Halloween marked The Rubber Band’s 3rd time playing on Alacran. It was all good until the rain set in – well, until the rain set in and our drummer, Colin, cut his finger open on his cymbal. We lasted four songs. Fortunately, Dencity, the middle schooler band that opened for us, fared better.
It was ( supposedly ) the first time it has rained on Halloween in San Diego in 29 years. I remember last time, too.
I guess my rendition of “The Werewolves of Westwood” will have to wait until next year….
Jodie and I as Kermit and Miss Piggy.
In other music-kinda-related news I’ve been playing at the Poway Unified District Office and Adult School campuses. Just my guitar, me, and whoever happens to be out and about at lunch time. Usually it’s just a couple people. The most I’ve had listening was about 10-15. I usually run through a few covers and sneak in a few originals. The cool thing is? I get smiles, some applause, and – get this – “thank you’s”. I always respond by telling them that I’m the one that she be thanking them. Next stop. Parks, I guess.…
The Rubber Band played at Rancho BEERnardo again. The Sunshine Rotary Club hosts it annually and invited us back – this time as the sole headliners for the 5-hour event. We prepared roughly four hours of songs spread across as many sets.
It was hot….not as humid as our last show at the Westwood Club, but well over a hundred degrees. I think it put a damper on the festivities, but we powered through and the crowd seemed to enjoy us. Not bad for a bunch of middle-aged Dads.
We have one more show coming up before we pack it in for the holidays – our annual Halloween block party. More on that soon!
The Labor Day show was a learning experience. We played on the hottest day of the year. I clocked 102 and 80% humidity at one point. The equipment started overheating almost immediately. First, the iPads stopped responding to touch. Next, the router overheated and gave out, making it impossible to connect. We ended up bringing in fans and ice packs to cool everything down, but the condensation made everything worse as water spilled out onto Aaron’s keyboard.
So, yeah. Brutal.
But, rumor has it? We sounded great. I mean – sure, maybe everyone was delirious from the heat, but after we killed the mains I had a handful of people come up to me and want to talk.
One handed me a twenty. “A tip”, he said.
The other really wanted to play with us, or at least know how to start his own band.
How to start a band … ?
“I don’t really know what to tell you,” I replied. “There’s a bit of magic involved in getting six guys with competing responsibilities together once a week.”
I’m always a little amazed when it all comes together – even for a weekly rehearsal. I’m also a little amazed that people come to me asking, “How?” Like I’m some professional musician or something. At best, I’m the most average at everything that ever walked the stage.
“Look”, I told him.
“Find one person to play with. Just one.”, I said, “You don’t have to be good. You just gotta’ show up.”
Told I was horrible when I started. Shawn, too. We both started playing together 5 years ago as I was winding down cancer treatment. I played three chords and he played drums back then – poorly.
“You have friends you used to play with, right?”, I asked, recalling what he had told me.
He nodded.
“My guess is they are just like you. They have kids, jobs, responsibilities….and they are probably looking for an outlet, too”, I said.
“So find one”, I encouraged, “Not four. Not five. Not a band – just one. If you grow too fast it’ll all fall apart.”
“And play together and try to play out”, I suggested, “because it’ll motivate you to keep doing it – even if it is just an open mic.”
He nodded and smiled.
“And get in touch with me in two months, because I want to hear how you’re doing.”, I ended.
I kinda’ hope to hear from him again.
Special thanks to “Spoiled Bananas” and “Dencity” for opening for us. Kenn, our lead singer, invited the Bananas, a 6th Grade rock band. “Dencity” has opened for us before at last years’ Halloween show. The drummer, Benji, is the son of our multi-talented guitarist/keybaordist, Aaron.
Yup. Ashley is driving. She loves it, too. Last night she even drove us on the highway so we could go shopping at Costco.
The benefits are two-fold.
First, it’ll take some of the responsibility off of Mom and Dad during next school year as she’ll be able to drive her sister and herself to school. Second, I have a whole new muse for comics!
I do worry, though. There’s more distractions and traffic than when I was her age. I guess part of her growing up though is trusting her not be that person playing Wordle on their mobile phone while weaving through traffic.
Oh, wait. Thats me…
Stay healthy. Live life. Put the mobile phone down.
I don’t know what property management company approved of this, but it definitely made me stop in my tracks before following my ravenous family into the restaurant for dinner.
The sushi was actually pretty good ( although the restaurant closed a few months later ). I imagine the bait was even better because that shop is still in business.
Well, the good news is that my daughter, Ashley, got Rancho Bernardo High School to invite The Rubber Band back to play for a Basketball Fanfest. The bad news is that ticket sales weren’t enough to justify the cost of having us play.
… and we’re free, so, yeah – that was a gut punch.
But, I get it.
No hard feelings.
It takes a lot of coordination and sweat to get everything set up. Heck, I was amazed when the band were all able to commit.
So, it was the gig that never happened and all I have to show for it is a cool flyer that made.
Good-bye, 2025, you were a good year. I guess I am in the minority as 25′ seemed to have a bad rapport amongst a lot of my friends and family, but for me it was good.
I’ve seen my girls grow up a little more and become their own not-so-little people.
I’ve started playing music with a new, smaller, group of people with the hopes of doing some open mics next year.
I’ve been happily employed at Poway Unified for the better part of a year now. It was a nice change of pace compared to the last couple of employers I had. The people are great, the workload is manageable, and for the first time in a long time, I believe in the product ( education ).
September was prostate cancer awareness month. For me, and every other person that’s ever had, known, or loved someone that’s fought cancer – every month is.
Like Star Wars? ( Hate cancer? ) Me, too. Here’s another one from almost four years ago : That’s no moon!
Take care of yourselves, people. And please, get checked.
-Scott
P.S. I’ve posted ( and drawn ) a lot on my cancer journey over the last six years. If you want to know more go here : Prostate Cancer
A flyer I churned out for our Halloween performance.
Happy Halloween!
Alacran Court invited “The Rubber Band” back to play for their annual Halloween block party. This year we had a band of middle-schoolers, called “Dencity”, open for us. Dencity played through a set of five songs – including a couple of originals – before we took the stage. I wish I had their guts back when I was their age. It took me another 30+ years to gain the courage, I guess. Better late than never. We played for an hour before retreating to our respective halloween festivities.
