My take? Stylistically she didn’t feel like I was a good fit for her music or her group. Or somebody else really wowed her on bass, perhaps? She didn’t go into that much detail, so I’ll probably never know, but I had a great time playing her music & performing with her & the band. I wish her the best of luck!

One of Aaron’s friends took a few pictures, I’ll see about finding those & posting a few. Hope to see some of you out at my next show, this weekend at Tommy Doyle’s with Tony Brown & the Faithful!

Related show

• Artist: Maria McNeil
• Date: Saturday, July 26th 2008
• Time: 10:00pm
• City: Maria McNeil in Cambridge, MA
• Venue: Café Luna
• Address: 403 Massachusetts Ave.
• Country: United States
• Admission: free
• Age restrictions: All Ages
• Add to Google Calendar | Download iCal

Work is going well, definitely settled in finally, learning to fulfill some new roles. Forgive me for withholding more detail, but the Fruit Company™ is a bit touchy with blogging.

Musically, things are slow, but it’s still there. Tony Brown & the Faithful (the new name of Tony’s group) has been rehearsing quite a bit, primarily in an effort to build up a repertoire of music. Having only an hour’s worth of music tends to limit the kinds of gigs we can take. Sadly, our drummer JoBeth had to leave the group, but we’re soldiering on. We’ve already begun auditioning new drummers, and hopefully we’ll have somebody on-board soon! As for Maria McNeil, nothing on the horizon at the moment, but keep an eye on the gigs list (or RSS feed if you like) for my upcoming gigs.

Saw Amber this past weekend, which was fantastic, and this coming weekend we’ll be winging out way south to Knoxville, TN, to enjoy my friend John Wiesehan’s wedding. It’s gonna be a ball, really looking forward to it. Interestingly enough, it’ll be the first time we’ve ever gone somewhere & stayed in a hotel together. One of those random little “firsts”, y’know?

The gig Thursday night at TOAD with Maria McNeil went well, if slightly rough around the edges musically, as we have not rehearsed nearly enough to be super tight. Still, musically I really enjoy her compositions.

Friday I packed up a bag, got my bass stuff & pedal board together (yes, I decided to bring all my toys with me), and waited for Tony to arrive in the van with the rest of the band. Alas, it seems, small disasters delayed him, and between having to work (he asked for the day off weeks ago), a flat tire on the van we were supposed to get, and the time to get to each rental place, we didn’t leave Boston until 2:45pm. Very bad when one wishes to get to NYC before 7pm for a gig. Between the delays leaving and the traffic into NYC (a combination of Friday rush hour, Passover, and the Pope’s visit to the City), we didn’t arrive until about 10 of 8pm. So, we totally missed our set. Suck.

On the bright side, I got to meet the sub who’s playing for the band’s gig May 2nd in Hartford, CT. If you live near there, you should go! It’s at the Webster Theater; here’s a link to the Facebook event, which would be the best source of information besides the MySpace page.

In addition to meeting said sub, my buddy Aaron showed up at the venue, so we grabbed a bite at the best pizza in town (according to Aaron), then had another drink back at the Living Room before retiring to Aaron’s with some beer & popcorn to chill out. We eventually watched a movie, A Death at a Funeral, which, while not side-splitting, was definitely funny. It’s classic British humor of the dark variety, so if that’s not your speed, you’ve been warned!

Sunday was spent enjoying brunch with my friend Ellie, discussing a jazz quartet/quintet we’re hoping to start. In addition to being a fantastic vocalist, she’s also a fellow bassist, which is quite fun. We’ve already asked a few cats about how interested they would be in playing some standards-based money gigs around town (weddings, events, hotel bars, etc.) and they’ve all been enthusiastic, so we’ll see how that turns out.

Sunday evening, however, I joined my friend Katie in dinner and drinks at the Sunset Grill, followed by the Via Audio show at Great Scott. The Peasantry opened the show, with Someone Still Loves You, Boris Yeltsin ending the evening. We wanted to catch the T, so we didn’t stick around for SSLYBY, but The Peasantry were pretty good, and Via Audio was just amazing. My friend Jess sings & plays keys in the group, and she’s just a killin’ musician.

So, that was my long weekend. As for the marathon today & the delightfully crowded T on the way to work… ew. Just ew.

I’ve posted some pics up on flickr, but here’s a good one: