My very first playout

This Saturday I had my very first playout with the Grays Harbor Banjo Band! This has been months in the making since I started going to Banjo Band meetings this winter, practicing the dickens out of the Program 6 book (naturally we played from books 1,2 and 9, which I only recently received and haven't been able to get fully under control).

I got in my new pair of black pants (can you believe I didn't have any?) a button down white shirt and, of course, my Banjo Band maroon vest. If only I'd had the sparkly black bowtie (have it now) and a straw boater I would have been a hot little organ grinder — or organ grinder monkey, whatever.

So Ray and I head out to Elma, where the Banjo Band is playing at the Music Factory. Now, from the name you might think this is a big place and be kind of confused because Elma is not so big. It's kind of an old-timey multipurpose hall that its owner, an older guy named Dave (I think?), has been patching up the past decade. It has a booth above the floor that is accessible by a staircase, painted seafoam green, that you can hoist up along the wall. The stage, about a foot above the floor, was staggered so everyone could be seen. There was a very large picture of Jesus — you know the one, the iconic one where he has the light hitting him from the front and behind, only the shoulders up kind of pic, this in tones of brown instead of the usual blue — behind us.

I had to cram in between Jim Redding and the piano, and I saw Eloise (Frank Andy said she was the oldest member of the band at 86 and she hollered, "I'M 87 GOIN ON 88!!!" so there you go) and asked how she was doing and she said not so good, she'd had a terrible fall but the Lord gave her the strength to get up and call her daughter, so praise the Lord for that. Eloise is fiercely independent.

Then we got rolling and I really had no idea what all was going on half the time. But it was fun! Linda Hall did the Charleston to 5-foot 2, and she is actually that tall and has eyes of blue. She and Marilyn Redding both wore their fringed blue dresses with red, white and blue feathers in their hair.

We played "Alabamy Bound," a train song that meant putting on conductors hats. Luckily Linda had an extra for me. I am starting to think being a member of the Banjo Band = slight chance of clutter. Ray, who was sitting in the back, tried to take pictures but it was too dark and they came out blurry. He also said whenever the band played a song, people would sing along, even if no one was singing. They did this with "Bicycle Built for Two" and "Wild Irish Rose," which Andy Hall sang and dang if he didn't sound just like an Irish tenor. The guy is so musical it's ridiculous.

We also played "Spanish Eyes," during which Eloise got out from behind the piano to play maracas. She used to get up and dance but she said she just can't do that anymore. Still, she played the dickens out of those maracas. Shake it, don't break it Eloise!

So the last number -- aside from the encore, "Banjo Polka" -- was the service songs. Now, I may be a former Quaker school student with limited experience in all things military, but I do know that you're supposed to stand when you hear the service song played for the branch of the armed forces that you were once a part of. The Music Factory crowd, though all of the so-called "Greatest Generation," did not seem to know this or had a collective senior moment. The first song was "Anchors Aweigh," and a guy in the band was a Navy guy and he stood up for the song and like the whole audience stood up! And Ray said he tried to wave them down like, "Hey, that's not what you're supposed to do! You're messing it up!" but nobody paid attention or understood. Then they stayed standing throughout the rest of the songs. Maybe I got it wrong and they were all members of the Navy, Army, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and Air Force. It could happen!

So I had another practice tonight before our playout at Bluegrass by the Bog in Grayland on Saturday. For the third month in a row we had the election of officers. How does the election of officers get continued as old business for three months? And although it has always seemed like we have reelected our benevolent dictators/only people willing to take a leadership role each month has it yet been definitively done? Only time will tell. This was supposed to be the annual meeting so maybe so.

Because it was the annual meeting everyone brought food. About five people brought in devilled eggs. I'm going to have to learn how to make them because my generation is not a devilled egg making generation, and if there aren't devilled eggs at a potluck something is dreadfully wrong. At least, that's my take on things. And not because I'm such a devilled egg fan, either.

Also there was some jamming, and Ernie Walls jammed with me — he played "Summertime" and I sang. It was fun. He's just a sweet guy.

Ray has been helping me practice some of the unfamiliar songs. I can't follow the music too well and I'm too excitable to stay on beat (I know, I'm a real asset to the band, huh?) so I kind of have to know the tune so I can, you know, feel the music or whatever.

Ray said at the "rehearsal dinner," we should pick out a few songs for entertainment of the guests and play them together. My family is very tech-savvy, and I told him we might be plastered all over the internet if so. Two people, playing old-fashioned music together, a little sloppily (he has to transpose on the fly), letting their freak flags fly.

The only other wedding update is Betsy wants us to have a raffle for the 7th Street as part of the ceremony. We're considering it since we need to give people SOMETHING to talk about.