So you wonder what it’s like to play music for a living.

A Typical Gig on New Year’s Eve and it's all True:

First you download the directions from map quest - very reliable but you still get lost.

Luckily you thought to leave three hours before start time, never mind the 75 mile drive ( one way ).

Thanks to cell phones, you can call others in the band for directions. They followed the very same instructions you provided and they've already arrived!

The gig turns out to be for 30 people. You show up with ‘dangerously unregulated’ sound capacity. The venue is in a neighborhood with no streetlights and it’s dark as you off load your gear. The street smells like it is newly paved. It is a short distance to the front door, but the driveway is covered with three inches of gravel ( Chattahoochee ). The carts can’t roll … they drag… and create pretty fair sized trenches.

Suddenly you notice something clings to the bottom of your shoe. You think it’s a bit of gravel… but no, the heel of your left shoe has crumbled. Bits of your shoe are strewn across the floor behind. Oh my! It's NYE! You’re still off-loading the gear and gravel is sticking to your recently absent heel. You think 'How could this happen'? They were fine when I left the house! You think… "At least it’s only the one shoe!" Then you discover that you’re no longer walking lopsided because the other heel has gone too! Residue from the newly paved tarmac has dissolved your heels! You leave a black powdery trail everywhere you travel and straight through the residence as well. All night.

Everyone in the crowd speaks German and they ‘sank you’ effusively. They ask if you can start 35 minutes early. “Sure no problem,” you say, “just let us finish bringing in the gear.” On the next trip you find your cell phone on the floor and you never noticed it to fall. It happens.

The band starts without you because your guitar isn't tuned. You jack-in and suddenly discover that one  9V power supply has gone bad. There’s no choice but to do the gig without this effect pedal. There’s no spare power supply or battery. If only you still had your shoes...?

The first set is 90 minutes long and the keyboard microphone still isn’t working!

Some tunes you don't know well and try to read the chart. But the lite breeze keeps blowing the chart off your music stand. Party streamers have littered the floor. You see them at your feet and come to realize that if this gig doesn’t end soon you’ll be standing in a trash pile of powdered shoe and party streamer.

The dance floor is very small and guests repeatedly bang into the head stock of your guitar. It’s rather like standing on a cutting board while someone chops a salad! A short speech ensues and you stand around awkwardly while everyone laughs or sighs ( in German ). Pretty soon you just start to join in the applause regardless of whatever is being said. Momentary panic ensues when a few guys threaten to heave a woman and her chair into the pool. The splash would have drenched the band completely especially the keys!

None the less this crowd loves the band! You finish having played 35 minutes overtime for free. You thank the crowd and play the final tune, then someone comes up to request ' I Left my Heart in San Francisco'. During the load out you discover a speaker stand has become lodged inside one speaker bottom and it won’t come loose. Three trips later you’re out the door. It’s now 1:40 am and you still have that 75 mile drive to get back home.

The ride home is peppered with flashing lights as police clean up the drunks and the crashes. Expressway traffic is jammed in a few places. Finally around 3:30 am you arrive home. A party of local residents is just ebbing in your parking area. You leave most of the gear in the van till tomorrow. You made it. Thank you and good night!

PS - Everyone adoreD the flute player.