12/18 Autumn amps-230, +4-289, +6-249

Awww the madness of the Holidays has started at our house. And with it all my plans for New Year's Eve are shot out of the water. DH got a desperate call late last week from a local band, their original bass player got drunk and fell off the stage about a month ago and hurt his shoulder, didn't think much about it, until it didn't stop hurting so he finally went to the doctor last week and they scheduled him for emergency reconstructive surgery which he had on Wednesday but that also means he will be out 8-10 weeks and they already had several high paying gigs scheduled for that time period so they tapped DH as their at least for now fill in bass player (possibly permanent replacement if New Year's Eve goes well). The upside to now not getting to go out with my spouse for New Year's Eve is that the gig is literally 3 blocks from my house. So I'm within walking distance if I have to run home and test or check on anyone. And can easily slip out to run home and feed the troops at 11 pm so we won't be quite as much scum as we normally are when he is playing because we upset their feeding schedule.

I have very mixed emotions about this new group. While I dearly love going out to hear him play and know that this is what he lives for, I'm also selfish in that with the long hours he works on his day job, weekends are really our only couples time together and now with a band in the picture it means giving up some of those weekends so he can go play. The upside is that this new group has a very good reputation around here and gets the big bucks to perform. Nobody walks away from a gig with them with less that $200 for a 4 hour gig, so the extra cash especially this time of year is a welcome plus. The other upside for me is since DH loves to take me with him when he performs and likes to have me dressed to the nines when we do I get all kinds of girly perks when he is performing live, like this weekend he took me out to find a new outfit and I have orders to call my stylist today and set up an appointment to get my hair cut and styled this week. Then I'm to get my nails done next week so they will match the new outfit. Now to just find new boots to match everything else...Oh the horrors I have to go shoes shopping...lol But hey anytime I can score a new outfit, new shiny things to hang in my ears and around my neck, and new shoes I'm in...hee hee.

The downside is that I have to go spend 4 hours in a bar with a bunch of drunks...lol As well as when the gigs are at any distance from the house I have to either figure out something to do with the critters or stay at home. Before that wasn't a problem because our next door neighbor was not only a cat lover but also an RN so she would just run over to test and shoot Autumn for me, and we would just take the drooler with us to guard the equipment trailer. Now if this looks like he is going to playing with them full time I'm going to have to go on a hunt for someone that I can trust to come in and test and shoot for me. Now Sara that lives behind us, also has a diabetic kitty and I know she knows how to test because I trained her, but unfortunately she also works nights so she is a no go to cover for me in the evenings. :sad: Oh well I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. It may come down to us traveling with the band, 3 diabetic cats and a large dog...lol But we all do what we have to do to make life work.

Mel and The Fur Gang

 

Re: 12/16 Autumn amps-86

Ah the hardships of groupie-ism!!! New dangly things, shoes, winks from the bass player!

 

Re: 12/16 Autumn amps-86

Nah that is reserved for the Band Girlfriends...lol A Band wife is known by a slightly different name....ROADIE!! ROFLMAO. It is actually kinda funny to watch because you can tell the girlfriends from the wives. The girlfriends are the ones that arrive about the time the band goes on stage and are dressed to the teeth in sky high heels and mini skirts. The wives on the other hand arrive with the band, in their jeans and flat heels, with the hair yanked back in a ponytail, they are running and taping down cords, they are running up ladders to hang lights and setting up mics and equipment. And are tweaking the PA during sound check if there isn't a dedicated sound tech. Then they disappear when the band does to go get ready for the gig, only to reappear in full make-up, hair done and in nice clothes and heels. Then at the end of the night while the girlfriends are either puking in the bathroom or passed out in a corner somewhere, the wives have again disappeared to change back into their work clothes and are starting to tear down the equipment, and pack it all out, as well as pouring the girlfriends into vehicles to get them safely home again. Then it is usually up to one of the wives to feed the band afterwards, and I'm usually the one that gets tapped for that job since I can feed an army in under 15 minutes...lol

The worst part of this new band is that is primarily Country music and DH knows that is where my vocal range is so he's been pushing me since he got tapped to play for them to start working on strengthening my vocals again so he can try to get me up on stage with him again.. argggh I haven't been able to convince him in the 7 years we have been married that while I love to sing around the house, being up on a stage in front of a bar full of people makes me want to puke...lol And with this unit not only do I have him on my butt about singing with the band I have their lead female vocalist. Jesse and I were at a party several years ago where neither of us had bands playing at and we were horsing around with a couple of songs and she discovered that my vocals compliment hers so now she is all excited that they might not only be getting a new bass player but also another female voice to help out with the leads and backup vocals. :roll:

Mel and The Fur Gang

 

Re: 12/16 Autumn amps-86

♫She left the suds in the bucket and the clothes hangin' out on the line...♫

Go for it! I would love to do something like that except I am trained for opera singing which doesn't translate to country very well.

