Remedies are for the ill anyway. :P

So the cover band I was in finally bothered to let me know — by email — that they’ve decided I’m not in it after all. This after no practice for three weeks, and a sudden gig that the four of them took and performed at without even letting me know about it. The lead singer insists that they’re “just looking to scale back” and that they were pleased enough with my playing and liked me personally. Yeah, that makes perfect sense.

Basically, either they weren’t being honest about what they’re looking for, or are just too flighty to know. Either way, they communicated badly and insulted me with their disregard.

I’m disappointed, because it’s fun playing music I like with other good musicians. But I don’t particularly want to be part of a group that treats people like this. So, really, it’s just as well.

New Town, New Band

We moved to Fayetteville, GA this week. The house is bigger and nicer than our last one, though it too is a rental. Lots of storage, a screened-in back porch, and access to community perks like a swimming pool and tennis courts. The only downsides are an increase in yard maintenance, and an allegedly fascist neighborhood association which is ever vigilant for infractions of yard maintenance guidelines. But our kitchen sink alone is probably worth this sacrifice.

We got here Sunday night, and spent a couple days camping here and getting the essentials in place. Movers brought the rest of our stuff on Wednesday. It was the easiest move I’ve had by far.

There was a newspaper in our driveway that evening, and I brought it into the house and looked through it. In it I found a classified ad seeking a keyboard player for “an established southern rock/blues band.” I called them yesterday, having finally gotten the boxes down to ankle level. I figured even if nothing else came of it, I could pick their brains about resources for musicians down here. They invited me and the family out to the lead singer’s house this evening for band practice and a cookout.

It was great fun, even though I wasn’t yet able to play along with most of their songs. And even though I have a lot of practicing to do before I know the songs as well as they do, they’re willing to give me the chance to get up to speed. Everything they played tonight is a cover, but the songs are good and fun to play. They get some gigs but aren’t very aggressive about it — they all have day jobs — which suits me and my Dad-of-young-kids schedule just fine. The band’s name is Remedy. They play pretty well together, I’d say.

Downtown Fayetteville seems to be precisely one major intersection. Most of the rest of it is tucked away behind the trees, off little roads; the vibe is a bit isolating. I’m glad to be making some friends already.

My folk band lurches back to life

It had been been ages since I’ve gotten together with my neighbor Jeremy to jam, but he came by yesterday afternoon. He didn’t have time to play, but asked me if I would be free that night. We ended up going to his friend Dylan’s house, the one with the sound booth and recording setup in his basement. A few hours later, we had a rough demo of one of Jeremy’s songs. I’m not even sure the song has a name yet, I’ve only heard him call it “that banjo song.”

He put down the banjo part first, then I did accordion. Nothing fancy, just simple backup chords, but it still filled out the sound nicely. I was a little rusty, and had to think too hard about playing. I need practice, and also confidence to play it more decisively. But it was good enough for this. Then Jeremy sang lead vocals, and Dylan threw down a quick and dirty bass part. Jeremy and I each sang some harmony on the chorus, and then I even recorded a ukulele track if you can believe it. Dylan’ll be mixing it some more, but it sounded pretty cool already when we called it a night. It was quite a trip to hear us that way.

Jeremy is wanting to do a disc of seven or so songs, and take them around town to get us some live gigs. I’m a little worried that it’ll sound too different than we do live, but we’ve got a while to worry about that. But even if nothing else comes of it, we’ll have a record and some good memories.