Colin and I had the following very terse conversation after sex. I don’t know if the terseness demonstrates how well we knew each other at that point or that we were emotionally stunted.
Me: Something’s changed.
Him: Yeah. What, though?
Me: Dunno.
Him: Is that bad?
Me: Not sure.
Him: Not sure either.
Me: Should we back off?
Colin: Yeah, probably.
I was pretty sure we knew exactly what we meant, anyway.
The next morning the vanload of everyone in the house plus Bart, minus Colin, was due to leave for New York. I found myself antsy to leave, not because of anything to do with Colin but just because I get antsy before going on trips in general and tour and work trips especially and having to wait for everyone to get ready was painful. If I’d been by myself I would have been out the door minutes after I woke up.
But I wasn’t by myself and so the fact that I woke up early only meant more hours of waiting. I made a last check of the basement rehearsal area to make sure we hadn’t left anything. I checked my own bags one more time to be sure I had my notebook, the right guitars, et cetera.
I should explain a little about what was going on at that point with my guitars. You might remember I had two Ovations that were essentially identical, one that Remo gave me and one I bought as a backup. For a year or two the only thing that distinguished them was a scratch on the headstock that only I ever noticed. But when I went to Spain I brought one of them with me and that guitar now felt and sounded a little different from the other one. Maybe all the standing around in the sun and playing in smoky bars and whatnot had aged the wood differently but there was a very subtle difference between them. So that one had become my number one guitar. Number two I had left with the Nomad equipment and so didn’t even have access to right then.
Call me a creature of habit, but my number one electric at that point was my old Korean-made Fender Strat, the sunburst. I had worn the finish down on the fretboards in a couple of places and liked the feel of it. Like shoes that are well broken in.
The question becomes how many guitars is it feasible to travel with. When you have a large road crew of course you can have as many as you want. But when you don’t have other people hauling everything it’s hard to travel with more than two–because you’ve got two hands–and even that can be tricky. I needed an acoustic and an electric at minimum. I’d be bringing both number ones with me.
I went back to check that my windows were locked and the A/C was unplugged and that nothing else in my room was in need of anything. I’d already made sure there were no beer bottles or dirty dishes hiding anywhere that could turn into any kind of infestation or science experiment run amok while I was gone but I gave it one last look.
Ziggy’s notebook was sitting there. I grabbed it on a whim and put it into my backpack.
Then I had toast.
Have I mentioned how unusual it was for me to be awake in the morning? Being awake before other people wasn’t something I was used to at all. It made the house seem very strange. I wasn’t used to seeing the light coming in from that angle.
I wondered if Colin was going to be lonely when we were all gone.
Of course he wouldn’t. He had other relationships I didn’t even know about. Pretty sure, he did, anyway.
Everyone else got up soon after that, and I tried not to stab anyone with the spiky unease of my emotional state. I figured it would smooth out as soon as we got moving, anyway.
I was partly right. As soon as we hit the highway I fell asleep, like usual, and didn’t wake up until we were halfway through Connecticut.
We dropped Courtney off in Chelsea, where another classmate of hers had a sublet for the summer. It wasn’t where she was going to stay permanently but she’d couch surf until she found something better. Then we swung by Barrett’s office where I picked up a key to the rehearsal space, which felt like a big deal to have. I mean, there’s going to be a pile of mondo expensive equipment in there, and dozens of people needing access to it, but you didn’t want every single one of them to have a key because it was too huge a risk. So for example Ziggy didn’t have a key to the place, but I did.
Because technically? Now that I was musical director? I was management now. Not just talent anymore. I knew it but somehow having that key drove it home.
Not that this meant I knew what I was doing. If I did, don’t you think my band would have a name by then?
I decided to wear the key on a lanyard around my neck. It was the only way I’d have a reasonable chance of not losing it.
—
(Guys, we’re at 9915 comments so far in the history of the site! Very soon we’ll hit 10,000! How about this? Whoever leaves the 10,000th comment I’ll send either a $25 Amazon gift card or your choice of any $25 worth of DGC books or merch! Good luck, everyone! -ctan)
26 Comments
Oh. My. God. You are such a tease. Or even more of a teaser. This Colin thing’s been brewing for a week or more now and all we get now is that you’re both in sync enough to know some things up? Damn!
So frustrating but so good!
And they probably won’t see each other again for awhile so we just have to let that simmer…
And again, damn!!!
Are Daron and Ziggy going to talk about Colin at least? And how Daron feels? He could at least talk to Bart about it.
Well you know Daron as well as the rest of us. He’ll probably try to work it out on his own and get Ziggy in a tizzy before he finally says something about what’s bothering him. I’m sure they’ll talk once he figures out how he feels and what he wants. But first he’ll completely melt into a puddle when he finally gets his arms around Ziggy again.
I would be curious to see Bart’s insight..
I just tell it like it happens. Which is slowly. 😉
Daron, I totally get it about the keys thing! When they gave me a key to the theater I work at now, I was like… are you sure I’m old enough for this? (I’m 41, by the way, ha ha)
I should clarify – it’s a 1500-seat performing arts venue, not a movie theater 🙂
Nice venue! Give Carynne your number, eh?
Oh man, I wish! It’s a great spot for acoustic sets (Chris Cornell came through on his most recent tour).
http://www.granadasb.org 🙂
Looks awesome.
That Ovation probably sounds different because you smacked Adan in the head with it.
That would probably do it.
I suppose I should concede it’s possible it had some effect. At the very least on my affection for that guitar.
That usually doesn’t *improve* the sound…
I dunno. I kind of like the sound of a deserved smackdown.
I wish there was a like button for this.
Holy crap! Did we really just hit the $100 mark again!
Ayup. I just transferred $100 from my account to ctan’s. We were at $101 actually so there’s $1 already for next week.
ctan is going to take that counter down so she can take a nap.
I think I’m going to take a nap right now anyway… *falls over*
Daron, you’re an obligation freak; I know because it takes one to know one. Courtney? Check. Rehearsal space? Check. Ziggy? Almost check, he’s coming (RETURNING, dammit!). Necessary quantity of angst? Check and double check.
You’re management now and have a huge new set of obligations, some of which are actually real. You have a major obligation to Colin, a tiny part of which is real: be his friend. You have an obligation to Ziggy to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear, and that’s more real than I could take at this point.
Your angst capacity is reached with your obligation to Ziggy: make schlock into real music.
I’m afraid my angst knows no capacity. *scrubs face*
In 1991 your angst capacity must be limited to the Librium Level. After that it’s haloperidol, which gets rid of all angst. Along with your ability to perform, create, have sex, and any number of other activities. Sorry, those were the pharmaceutical options.
You left out two other easily available options at that point. Jim Beam and Jack Daniels.
I am finally up to date after the third read-through. I’ll have to wait several months to start number four while I process stuff.
I’ll repeat this around March 24. My author website goes live March 25. Anyone signing up for the newsletter who uses DGC in the name or comments space gets her/his choice of a free book.
Taunting: Mystery
Trip to Helen Gawne: Comedy
Life Struggles: Drama
Four Seconds: Coming of age and coming out.
You can also get pre-edit copy of Life Continues (sequel to Life Struggles) or pre-edit of Finding Friendship (volume one of a three volume bromance between a straight man and a gay man). With this one comes the companion book, “Emgee Adopts A Pet,” written by the straight man’s puppy.
Again, will re-post around March 24 to include the link.