So I had ideas what Second Life anomalies to write about this week but then real life kicked in with other issues that turned all my plans for everything arse about face. So in the absence of anything SL related to talk about, I’ll tell you about my week.
First a little background…
For the last eight years I’ve been working with a singer on a variety of band projects. Like many front man/lead guitarist relationships ours has had its highs and lows. From travelling across Europe and playing to 3000+ people to the sort of bust ups that make the Troggs tapes look like handbags at ten paces. At times there’s been unity but at others rivalry and friction. Despite all this we’ve remained friends with a grudging respect for each other’s talents and ambition.
Our current project, an old school rockabilly and swing band complete with double bass and horn section, was going well. With gigs booked, a small one album recording deal secured and great line up completed, we’d booked a rehearsal room for Tuesday evening with our debut gig in early March followed by a support slot at the 100 Club on Oxford Street to follow. SORTED!
Then Monday evening it started to go a bit pear shaped. I get a text from the singer saying he’s got a virus and can’t make the rehearsal. He never misses rehearsals for colds or minor ailments so I knew he must be feeling pretty rough. So I rang round the band with the news and cancelled the rehearsal studio.
Wednesday just as I was about to begin my weekly set at AAI I received a call from the singer’s wife saying he’s been rushed to hospital and is intensive care with a brain bleed. Somehow I got through the set, I even cracked a tasteless joke about having first dibs on his guitar if he carked it; thats the kind of banter that goes on in the band. I don’t think it had sunk in to be honest. How could this be happening? Must be some kind of mistake surely? He’s three years younger than me, a former footballer, non smoker, relatively fit. Can’t be right can it?! After the set I Googled brain bleeds and it hit me – the possible consequences of what was happening. FARK!
As you can imagine the rest of the week was very worrying as his condition was stabilised and we awaited news from the specialists following scans and tests. I cancelled the band’s engagements and kept our band mates informed of developments. It’s weird how the human mind finds ways to cope with this kind of stress and upheaval but our bass player suggested we should get into the studio and start work on the recordings. That way we’d have something together for him to sing on once he’d recovered. Maybe even speed up that recovery process with him knowing there was something to aim for. So we hit the studio to put down rhythm parts. Dunno why, but it felt right, the show really must go on as they say. As the weekend drew to a close our singer’s condition had improved significantly. He won’t be able to be involved in music for quite some time but he is expected to recover with no permanent problems. I look forward to arguing with him soon over why a Cadd9 is better than a C Maj in the bridge, and why a middle 8 doesn’t HAVE to be 8 bars long… and I thank medical science for that.
I’ll wrap up this post with one of his favourite singers Tom Waits singing a very apt song.
Wishing you all good health and harmonious chords people x
Graz
And so often we moan about the ‘traumas’ we have to put up with in Second Life… if only RL could be that simple!
Here’s hoping for a speedy recovery and that your singer is back on his feet for the album – sure the show must go on in the meantime, but it’s more fun when you have someone to argue with!
What d’ya mean a middle 8 doesn’t have to have 8 bars? You’ll be telling us a guitar doesn’t have to have 6 strings next!
Sorry to hear this, Graz. Will keep him in prayers.
Hope your friend recovers soon Graz. Very nice blog mate. Certainly puts things into perspective.
LOL, at first I thought this was Shauna’s post, cause she used to play in a band, but then I got straightened out. My goodness, I hope your friend recovers! Life is never a steady flow and probably that’s a good thing or how would we know if we were still alive? Thanks for sharing and so glad Shauna has encouraged you on this blogging thing.