I made it on time for this evening's show--early, in fact--but I was dealing with getting a cold, so I made sure to stock up on a thermos of Throat Coat tea to get me through the evening. It'd be cold in the house, too, so that was another compelling reason to have the tea. Mike and Steve worked out an idea that would solve the tempo problems in "Last House," so we were looking pretty good for that.

The walk-on music was interesting, but I didn't think I was audible enough--apparently, I was loud enough to keep Steve from hearing the cue from the SUV outside (I'm not totally sure what this is for, since I've been back in the band space), but not loud enough for the audience outside to hear. Great. Tomorrow we'll make an adjustment.

For most of the evening I hung out in the band space/future kitchen, just trying to stay away from people to avoid passing the cold around. I was also trying to keep my hands warm so I could play--this was at times a bit of a problem. I chatted a bit with violist Erica, who's classically trained, and doesn't do much improvising. Interesting, as I'm kind of the opposite--I can read, but not sight read a performance cold, with no rehearsal. Instead, most of what I do is improv. We compared notes on conductors we've worked with, though in her case that's a much, much more complete sample set.

I did zip up to the party scene briefly to help load Mike's drums down, though one of the stage managers beat me to it, so I really didn't have to go up there. For the "Last House" this time, we were really on it, although since we'd moved my amp a bit, I don't think I was as audible as last night. I think everyone was a bit louder, as well. I'm going to have to goose the volume up a bit tomorrow. This time I did contribute to that mournful string piece, and it worked well, but again I don't think I was quite as audible as I should be.

Once again, the (even larger) audience loved the show, and we got a lot of congratulations from strangers and friends. Our occasional collaborator Frank Ferraro said, "In 20 years you'll be reading about this as a significant cultural event." Yep, there was that kind of energy behind this.

I did pop upstairs and snagged a few slices of pizza at the end of the night, and then dragged my stuffy, achy self home. A good show, and I'm hoping I feel better tomorrow night.