No Guarantees

Howdy Folks. It’s 8:16p on a Monday night. I started to write a couple different times and just haven’t had my mind on it enough to concentrate. So much is flying through my head right now. I know that that comes as a big surprise to some that know me, but that’s okay. The thing that keeps coming to mind is that we have no guarantees about anything.

I’ve been off and on the computer all day. Matter of fact the last entire month I’ve been off and on the computer save about 5 days around Ms. Herzog’s birthday trip to NYC. I think it’s safe to say that I’ve gotten myself into a proper daze at this point. I am making no progress and feeling completely stalled out. Lots of different reasons. After the Cayamo cruise it took about a month to get paid and all that was not squared away without some amount of ill will concerning ‘management’ keeping their side of the bargain. There have been a whole lot of words since last summer. If the truth be known I have been in the fray all along. I decided for once not to just take vague dialogue and BS as regards my livelihood sitting down and really I felt like I was taking up for the rest of the boys too. But apparently calling an agent out makes said agent uncomfortable. Consequently, the Soggies will likely not be working any more gigs. It’s really too bad that a gig so easy to book and work ends up being pissed on by the agency. But I say good riddance to that dude.

No guarantees of the truth, no guarantee of a good thing lasting.

Ms. Herzog and I took off to NYC for her birthday. There was an opera she really wanted to see (La Traviata) at the Met and so we went. I don’t know anything about opera but I was happy to see Heidi enjoying herself. We got to New York in the morning and went up to the West End to stay with a friend, Mr. Jim Kendrick, up that way who was kind enough to put us up for the trip. After we changed clothes and got a bite we went to the Metropolitan Opera House and had a private walking tour of the inner workings of the building and the ‘behind-the-scenes’ scene. It was a very interesting tour really. The lady that gave us the tour was a friend of a friend and she showed us all over the building. We started in the area where they make the sets and do all the painting, carve styrofoam statues, make angel wings, etc and then on the the carpenter’s shop. Then after that I think we took in the room where they make all the costumes and shoes, then the room where they make wigs. I know I’m forgetting something. I was amazed at how large each area was and how many people the Met employs, how many people it takes to pull off a single performance. We were shown the elevators that carry the disassembled sets up to the stage area and the area backstage where they store all the assembled pieces. We got to walk up to a catwalk overhead and watch an army of union stagehands ( Theatrical Stage Employees Local No. 1, I believe. These guys are serious) putting it all together for the night’s performance. After the tour we went down to visit Andy Cartoun at his place in Manhattan. Heidi got several blisters on her feet walking the 20 minutes from the Met in her fancy shoes, but boy did her feet look stylish! Once we got there we went up and visited a bit and then went out for a bite and back to the opera.

We got decent seats but after the first act Ms. Herzog moved up closer. So naturally I spread out. I had most of one row to myself, that was until the second act started and some guy plopped down in the seat next to me and started elbowing for room. No sir, not this time. He spent the entire second act talking to his girlfriend across the aisle. I was enjoying watching how the music and lights and stage all changed to match each segment but by the end of the second act I was ready for some relief from my new row mate. Thankfully he got up and moved around and when he came back for the third act I told him the seat belonged to somebody else. Done. It was a good show although I had no clue what was being said, even with the subtitles on a screen on the back of the seat in front of me. It was just too much to do and anyway, I was really enjoying watching as much as anything. And I will say, the orchestra that played all the scores were impeccable musicians. Talk about tight and in tune.

We had a very long walk on Friday (about 7 miles) and went back to hang with Andy and Bonita Cartoun and had a phenomenal Indian meal, not to mention great company. On Saturday we went to Brooklyn and caught up with Tom Quinn and Elizabeth for chuckles and general purpose catching up. Later in the afternoon we took a walk in the Italian neighborhood where Tom grew up and ate way too many pastries. But it was really fun and cool to see the place and listen to Tom stroll down memory lane. That evening we went back to Tom and Elizabeth’s and had a fantastic meal of sliced meats from the butcher store we stopped in, bread, and nibbles of all kinds. Sunday was Heidi’s birthday and we met up with Laurie who had set up the opera tour and went for a long walk on the High Line, an old elevated train track turned walking track that goes through the meat packing district. It finally got warm and there were mobs of people out. Laurie wanted to take Heidi to see a sculpture called “The Vessel” which is 16 stories tall and has 154 flights of stairs inside for people to climb. I stayed back and went to look for a birthday present but couldn’t find anything I could afford so I bought a bottle of scotch. I know, I know. After the girls had worked up an appetite we went to one of the best pizza places I’ve ever been in. Unfortunately I forget the name. After slices and slices of pizza we made it back to the subway and back to Jim’s. On Monday we came back home. It was agreed that we should not eat so much for a while.

Considering the number of people we were exposed to in the subway system and the airport and just walking up and down the streets of NYC I am amazed that there have been no effects from the virus. About the only thing that happened was I had shin splints for two days walking on all that pavement and Heidi got a few blisters. Oh, and Heidi was sung “Happy Birthday” to by a guy doing oldies in the subway.

The news has come out since we got back that the Met has put everyone we saw working there on leave until further notice due to the virus. That’s a couple thousand people out of work for the time being. No guarantee that even one of the best jobs in show business will continue to sustain you.

All the work I had on the books for April disappeared within the last week and a half and I’m not sure that the run me and Mr. Newberry have in May is going to hold out either. Will have to wait and see about that. It looks like everybody I know is losing gigs right and left due to this Corona virus. It is alarming to say the least. Most I’ve talked to are going online and setting up lessons sites, Patreon accounts (including yours truly), live streaming concerts and living room shows and the Musician’s Union here in Nashville sent out a notice that Kroger is trying to fill 10,000 openings and for musicians to check them out. As might be expected, all the toilet paper is gone here too, all the rubbing alcohol and any kind of product that disinfects. Now there are reports of teenagers going into supermarkets and intentionally sneezing and coughing on produce. What kind of messed up minds are we producing, people? There should be a stiff fine for that business.

Also I have been seeing reports on the news about thousands of applications coming in for people who want to buy guns and ammo. So much so that they have started putting a hold on applications. The photos of ammo shelves looks as bare as toilet paper aisles in Kroger. What in the world is going on with humanity? It was already enough of a panic and disoriented population due to the tornado that came through here just a couple weeks ago and now this on top of it.

The panic is unreal and to me, illogical. I can see people being tense and buying some extra to tide them over, but it looks more like every body for him/herself around Mount Juliet. I think there’s enough food and paper products in this house to last at least another month and a half but it was here already thanks to Ms. Herzog’s mindset. I have her to thank for that.

So at this point, there looks like there’s no guarantee for work anytime soon, no guarantee for calm nerves, no guarantee that you won’t get shot by an anxious neighbor if you don’t watch it. And there’s no telling when the poor people that had to deal with their homes getting ripped to shreds will see much headway right now. That makes me sad to think about. I don’t know if I could hold up under the strain they’re going through. I have been making efforts to start the day positive and keep my wits about me but I just feel frayed. I need to stop typing and sit quietly for a while.

I know there’s no guarantees of any kind in the world, but most of the time things go pretty well. Even so, ya’ll use good sense and take care of yourselves. This will pass and we will be alright. I’m sure that some things will be different from now on but maybe it’s time we just go with the change and get past this so that when the summer comes we can all go sit in the park and thank whatever deity you believe in for pulling us through.

Life is good. MC