Real Time or Sammy Time?

I think I’m a pretty organized person. For a musician, that is. Just don’t look in my bedroom closet. It ain’t pretty. Most of my band mates are not as organized as I am. In fact most of the musicians I know are a disorganized mess. Except the really famous ones. They have someone picking up after them, making their travel arrangements, organizing their gigs. Yeah. That’s not happening here.

I play in two bands in Trieste, Italy. Yes, the commute is a killer. But they also come to Boston because fair is fair. I love my band mates. They are family. You know how it is with family. Sometimes you want to smack them over the head with a 2X4.

Because they are Italian, everything is very last-minute-laid-back-don’t worry about it. It makes me crazy. So guys…what exactly are we playing at tonight’s gig? Don’t know…we’ll figure it out when we get there. This is where Miss Organization steps in. OK…I’LL do the set list. And of course we never end up following it anyway. But that’s ok.

Rehearsals are a joy to behold. Scheduled for, let’s say, 11 AM. Do we ever start on time? An hour later we’re still waiting for the last one to stroll in the door of the rehearsal space. After much screaming and carrying on in a dialect I still can’t understand, we practice. Less than an hour later we need to take a break. What? I’m just getting my vocals warmed up and we’re taking a break? Really? After maybe another half hour we’re done. Why? Because now it’s time for lunch. Lunch is sacred.

For the most part, we know what we’re doing. At least I do. The one person I work most closely with is my keyboard player. Sammy is an incredible musician and we’ve been playing together for many years. Musically, our brain waves are in total sync. We learn from each other. He is all about the music. I’m all about being organized so we can BE all about the music. I’ve trained him well. He is mostly on time these days. Progress is a wonderful thing!

We toured in Japan. Talk about organization. Whoa. Minute to minute scheduling. I was in heaven. The rest of the band kind of freaked out a little. Four Italians and one American in Tokyo. And who do you think brought the travel guides? After all, we had some down time between rehearsals and gigs. Of course we had to try the local delicacies. A truly gastronomic event. My bandmates and I have very different views on what constitutes great food. We have heated discussions about my total dislike of fast food. More about this another time. It gives me heartburn.

I guess our performance on stage really cancels out the frustration of disorganization. We love being together. Even if we fight constantly. Isn’t that what families do?

Oh..and Sammy? I’ll be there at the airport on March 2. Will you pick me up real time or Sammy time?