Middle Eastern mayhem

So heres what happened Monday night:

I was super pumped for the middle eastern ensemble's performance at the BPC, so excited, it would seem, that I clean snapped my E string during the sound check. So here I was, out a string with 30 minutes until showtime. What's a violin player to do?

First thing I did was look for another violin player to bum a string off of. None in sight. Once I shared this news with my friend from the ensemble, he immediately lent me $20 to buy strings. What a guy! On to plan B.

Plan B-Run down to Rutman's violin shop to get a single E string to replace my snapped one. Guess who decided to close early that day? Now all I was left with was the last resort-see if Daddy's music store sold strings.

So I run back and into Daddys and, out of breath, asked the clerk if the store sold violin strings. He answered that they did, but only in sets, not individual strings. With no other options, I agreed to buy the strings, terrible quality as they were. Remember that the only money I had was $20 from my friend. The clerk rings up the bill, and the total comes to $21.50. Damn.

I manage to scrounge up 50 cents from my wallet, but I was still a dollar short. I pleaded with the clerk, telling him that I was supposed to play in 20 minutes, but I received no help, the clerk just stood there with a sympathetic look on his face and told me that he was sorry, but he could not help me. Desperate, I pleaded to the other customers for help, to just give me $1, but all I got were blank faces.

Now angry on top of frantic, I ran outside hoping to find someone who would give me a dollar. To my luck, my roommate Dave was standing on the corner, and I told him of my predicament and pleaded with him for the dollar. Keeping an eye on the clock, it was now 10 minutes from showtime. Dave, as great as he is, was this time hesitant to give me a dollar, saying he needed it for his laundry. I then proceeded to tell him (please cover your children's ears) that I didn't care about his f****** laundry and that this was a huge emergency. I finally convinced him to lend me the money, and I ran back to Daddy's and bought the strings. I now had 7 minutes.

Now thoroughly sweaty, I ran back to the concert hall and put on the string while my bandmates cheered at my arrival and the good news...I couldn't have asked to be put with a better group of people. With the string on, and frequently going out of tune, we went up to perform to a large crowd at the BPC. With what I had just been through, I really didn't care about being nervous anymore, it was showtime.

Once we were set on stage, the lights were extremely hot and I could barely see the crowd, but I could see well enough to see that the jazz workshop had come out to support me! I couldnt believe it, what a great surprise. The intros were made, and we started playing, and let me tell you, it was some of the most fun I've ever had playing in a band. Everyone was on in their playing, the groove was tight and the thing was killin! Not to mention that my tone was really well mixed by the soundguys...how awesome is that!

After the show, we all went backstage to take pictures. As we packed up afterward, a girl came over to me and asked if I would marry her...jokingly of course (she was attractive too...double win!). By the time I got back to the dorm and collapsed on my bed, I knew I must have done something right. Disaster averted, plus a killin show, what more could a guy ask for?

Now it's all about rehearsing for Thursday...hope some people can come! More later...