Interesting story Tony. Anytime I have dealt with an agent there is always a surprise.

My weekend was good. Friday night-a regular lounge gig 5:30-8:30. Pleasant, uneventful.

Saturday, a dinner dance which had, maybe 80-90 ppl...but the smaller crowd made it intimate and everyone got what they wanted and put up with what a few others requested.

Sunday was a benefit for the victims of Hurricane Charley. We raised several thousand $s and it was a "feel good" experience....but not an easy gig.

We had two singles and a trio. The trio and other single did fine doing what they do which was mostly ballad and big band stuff.
I was scheduled to go on right after the trio. Their last song was something like Lady is a Tramp. So I opened with Crazy. Their keyboard player tried to play along with me but his changes and mine were in conflict and he got out of tempo with my arranger. He was behind my speakers and I don't think he could hear very well... I had to give him the cut sign and he, obligingly, stopped playing.

At the end of Crazy the line dancers (who had been ignored by the previous groups) rushed the stage and wanted all their stuff at once.

But, before I could do any of that, I was asked to recognize a great old (84 yrs) trumpet player I worked with when I first came to town several decades ago. And, yes, he just happened to have his horn with him. The crowd showed him great respect and cheered loudly after each of the 3 songs he did. He felt great...and I felt great for him. Just as he left, some bozo came up and said "I thought you would never get rid of that old geezer." I wrote it off to his not knowing the history behind my elder friend.

From there I catered to the line dance, blues, rock & roll and country enthusiasts who had patiently waited to hear some of their music. The big band folks had their fill by then and started heading out the door.

But the event achieved the objective of raising much needed dollars for our distraught neighbors on the west coast of Florida.

Eddie