My First Paying Gig Ever!!!

Well, it was Christmas 2013 and I was over in Michigan visiting Melissa and boys when I got an e-mail from Trevor saying that a friend of his former student had heard us jamming bluegrass on the internet while up at Trevor's Peekskill loft and wanted to hire us for his wedding to play during the cocktail hour.  Wow!!!  I really wasn't sure whether he was kidding or not at first.  I did a lot of research while in Michigan on the pros and cons of accepting a bluegrass wedding gig.  Most of the answers regarding that were "don't do it."  "The only people who will listen to you are the outcasts of the family.  They will be the only ones standing near the stage listening instead of mingling with the family and wedding guests.  Here is one site that was very specific about not doing it:  http://bluegrasstoday.com/no-go-zones-for-bluegrass-bands/

I thought about this for a while and really could see the veracity of that.  Then too, since it was for a wedding -- a happy occasion -- we would have to toss most of our repertoire, since those songs were all about unhappiness, shooting someone dead, losing a loved one.

After I had been back in New York for some time and the gig was approaching, I thought it might be a good idea for us to choose a band name and proceeded to text Trevor about this (ad nauseum, I must say).  The following is a replicate of our text exchange.   You'll notice that most of the time I'm texting back and forth to myself with no response whatsoever from Trevor.  Ah, the reality of life!!!

Me to Trevor (917) 501-2761 - mobile 5/29/14 3:13 PM 2 months ago Inbox Me: Band Names? (1) Travelin Bluegrass Band; (2) Inter-City B.G.B.; (3) The Nomads; (4) "The TKs" (Trevor & Kani); (5) Trevor's B.G. Followers; (6) Caleb Band; & of course (7) The Ass Frescos; or 1:47 PM Me: (8) some really off the wall and clever creation of your own. :) xoxoxox 1:47 PM Trevor: Ah... We'll have to keep thinking about that. 1:50 PM Me: Hey!!! What about the Vikingros??? 1:50 PM Trevor: YEAH!!!! 1:51 PM Trevor: Or, what about... THE IDIOTS!?!?!? 1:51 PM Trevor: Or, better yet: THE IDIOTIC MORONS!!!!!!! 1:51 PM Trevor: Wait, no... 1:52 PM Trevor: AHA!!!! THE MORONIC IDIOTS!!!!!!!! 1:52 PM Trevor: That really has a nice ring to it. Now we don't even have to practice playing!! 1:52 PM Me: ha, ha. Love it. No practicing. I can be myself now with no concern. :) 1:54 PM Me: Also have to agree on what we're going to wear. Shall we coordinate w/each other, or just wear a kaleidescope of colors and styles. Yay!! 1:55 PM Me: (9) The Vagabonds; (10) The Bluegrassolics 2:02 PM Me: (11) Bluegrass Stompers; (12) Hudson Bluegrass Stompers; (13) TBD 4:04 PM Me: I meant (10 The Bluegrassaholics 4:05 PM Me: Just sent u both a nonsense e-mail; just in case u have nothing better to do w/your life. ha, ha. xoxoxoox 4:13 PM Trevor: Uh, how about rhe more accurate Bluegrassholes? 4:16 PM Me: ha, ha. the groom might not go for making that name public to others. ha, ha. 4:26 PM Me: (14) Hudson Valley Coral 4:37 PM Me: (14) Hudson Valley Coral 4:37 PM Trevor: The Bombast Bluegrass Band? 4:55 PM Me: I LIKE IT!!!! A LOT!!! 5:07 PM  Me: The Multi City Bluegrass Pals; TMC Bluegrass Band; TMH Bluegrass Band; Random Internet Bluegrass Band 4:41 PM Trevor: Hudson Family Bluegrass Band 5:44 PM Me: *Hey, that has a nice ring to it. I like it!!! * Trevor (SMS) wrote: Hudson Family Bluegrass Band 7:57 PM Some funny stories about chicken wire gigs: http://steelguitarforum.com/Forum15/HTML/002930.html Some more later during the actual wedding..........