Everybody's Talkin' 'bout My White Shorts: A SSJW in the Piedmont Garden Tent

The 4th of July.  All this time, I had figured we were on the books for a swanky Independence Day celebration fiesta.  Well, I could have put it together that we were learning a Beyonce tune for some particular reason.  Oh well.  I was ready with some gear.  My amp was back and sounded good at Druid Hills, except for that feedback incident.  I also just purchased a 21' Monster cable to take the signal from my pedalboard to the amp.  Say what you want about Monster cables; I have for years.  Never bought them.  Well, they've been at it for a while now.  There are some other boutique high-end cables as well.  They put this extra braided shielding that does seem to make a difference.  I have had a slight noise issue that Jason made me aware of for, well, almost forever.  You'd think I'd have it figured out.  I tried his Monster cable and sure enough, it got rid of the noise.  I picked up one, a bass cable (now that part I don't like, they should all reproduce all of the frequencies) with a right angle end (not what I wanted in this case) that was marked on sale from the June pricing at GC.  I couldn't not get it.  It's doing it's job.  The connector plugs on these seem a tad bit thicker.  I've read complaints about how they make it so you have to use Monster cables continuously after using them once due to their girth.  Don't know about that.  Very glad to have a clean signal, finally.

I charted out the Beyonce tune Love On Top as edited by the brides to be - yes brides.  It wasn't a dual ceremony but a same-sex wedding.  The first I'd ever played for.  Does that sound right?  Jewish as well, so we played Hava Nagila.  I made 2 charts, one at standard and one a whole step down - Bey got some range!  So, Dianna and Glen said we may have to do it a whole step down - I pulled my chart out to reveal the lower key "Like this?"  Glen said that was wild!  I predicted it.  Yeah, I still rock the paper charts.  It's a great pop tune with lots of modulations.  Why doesn't every band with a female singer do it?

We had good food inside before the ceremony, with chicken, broccoli, and potatoes.  I had plenty of time to call my brother & sisters and then get into my suit outfit.  Went into the bathroom with my garment bag.  All garments were nice and neat, dry cleaned and still on hangers.  But wait - where were the pants?  My worst nightmare!  No black pants!  All I had were my white shorts!  I let everybody there know about my forgotten pants.  I panicked inside and started driving and calling everybody I could think of: Sabina, Brian, Dan.  I drove to Ansley Mall and shook my head at the fact that there was no place around to buy any black dress pants.  Plus, it was after 6 on the 4th of July - every place was closing for this national holiday.  Plus, we were to be on stage in 20 minutes!  Oh my.  I went back to the Park Tavern and Anton ended up saving me.  He let me wear his pants and he wore the dark pants he had with him.  Well, I am currently (and almost always have been) a 34/34, and he is not.  They were at least 2 sizes too small and if I had a picture I would share it.  Suffice to say I was not dressed to impress, but I was ready for the floods.  I cannot thank Anton enough for helping me out here.  He saved my skin, or saved everybody from seeing too much of my skin!  I left my belt behind the stage when I changed back into my shorts after the gig.  Need some new dress belts.  It's always something.

By the way, the loading ramp at the Park Taven is no fun for those of us using carts and hauling heavy gear.  Also, we had plenty of parking in the lot (the attendant waived the fee for us, bless him), but I heard it was full the following weekend for SWJ.  No fun when that happens.