The band was supposed to be fun, not a job (July 20, 2004)

July 20, 2004

John thinks Jimmy may have lost his voice, something Garrick alluded to also, though did not state it as strongly as John.

John said Jimmy’s voice gave out before the night was over at the Grasshopper and was hoarse the whole next day.

Garrick said Jimmy tends not to sing until the night of the performance, so his voice gives out.

Neither bothered to mention just how long the sets are, way out of keeping with what the audience wanted in either of the two last gigs.

With stress and cigarette smoke, I was hoarse the next day, too, and I didn’t sing a single note.

In thinking about the situation, maybe Jimmy is right – we’re all too old to be playing late nights of hard rock when we all would rather be home in bed.

Jimmy got into the latest hassle by saying he wanted to perform out – he, John and maybe Garrick, here and there as a trio.

Before long, John and Garrick threw open the doors and turned these gigs into a blast from the unbearable past, dragging in heavy equipment, inflating the music nearly as much as their egos.

Jimmy has a day job, and said he doesn’t need one at night, too – and though Garrick says the band will play only one night a month, the band would have to practice once a week – a chore for the young, but a burden for someone as old as Pauly, who just wanted to get into the scene for fun.

This isn’t to excuse Jimmy, who can be a pain at times. He’s rude, unreasonable and self-centered. But he could also possibly be right.

It amazes me how little really changes over time and we keep running into the same brick wall of issues regardless of how old we are.

These personality difficulties go all the way back to the roots of the band. But over the last few years, we have seen these same issues come back like a computer virus, often involving the same people, or mirroring those long gone such as Ritchie Gordy – who stole John’s wife at Garrick’s 50th birthday party a few years ago the way members of the band used to steal each other’s girlfriends when we were all young.

Even Garrick brings up old issues and reopens old wounds, often recalling slights from when they were kids as if building a criminal case against Jimmy.