Missing a Gig

Saturday night was the first time my band, Joe Keyes “The Late Bloomer” & The Late Bloomer Band, performed without me. It wasn’t a big deal to them since we still had a full band and played a great show. I just feel a little weird about not being there. It’s like one of your friends took your girlfriend out on a date and they had a great time, but she’s still yours afterward. It’s a weird feeling.

A friend of mine who recently co-founded a music promotion company called Gable Music Ventures called me a few months back to see if we wanted to play a show they dubbed “An Original Music Showcase” in Wilmington, Delaware. As a band looking to get out more, and having a good friend who I knew would put together a great show, we jumped at the opportunity.

The problem was that I had bought my brother tickets to see Pauly Shore for his birthday that same night. We took the gig anyway, since we’re a very versatile band. We consider the core of the band six pieces: Joe on vocals, me on guitar, Adam Schuman on trumpet, Jaime Ibacache on lead guitar, Carson Korman on bass and Dave Cavalier on drums. The band can grow to 10 pieces depending on the show.

We’ve done shows without Jaime and without Schuman, but I’ve never missed a gig. Being somewhat of a right-hand-man to Joe when it comes to booking and promoting, the band and its gigs are very dear to my heart.

Don’t get me wrong, I was psyched to see Pauly Shore, and the show turned out to be hilarious. It was also great to spend some quality time with my brother. Since he has two kids, finding a night for just the two of us to go out is rare.

The problem (and it’s not really a problem) is that I love this band, and I don’t want someone else to play with them. I was happy to know that my guitar parts were in the capable hands of Tyler Wheeler, a friend and Reisterstown-based guitarist.

As it turns out, the show went well, the band gained a bunch of new fans and even did an encore. While I had a great time hanging with my brother, it’s weird that I missed such a fun time with my band. All in all, it was a good Saturday night.

Still, I don’t think I’ll be missing a gig for a long time.