the booty call

my life is a busy one.  the wife has a crazy school schedule, my two kids are active in middle school aau sports, and my freelance work (along with my ocd existence) definitely keeps things hopping.  the spontaneity of life is sometimes lost on me while i constantly attempt to navigate the family calendar gauntlet.  when an old flame pops up out of nowhere, i cling to it like it's the last train to clarksville.

i was perched in a middle school gym thursday night when i got a call from my friend russ.  i couldn't answer it because i don't know how to run my new iPhone, but asked somebody how to retrieve the voicemail that he thankfully left.  he told me that the tenor player in his big band was battling the flu and had a fever of 103 (no joke).  russ needed a last-minute sub to play the ellington nutcracker suite way out in b.f.e.  my palms got sweaty, my heartbeat quickened, and vivid memories of past encounters with this musical beauty flashed through my head.  i knew how i was going to spend my friday night.

the book was tenor 1, the same part i played my first time with this 'round the way girl.  i don't play much tenor anymore, but it is fun to dance with this fling and make her sing.  the soprano double at my stand served as the bruiser ex-boyfriend, a necessary evil who was unavoidable and murder on my chops.  but hey - it beats playing the clarinet.  i'm an alto player, so i borrowed the school selmer u.s.a. tenor for this hit.  not quite top shelf, but brimming with patriotism.

the charts had my original markings from grad school, which was a really fun show.  we played the nutcracker with a modern dance troupe re-imagining tchaikovsky's holiday classic.  i tried to keep one eye on the music while the other tracked the limber leopard print leotards all across the stage.  i've been hooked on playing this show ever since that maiden voyage in the year 1999, and russ (whose eyes were also dancing after the scantily clad gyrations at that same gig) has been cool enough to offer me opportunities to play it whenever possible.

reading the strayhorn suite is my christmas checkpoint.  that annual rendezvous with my old gurl rounds out the year nicely. ...you got me shook up shook down shook out on your loving...