As the title suggests, this weekend I played my last gig with the Jenn B band. We had a lot of fun together, we laughed a lot, and we played some great music.

The Beginning of the End

The gig started sunday afternoon. My good friend, and piano player, Geert picked me up at my place, then the rest of the band arrived and we departed. It was a beautiful day, warm and sunny. Geert I talked about life, and everything under the sun for the two hour drive. One fun thing was I was able to do it in Dutch. It's nice to see how far I've come in my linguistic pursuit.

I've Been Here Before.....

As we pulled up to the gig I suddenly realized I had played the venue before. I had played it with Harp Mitch and the Blues casters. The room has good sound, the staff is nice and the people like to dance. The place was going to be perfect for us. We set up our gear, sound checked quickly and told a few stories to make each other laugh before the gig.

Hot Hot Heat

That title is a good Canadian band in case you're wondering! It was hot on stage, let me tell you. We also had not rehearsed as we are stopping as a band so no real reason to get together to play songs we wont play anymore. The stage sound was good, Eric and I were grooving together and Jenn was bringing the passion and fire for the band. The solo's were kicking, and despite a few interesting changes to the song structure (let's go with that) we captivated the audience for our first set.

We took a short break and came back for the second set ready to make our audience even happier in the second set. I was confident that I could bring the groove and the passion. I feel like we did, especially with our own song, Hot in Here. We brought it right down, then took it back up to the point where it couldn't get any higher. It was freedom in music to it's absolute limit.

Dinner, Drive and Goodbye

We had a quick dinner after with a thankful and nice owner. Packing up our gear was a solemn experience for me, it's strange knowing these people you bond with and create beautiful music with, is going to end. All the laughs, the bond you share, and of course the times you went through together just fade away. Like saying goodbye to a part of your family. At least that's how I feel about it.

We said our Goodbye's to one another, we do live somewhat close to each other so it's likely we'll see each other again, but musically it's unlikely we will play together. We all got in our vehicles and then drove away. The piano player and I are huge Frank Zappa fans, so we often pass the time singing random Frank Zappa lyrics and laughing about how crazy they are.

We arrived at my house, unloaded my gear, hugged goodbye and wished each other well. As I loaded my gear upstairs to my house, I couldn't help but feel a deep sense of accomplishment more so than anything else. Proud of what I had done and looking forward to what I have to do next. I kiss from my wife always signals my musical job is over and now I can relax and enjoy what's left of the evening. Another gig, another job done.

Moving Forward

I don't have much time to think about what's happened. Coming up next I have more gigs with the Stef Paglia Trio, a Tour with Ash Grunwald and another tour that I will announce later! Lot's of Stef Paglia trio gigs are on the horizon and I couldn't be happier. We are a damn mighty trio. A few Harp Mitch Gigs will be sprinkled in there as well, and also of course, working with the Orchestra, teaching drum lessons and (hopefully) finding some time to practice and record a new drum video. I'll try and do it all but it's a lot!

Thanks so much for reading as always, I hope you enjoy my story.

Much love and joy,

-Joel