Thu Dec 18 2014

The unbounded generosity of the people I am privileged to call friend is a constant source of wonder for me, and the reason I always have hope.

Melvin’s health remains my most pressing concern. Nights are particularly tough, and I am not getting enough sleep. Still no definitive diagnosis, and the specialist is recommending a pretty aggressive plan for a surgical biopsy, which would give us the answer. I worry about putting him through that. I’ll be meeting with his primary care vet on Saturday to review the results from the ultrasound. She is pretty practical, and knows Melvin well, so if there are reasonable alternatives she will be forthcoming.

So we’re on hold for a couple more days, but there is a decision looming.

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Undercover Blues Band rehearsal this afternoon. A transitional day, as we turn the corner from workshop mode where we’re having fun reinvigorating existing material and making friends with new material, to more serious rehearsal, getting down to business on what will be in the set list for the January 2 show at Darrell's, and looking at how it might flow. I came in with a first pass at the set, and we simply went through it stopping as necessary to make observations. At the end we looked at a couple of changes, which I will incorporate, and agreed to meet again on Sunday afternoon to finalize the set. Next week we are all off in different directions for the holiday, so when we reconvene after Christmas it will be for the very focused work of rehearsing the set itself, and making sure we are hitting the mark on all of the little details of the arrangements.

I always dread this rehearsal. It’s just not a lot of fun, although with this particular collection of individuals it is the least un-fun I’ve ever experienced. But basically it is the moment when you realize that there is no way we’re going to get it together in time. The knowledge that we always do, and will do so again this time, is small comfort. All I could hear was how terrible my voice sounded, how bad my guitar playing was, and how I wasn’t really listening very well.

It’s inevitable. It will pass.

We played:

•    Don’t Go No Farther
•    Boom Boom
•    Sound the Bell
•    The Red Rooster
•    Deep Elem Blues
•    Walkin’ Blues
•    I Smell Trouble
•    Yonder Wall
•    Wang Dang Doodle
•    Built for Comfort
•    Mean Town Blues
•    Born in Chicago
•    First Train Home
•    The Same Thing
•    How Blue Can You Get?
•    Taxi Blues
•    Two Trains Running
•    Dust My Broom

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Two things I love...