Ugh – it’s been a long time since I put a guitar string THROUGH a part of my body. I think the last time was actually in college, when I’d snapped my low E in such a way that the steel core of the string was springing straight out of the of the bridge and I caught it through the webbing of my thumb as I went down for my next slap.
Last night I got the steel core of my A string through the side of my left thumb while kicking off the last song of the night. I hadn’t fully realized what’d happened, pulled free, wiped the blood off my thumb and finished the song. It was only late that I realized I had both an entry and an exit wound.
Other than that, the show last night was great. Teavolve generally treats us pretty well and it’s always good to fill a room with people that you don’t see too often. It’d have been nice to have it a little fuller, but I’m not going to gripe.
It was the second-to-last full band show. Probably not forever. But possibly for quite a while. With Rowan joining up with the Carolina Chocolate Drops, we’re just not sure what the future holds. We rarely get to play together as a quintet, but what with a tour schedule that should keep him on the road for six months out of the year, we won’t see much and it’s going to take a while to figure out.
That maybe added a bit of flavour to the gig last night. I just have so much fun playing with these four other people – I’ve got my frustrations – little niggling angsts that have persevered through the years that no amount of playing together, practice or stern conversation have eliminated. But that’s sort of part of any relationship I suppose… and last night we were simply, beautifully, elegantly tight.
Well, after the first couple of songs at least. They were a bit rough.
But the rest of it was exquisite. You should’ve been there. With band-aids.
(many thanks to Peter, who WAS there with band-aids!)
