Our friends Billy and Sarah of Bean Creek called us a few weeks ago saying they needed someone to fill in at their regular bi-monthly gig at Phil’s Fish Market while they went back east to visit relatives. Abbott Family Band to the rescue! We’ve played Phil’s once or twice before as a family, and I’ve played there many times as a substitute banjo/fiddle/mandolin/guitar player. It’s a nice gig, and the food’s really good, which satisfies Kyle’s criteria.
So yesterday, we loaded up all the sound equipment we were borrowing along with our instruments. It barely fit in our Mazda MPV! The speakers, especially, were huge. That, and the bass. It fit, though, and we were on our way.
Forty minutes later we were in Moss Landing, passing by the boats and the giant twin smokestacks of the Moss Landing Power Plant, and over the bridge to Phil’s Fish Market. Brought all the equipment in and started setting up the PA… hey, where’s my banjo? I asked Kyle where he put the banjo. Kyle said he didn’t bring it in. Silence.
Yes, my friends, it was sitting in the front hallway of our Santa Cruz home, the last piece of equipment waiting to be taken onboard the AFB tour bus. Excuse me while I go bang my head against a nearby wall again.
With 50 minutes until our 6:30pm showtime, Mama and Kyle drove to Santa Cruz to pick up my banjo. 6:00 rolled around… 6:15… 6:25… thankfully, we had asked our friend Pete Hicks (also of Bean Creek) to sit in with us on fiddle, so at 6:30 we began as a three-piece, with Papa on guitar, myself on mandolin, and Pete on bass. It was a little rough, but apparently it went over well, because somebody asked if we had CDs and we got asked to play at a wedding!
The best I've had
Finally, seven or eight songs into the set, Mama and Kyle returned with my banjo. Traffic was bad Northbound to Santa Cruz, apparently. We quickly reconfigured into our standard AFB configuration and had a good rest-of-the-gig. Afterward, we picked up the food we ordered and shot the breeze with Pete for a while. I ate my fries because they’re best eaten fresh, but saved the main course for home. Mama, hungry, ate her entire dinner in ten minutes, and her dessert when we got home. Not that I blame her… I mean, look at that strawberry shortcake!
Er, but yeah… maybe next time I’ll plan on bringing two banjos to double my odds of actually taking one.
â€â€Luke
