The Perfect US Independence Day Holiday

If you could work it out your way, what would be included?

Or put another way, you've already worked it out. What's on the agenda?

And more importantly, what's on the menu?

Poll results are weighted in favor of:

playing music

fireworks

grilled delicacies

cold beer

swimming/boating/rafting/skiing

roasting marshmallows on a campfire

Well, my interest isn't represented above unless I interpolate it.

This does not surprise me, ProfD.

Sometimes I'm glad this is a family-oriented muso site. I'm not sure I want to hear the details of your stories - or as bush says "Where the rubber meets the road."

Yeah... He says that.

Tom:

For me, your list captures it perfectly.

Noah

Never working again would be one type of independence...

Going to be enjoying my brand new patio with a grill out. Beer.

I have a 3 day weekend, so Friday I'm taking my wife and dogs on a picnic.

My 4th.

Sleep In.

Go to the club early and set up.

Take a nap.

Have lunch with my wife and mother-in-law. Probably use the grill for this. Either Mahi Mahi or Salmon.

Watch a little TV, maybe some Baseball.

Catch a few winks.

Take my wife and mother-in-law with me to the club.

Play one of our favorite venues (we have a nice club supplied bar tab, and really good draft beer).

Walk right outside the door and see the fireworks in Cocoa FL. (2 blocks from the club).

Come home and realize that I have Sunday to recuperate prior to going back to work.

So far I think ProfD has you all beat.

Of course, it could be just my imagination...

(running away with me).

I thought I was going to have one of those perfect days, hanging by the pool with family, burning and eating meat, enjoying all that good food the women folk like to make, watching a good friend play with the Pops on TV. Perhaps even catch her live at the rehearsal show on Friday.

Instead, I have four outdoor gigs with four different bands with a 30% chance of T storms for three of them, and no hope for rain for the one I'm dreading on Sunday. Good band, but the five singers up front require tuning fluid, and there won't be any.

The gig I want to plug is my buddy Christine's. Her band, Syncopation, will be playing with the Boston Pops for a live audience of about 500,000. Unfortunately, they're on the same time as me, early (8 - 8:30 pm) before the national CBS broadcast. If you're in New England, you can catch them on WBZ-4, the Boston CBS affiliate.

Well, I originally thought I might be joining my friends and godsons for camping at Kings Canyon NP this weekend, but just a couple of hours ago we got a last-minute gig for a private outdoor pool party on 4 July. We can all use the cash. :-)

Let's see ...
Lunch at home with daughter dearest. Grilled out 2 big ole T-Bone steaks. Awesome. Afternoon nap. Got up and went to Mom's and had dinner then a Minor League Baseball Game followed up with a fireworks show. All in all a pretty decent 4th of July me thinks! I hope everyone else here had a pleasent one.

Had a great, great gig at one of my favorite clubs last night. The club is right in th middle of the downtown riverfront, there was a blues festival all day and then the fireworks, so there was a lot of people downtown that aren't normally out. We were one of the only live bands playing downtown after the fireworks, so that helped too.

The funny thing is that this band is the most willfully obscure project I'm doing, we're all gigging in other bands and this is the band where we get to do all the crazy stuff that we can't get away with in our other more "professional" bands. So we cover everything from Old Dirty Bastard to Monk to Sun Ra to Slayer. So when this band gets a full house and people dancing, it's particularly satisfying.

Played my four gigs. Finished the last one at 5 pm yesterday and stopped by to catch the last hour of a party on the way home to meet some neighbor musicians. Before coming home to unload, I stopped by a friend's place after that to see the recording of my buddy Christine and her band with the Boston Pops. He mixed for their three tunes. Digidesign 112 input (strange number) digital console, Scorpion line array towers. Twenty pair of them on both sides of the river. CBS wouldn't let him take a board recording. They opened the show acaapella with this tune. After a few tunes from the Pops with others including Neil Diamond with Ron Tutt on drums, they did two more tunes with the Pops.

By contrast my gig yesterday was a good band backing some folks I probably wouldn't play with if I were not a shameless whore. They had Peavey PA on a stick to cover a baseball field. When I finished setting up, the local cable TV folks showed up. I'm not quite that shameless. I'll play and let you use audio of me playing, but only if you agree that I will not appear on camera and my name will not be used. They were most accommodating and I moved to the edge of the stage to stay out of their wide shot. Again, the rig on wheels rules.

Of course, this show was a convenient time and location for my sister and north shore cousins to see me. Earned a few new fans in the family in spite of the funny gig. They're even going to watch the carnage on TV for me to make sure I don't get blamed for any of it.

Nice day, in the shade on a covered stage. Good free food. All weekend long. Two private parties and a yacht club restaurant. Played a few tunes for no schlepping at two other parties. Seven free meals in all. I had a good weekend, but the best part was watching my buddy Christine showing some of her stuff for a few million folks.