm.., in fact, to me, it just added to the excitement of the night.