 

Re: 12/16 Autumn amps-86

ROFLMAO!! I actually know that very song...lol In fact that is the one that got me in trouble in the first place because that is the one the Jesse realized she and I harmonize very well together on...lol

I might be more willing to do something like that if it wasn't for the dog and the sugarcats so that I knew I could commit to being at all the gigs. Plus I'm an introvert, I hate crowds at the best of times and a crowd of drunks really isn't my idea of a good time. Now I have agreed to practice with them for now and maybe get up with them on a couple of songs if I'm at the gigs. The ones they really want me working on with them is Leather And Lace by Stevie Nicks, since Jon has high enough lead vocals to cover the Don Henley part and Girl In A Country Song by Maddie and Tae and Somethin' Bad is about to Happen because both of those take two female vocalist to pull off.

I have have no problem goofing around with them at practice, it is the thought of getting up in front of people and performing that scares me to death. Ironically I have acting and had no problems as a dancer performing on stage. But singing scares me witless.

Mel and The Fur Gang

 

Re: 12/16 Autumn amps-86

hey me too.
just finished a run of Madama Butterfly and Die Fliegende Hollander. a fellow opera singer but Mel....... i def can't do country. you go for it girl !!!!!!

 

Re: 12/16 Autumn amps-86, +3-160, +6-78, +9-76

I sing choral symphony ... and filk!

At least, I do when I haven't ripped my vocal cords up coughing my lungs out with an asthma flare!!!

 

Re: 12/16 Autumn amps-86, +3-160, +6-78, +9-76

i do choral too. Filk sounds very cool. i'm a sci fi fan but i've never been to a filk circle. sounds great

 

Re: 12/16 Autumn amps-86, +3-160, +6-78, +9-76,pmps-55

There are sci/fi and filk conventions out your way - just Google it!

 

Re: 12/16 Autumn amps-86, +3-160, +6-78, +9-76,pmps-55

BJM i will. sounds like great fun. thanks.

hey Mel - i also play the guitar and write folk music. we need to start a FDMB music gathering

 

Re: 12/16 Autumn amps-86, +3-160, +6-78, +9-76,pmps-55

Yeah.. I am mostly chorally trained too (went to Westminster Choir College for that)! A lifetime of Ave Marias and O Holy Nights and lots of Artsong. Don't much sing anymore though.

I've done Leather and Lace and love it!!! I have also done some Alison Krauss... But Sara Evans is the one country singer I sing to out loud around the house. Suds in the Bucket being my fav!!!

So get up on that stage and make us proud!!!

Maybe someday we can put the Meow chorus of FDMB singers in one place with a piano :lol:

 

Re: 12/16 Autumn amps-86, +3-160, +6-78, +9-76,pmps-55

New England Science Fiction and Fantasy Events

Worldwide Filk Convention listings

 

Re: 12/17 Autumn amps-133

LOL Well I most of my life I was a Rocker, in years past you would have been much more likely hearing me belt I Love Rock 'N' Roll or Hit Me With Your Best Shot before you would hear me do Country. lol But at 27 while I was still married to my first husband he crushed my windpipe and broke both ear drums. Now I have a nasty bridge in my voice so I can't or at least haven't worked on being able to slide between my head voice and my Falsetto. Now I still have all my pipes in both areas just can't easily transition between the two without my voice breaking badly. Now KEYS that I can play, not that I like to since it was something that forced on me as a child, but after 15 years of being forced to take lessons and practice for hours give me anything with 88 keys and I know my way around it very well. Then the rest of my skills musically are pretty much worthless in this day and age unless I'm a Renn Faire..lol Just not much call in a band for someone that lute, dulcimer, and mandolin lol Well okay mandolin if it's a Country band. But since I don't currently still have a mandolin that point is moot.

But oh Lord it has been probably 25 years since I actively did anything along the musical lines, besides being a dancer. I started taking ballet about the same time I learned to walk, and was "on point" by the time I was 12....Danced a heck of a lot of Sleeping Beauties, Nutcrackers and Black Swans in my younger days. Still have my black points from dancing the Black Swan hanging on the dresser mirror and somewhere in a box are my regular points as well. I would probably cripple myself now if I put them on and even ran through simple barre exercises...lol Although it is probably why I can still wear sky high heels and not look like I'm walking through a freshly plowed field when I walk...lol

Last night Jess stopped by to work on some of the stuff with Jon and they were going over Leather and Lace and Jess wasn't getting it, so me being a dumb arse started doing the Stevie Nicks part to help her with when to come in and where it switches to Don Henley's parts etc. So now I have been sort of forced into at least doing that one for them on New Year's eve. And she is also pushing for me to take over Edge Of Seventeen as well. She's like "Your voice is much better than mine when it comes to Stevie you have the same smokiness to your's that she has, I just don't have that edge to mine." Well okay so yeah I can do Leather and Lace since I did work that one up 7 years ago for our wedding, but that is as far as it goes and even then I was a mute for 3 days after the wedding because I trashed my voice doing it. lol

Mel and The Fur Gang

 

Re: 12/17 Autumn amps-133

wow i sure wish we could all get together to sing!!!

thanks for the links BJ. i will def check them out.

