On my way home from the day job one Friday, my wife calls and asks me if I wanted to meet her at her sister's for dinner ... knowing it was going to be all-females I said I would skip that and go home to work on a couple of songs I needed for a party I was playing the following night ... I am home, going through the tunes and the phone rings ... when I answer, the woman on the other end says "Tony, where are you??? .. The party is about to start!!!" ... I tell her I have it down for Saturday, not Friday, but she says "No, it is TONIGHT" ... Fortunately, the hall is about 10 min from my house ... I call my wife and ask her to pick up my tux at the cleaners and meet me at the hall ... I don't 'pack' my gear, I just put it in my truck and get down there ... I end up starting about 50 min late ... I play straight through to try to make up for it, and took 1/2 pay, but at the end of the night, the woman tells me that even though I did a great job, and everyone had a great time, she would never recommend me to anyone... I just thank the Lord that I passed on dinner at my sister-in-law's ... imagine finding that message on the answering machine at about 10:00PM ?!?!?
I've NEVER missed a gig, and that's as close as I would want to come ...

t.