Yesterday was the first time since being a semi-full-time musician that I had double-booked (as in, two playing gigs, back-to-back). Oi… The problem was, I booked them too close together, and the first one started 20 minutes later than I was told on the phone.

Gig 1 – Third Reformed church. Nice time with their seniors, and they appreciated the music very much. But, as mentioned, it started 20 minutes later than I expected. So, before I played, an emergency txt was sent to my road crew, calling in some help. Thanks to Dan Da Man for allowing Vicki to skip out for a bit to come to the aid of the rotund whistler… Vicki came in, cut the tear-down time in half, and we were on to…

Gig 2 – Beacon Hill Open House. My friend Brian is the director of marketing for Beacon Hill, and asked me to play at their open house. Got here at 3pm, had to play at 4pm. But, having called in the big guns, Vicki and I had it set up in time. TONS of people, and a good event. Applause catered the event, and I was very impressed with them – they did an amazing job!

Two funny things… one couple came in, and said “we hoped to see you again, but we didn’t think it would be this soon!” They had been at lunch at Third Reformed, and here we were again. 😀 And, one of the folks from Applause came over while I was playing, and said “I wanted to take a look at your rings.” Later, she talked to me about them, and will be contacting me to make her a ring. 😀

POSTLUDE: Took me about 90 minutes to tear down, load the van, and get home. I was exhausted. So, the lessons learned from my double-gig day? 1) There has to be more than an hour between gigs, or else I can’t do it myself. 2) I have GOT to get back to work on my weight. When I was 366 and falling, I could have done this. At 425 currently, it almost kills me. The weight is the biggest issue in pursuing this creative vocation. I simply don’t have the stamina to move all my equipment, perform, and get it all home. Not to mention the day to day operation of a 3 part business. Don’t know how I can turn this around, but it needs to happen.

So, my friends, your prayers are appreciated. This is obviously a good path for me, and I’m glad the Lord put me on it, but my physical condition is making it nigh unto impossible to keep up. I’m in the process of getting insurance approval for bariatric surgery – I had hoped to do this all on my own, but I know I can’t. But the surgery is risky, and I’m a little scared of it.

A tough day, but I learned a lot. 😀