 

Re: 12/17 Autumn amps-133

OMG... You DANCE too!!!! You over-achiever-you!!! :lol:

 

Re: 12/17 Autumn amps-133

LOL actually yes I do, far better than I can sing. And we aren't talking just hitting the dance floor to shake my money maker either...lol I can waltz, fox trot, samba, tango, ballet dance both on and off point, striptease, fan dance, coyote ugly, two step, Texas swing and square dance thank you very kindly...lol Yep you read that right...Striptease I was an exotic dancer for a lot of years...(it paid far better than being a ballerina ohmygod_smile :lol: ) Its actually fairly surprising what this simple little country girl has in her box of tricks, since I have spend way more time as a child in Art Galleries, Museums, and Opera Houses than I have in amusement parks for vacations. Of course my father was an artist and my mother was a ballerina so kinda come by it naturally. Now if Jesse and the boys in the band wanted me to strap on a pair of points and dance the part of the Black Swan or The Dance of Sugar Plum Fairies I would already be lacing up my toe shoes.....singing ummmm not so much without a lot of plying with alcohol first...lol

Is it any wonder that I now can dance with a SugarCat...lol

Mel and The Fur Gang

 

Re: 12/18 Autumn amps-230

OMG what a day yesterday now the drooler isn't feeling well and has diarrhea. You just haven't lived until you have tried to get liquid poo out 1970's shag carpet :roll: The vetty bean highly suspects that he ate something that just didn't agree with him and that something is more than likely his new cookies, since he doesn't get any type of people food nor is he allowed to clean the cats' plates if they leave anything which is rare. Plus the fact that he has always been a pita to get to eat for 7 years that we have had him it has been a dance to find something that he will consistently eat. We know he has some kind of a food allergy but we've never been able to find what he is allergic to, as he won't even try about 99% of the novel protein diets we have tried with him. So he has always itched and chewed on his front legs.

And if that wasn't enough I have a civie (thankfully its a civie) that has decided that he no longer cares for canned food and is now demanding that he get Mr. Kitty's dry food. So now I get to run around to feed most of the Fur Gang their normal meals and then sit with Amon Ra while he noshes on his dry food. :roll:

Thankfully all 3 Sugars are eating the wet just fine, and Autumn is doing very well number wise and is a nice happy girl, she is a little higher than she has been today mostly because I think I gave a partial fur shot last night as the drooler was pacing to go outside and after cleaning up liquid poo twice early in the day I was moving fast to get everyone else fed and Autumn's shot in before the dog's butt exploded again. @-) And I noticed last night at bedtime that her fur had a slight smell of insulin.

Mel and The Fur Gang

 

Re: 12/18 Autumn amps-230

Oh heavens no.... I love dogs but...

I can't even imagine the kind of words that would come out of my mouth while trying to clean the carpet.

I have a civvie with runny poo that gets all over his beautiful long buff colored fur. He left splatters all the way up my stairs last night but luckily, they are wood. I suspect it is the Fancy Feast. His poo looked great on the Tiki and raw. I am not sure I can get him to go back to the Tiki or raw - they all love the Fancy Feast. Oh well, at least it is all low carb.

 

Re: 12/18 Autumn amps-230

hmmm poo...... u know you gotta love em when you clean the poo. lol. i have a civie who has leaky anal glands and i have to wash her butt twice a day. yeah. true love. LOL

 

Re: 12/18 Autumn amps-230

Yeah I love the smelly beast but have to tell you all this is really freaking me out since Angel had diarrhea before she passed away too. Now I know that cats and dogs don't normally share the same diseases and since none of the other cats are sick who I would think would be the ones most likely to be effected if Angel has something contagious but since we don't know what killed Angel and now the drooler is sick with too. I'm stressed beyond belief. And right now there is absolutely no way to vet him if this isn't just a tummy bug because we still have close to $400 left to pay off on Angel. When it rains around here it pours. And of course this has always been my biggest fear with having all these babies who are all very close in age is that when we started losing them it was going to be a snowball effect. Just always figured my Sugars who are the eldest would go first, then the drooler and finally the civies because that is the way the age range works. King is only 7-8ish but for his breeds that is fairly old, and he has been getting grayer and grayer around the muzzle with each passing year. Since he is mostly Chow Chow I was told when he was a puppy that they shorter lifespan breed compared to other breeds so if he made it to 15-16 he would be ancient. Usually a Chow's lifespan is about 10-13 years.

Mel and The Fur Gang

 

Re: 12/18 Autumn amps-230

i have the same problem Mel. all of mine are about the same age (between 11 &12) except for the "baby" who is 4. i am terrified that they will all go within a short time of eachother. when that happens they'll have to put me away. when Vinny & Willy died last year i had to start taking SAM E. It helps with mood & depression. it really did help me get through the worst of it.