The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly...

...seems a good description of last-weekend's wedding reception down in La Jolla (a posh, seaside area of San Diego).


The Good:

1. Absolutely stunning women, and lots of them.
2. Our rhythm guitarist played well and in-tune throughout the gig. This was important, because are main guitarist was out, and we were using a fill-in.
3. Absolutely stunning women, and lots of them.
4. Great meal! Fillet Mignon and Sea Bass. There were confused crys of "Where's the deli platter with rainbow beef and Miracle Whip(tm)?" But we adjusted.
5. Absolutely stunning women, and lots of them.
   

The Bad:

1. Fighting the La Jolla traffic to make it to the gig.
2. Strange phenomenon amongst wedding party males stripping off their shirts and periodically jumping on stage, disrupting our drummer's setup.
3. Our lead guitarist and soundman missing (off being famous playing a concert in Sacramento).
4. Me (keyboards) having to do the guitar riffs in the Steve Miller medley because our lead guitarist was off being famous (well, he does kick-ass on that guitar, so I suppose he deserves it :-).
   

The Ugly:

1. Our leader extending "Unforgettable"--the father/daugher dance--and so deviating from the chart arrangement. The extension was a good idea, because members of the family were coming on the the floor, and this wouldn't normally cause problems, but the chart is a bit complicted so some members got lost and ignored the cardinal rule: When in doubt, drop out.
2. Our leader throwing "Stacey's Mom" into the middle of "Brown Eyed Girl". Spontanaity is a good thing, in general. However, some members were still realing from "Unforgettable" and had problems with the key shift ("Stacey" == 'E', "Brown" == G) and again ignored aforementioned cardinal rule.
   

All was right in the end:

However, in spite of some of the rough points, it was a great gig. The people had a great time, and I had a great time. I've been working up a bunch of new material for various projects, and so have been spending more time on my keyboard than I usually do, so my fingers are feeling pretty good. Also, it's great to be a key part of making the reception work, and this one took place on a warm spring evening overlooking the blue Pacific.

And did I mention there were lots of beautiful women?