50 Million TranzPhat Fans Can't Be Wrong

Spent the evening literally hurtling through a rehearsal for a party my cover band/bridge club is playing. The traditional line-up featured me on drums, with Jim McD on Bass, Jim $ on Vocals, Karl on guitar and Sean on percussion. McD and his wife just had their first child, so he's on maternity leave, and I've been 'promoted' to bass, with Sean moving to drums.

For this party, however, there was some question as to Sean's availability - he might have been going to see Leo Kottke noodle at the Burning Rome Festival (or something). So I scared up stalwart Edz, who learned something like 20 songs in the time it took to play them, with time out for me and Karl shouting arrangements to him on the fly. Of course, at the last minute, Shaun decided to skip Kottke, so we're back to a five-piece for the party. Bring on the noise, indeed. I'd say 'bring on the funk' as well, but we're a fairly funkless unit.

The final set-list, chosen from our larger pile, is as follows (order not set):

Celebrity Skin
Do it Again
Feel Like Makin' Love
HashPipe
Heat of the Moment
Here Comes Your Man
I Think I Love You
I'm Like a Bird
Italian Leather Sofa
Summer Breeze
Sweet Surrender
Time is Running Out
Ubabarauma
Wave of Mutilation
Xanadu
Your Wildest Dreams

That set was mostly chosen by Jim $'s wife Danielle, whose party it is, so it's comprised of our least eclectic material. We do have some seriously weird songs in the larger pile. I still haven't worked out exactly why Danielle wants us to play her birthday party, since she's shown nothing but disdain and/or disinterest in the band in the entire time I've known her. Perhaps this is going to be something like the end of Carrie, and we're being set up for a prank involving a bucket of pig's blood.

Anyway, I confess to missing playing the drums, which was my whole point for joining this band in the first place. And over the years - a surprising number of years playing together, at this point - I got to be a fairly solid drummer. Of course, since I don't play bass anymore, it's nice to have this outlet for it, so it's all good.

Eventually, I'll be reduced to playing tambourine for a Frampton tribute band called "The Way." And I'll be happy to do it, no doubt.

So, we'll probably fuck up left and right on Saturday, but we'll be drunk, and the audience will be drunk, and no-one will care. Now that's Rock and Roll.

D.