I enjoyed playing in bands, especially on those nights when the band was in the pocket all night and the audience was right there with us too.

However, there have been bands where, yep, it was a drama filled "marriage" to a bunch of guys who often had differences of opinions.....and lets not forget about the girlfriends and wives. You just don't have 3 or 4 other guys to deal with , you also have their wives and girlfriends to deal with as well. And the drama really cranks up when individuals in the band decide to have both a wife and a girlfriend.....

Unbeknownst to me, one band I joined, the other 3 guys in the band had that very situation going on. At the time I had neither a wife or girlfriend. One night, the girlfriends showed up and were hanging and slobbering all over the guys.... so being the odd man out, and none of my business, I went out side on the breaks and sat on the steps and talked with other folks grabbing a breath of air.

I hadn't been there long (on the second break) when I looked across the parking lot to see all 3 of the wives heading towards the door. I guess a girls night out turned into a "I wonder what our guys are up to?" sort of thing.....so one of them says, Are the guys inside? I replied yes they are..... next question: Are they alone? Wow.... straight to the point.... my response was simply raising my hands as if to say, keep me out of this.... OK thanks, and in they went....

It was about time to play again so I entered the club maybe 5 minutes after the women. Inside I saw the 3 wives, the 3 girlfriends, the 3 guys, the club owner and a few bouncers in a circle talking..... didn't look good and I walked to the stage and tuned up..... no need to butt in where I had no business.

Turned out the wives stood back in the dark watching.... one in particular watched as the one with her husband went to the restroom and followed the GF in. Commented to her in the restroom that the drummer sure was a fine hunk of man and what she'd like to do with him....the GF pipes up, he's my boyfriend so hands off..... the wife says Oh F%$& no he isn't , he's my husband and punches the GF right in the face.

The fight spilled out into the club. After it was all sorted out, the owner asked the band...who stays and who gets thrown out? Unbelievably, the guys in the band had their wives thrown out.

Talk about drama for the next month. When they got home, clothes and suitcases were out on the lawns, TV's were smashed, beds were ripped up and pillows slashed, and the one in the fight disappeared for a month and no one knew where she went to.

Drama? Yeah, I've seen some.... never had that problem when I played a solo act.

You can find my music at:
www.herbhartley.com
Add nothing that adds nothing to the music.
You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both.

The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.