We had our first gig of the new season a while back and it was, what's the word?  Oh yeah, a mess.  Really, it's not like we have so much new stuff to learn.  There's a certain program to playing weddings, and although songs are added and subtracted, the core of what we do hasn't changed in the four years I've been in this band.  Also, it's not as though we haven't worked all winter.  There are parties, functions, and even some wedding receptions in the dark winter months of New England.  Not to mention that we had plenty of bridal showcases, where we play for prospective clients.

But you'd never know it, since:

• M's monitor blew up on the very first song, which is the kind of thing that only happens if your equipment has been sitting in your car all winter.
• After months of complaining about the outfits we wear to functions, no one took it upon themselves to change anything.  So there we were, in our cheap tuxes and Valentine's Day ties looking like Adam Sandler knock-offs with worse hair.  Except H, of course, since she never wears a tie.
• C had to visibly check his information sheet as he introduced the First Dance, since he had evidently forgotten the bride's name.
• I forgot to print out the sheet music for the aforementioned First Dance, so I turned off my guitar and pantomimed it.  Which was fun, but probably not very professional.
• H forgot the words to "We Are Family," a song she has sung literally more than a thousand times in her life.  Also, note to her:  Yes I do want to dump all of your songs - just shake your damn tambourine and be quiet, ok?
• C played an entire song in the wrong key and NEVER NOTICED.  Thankfully, when I pointed it out to him he blamed DC, so some things don't change.

I've noticed a strange phenomenon at certain function facilities - a weird, aggressive impatience with vegetarians.  This frequently happens at places that serve the band and photographer last, evidently to make the point that we are not guests and are lucky to even be eating.  (This is dumb for being impractical:  the band, and ESPECIALLY the photographer, should eat first so that we can get right back to work.)  At places like this, when they get around to serving us the Chicken Footballs^TM and H asks for a vegetarian meal, the reaction is usually incredulous:  "We don't have any," "no one ordered one for you," or the best "there's vegetables on the plate, aren't there?"  She frequently ends up not eating while the rest of the band divides up her food.  Also, the better the facility (and the higher-priced the wedding) the worse we eat.  If the guests are having lobster and filet then we'll be dining on brown-bagged Cheez-Whiz sandwiches.

More to come as I get caught up.  Hi Jen.