Well, trying to rebuild PLOW just hasn't been working out, so I started reading the PA Musician, and Craigs List ads to see what might be out there in terms of projects for me to join.

I found and interesting ad, and replied to it.  The guy seemed reasonably intelligent, and articulate, and so we set up a little meet and greet over an adult beverage.  That really seemed to go well, even though the initiator of the meeting didn't really have a lot of time to hang out.  It was all good though, and so we set up a date and time to get together and play a few songs, to see how we got along musically.  

At the end of the first jam session, we all agreed that it was a fun crew, and planned to meet the following week to rehearse.

Unfortunately, I caught a bug that had been going around, and ended up being sick most of the weekend, and missed the first two days of the work week lying in bed.  So, when Wednesday came around and I wasn't feeling much better, I called my new found bandmate and told him I was sick, and didn't feel up to coming out to rehearsal.  He seemed to be ok with that, but the following day I got this email:

John,

           As much as this may or may not be disappointing to you the band decided that we are going to seek out another guitarist. We think you are a fine player and could have been an integral part of the band. Please know this was a band decision and it's nothing personal. We wish you good luck and maybe we'll see each other around town.

Now, I only have 1 week invested, so I'm not going to mope about it, but I guess that if you're going to audition for a new band, you shouldn't get sick the next week or they'll fire you.  

Live and Learn.

No hard feelings, and I wish them all the best of luck, and continued good health!!!!!

P.S. If anyone from the band that just fired me reads this, please drop me a line with your band name and when/where you are playing.  Seriously, I wish you all the best and would be happy to come out and be part of the audience.  When I'm not on the stage, I still like to support my local musician friends.

John.

...earlier today, I read a post by JerseyMike wondering "where are the hot new harrisburg bands?".  My experience in the central PA area have been that the majority of the venues that are booking local acts are NOT RECEPTIVE to original music.  In fact, there were a couple of venues that flat out told me "no originals" when I talked to them about booking the band.  There was a club downtown that used to promote original music, but shut it down due to lack of interest.  Same thing in Summerdale.  We talked to the folks booking legions, Elk and Moose clubs, etc., and they all wanted to make sure we were going to be playing familiar (read popular covers) music, because that's what their patrons want.  Again, my experience has been that even when we covered popular bands (Skynyrd, Nickelback, etc.) if we weren't playing "Sweet Home Alabama", or "Control", it still wasn't well received.  Digging deep into the classic vinyl archive seems to be discouraged.  If you're not playing what's on the top 10 list of the venues jukebox, you might as well be taking a break.

Have I just been going to the wrong clubs?

Well, it was another open mic night at the Verhovay club last night.  It was a slow night.  We did our first set with no major glitches.  As we were finishing the set, we wished one of the patrons (Steph) a happy birthday by playing and singing the traditional “happy birthday song”.   John C. started out the open mic portion of the night.  He did an awesome job on some old Dylan tunes.  We also did a couple of standards.  I even played piano/organ on a couple of songs.  Frank came out and did a great job on a couple of tunes.  The close of the evening saw me dinking around with some old Billy Joel tunes on the piano.  Someday, I’m going to learn to play that thing! 

After we packed up and loaded out at the Verhovay, Scott and I stopped up at Nathan’s for their open mic night (which doesn’t really get underway until after 10pm).  I ran in to a couple of friends, and later in the evening Scott and I did a few tunes just because we were there.  I even went out on a limb and did a solo version of Bad Co’s Seagull.  Fortunately, there were no cameras or recording devices!

We would have hung out for a bit afterwards, but it was getting pretty late, and I still needed to get to work in the morning.  Thanks go out to the Verhovay for letting us play, and Brenda the bartender for not letting us go thirsty.  Also, thanks to Nathan’s, along with Glenn and Carl (the open mic hosts) and Meranda, because there “ain’t no sunshine when she’s gone”!