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It’s been a long time since we have done a “real” basic gig. Well, we did do one retreat weekend in early February, and before that we did 8 or 9 Christmas concerts… but I can’t actually remember the last time we just did a concert of our music.

Tonight we’re going to be doing that. I’ve actually had to practice a few songs this week… as some of them are beginning to escape my internal song bank. 🙂 We’re singing at Impact Theatre. It’s a free venue for Christian performers. Mostly music, but dance, drama, comedy also. Neat place… usually 75-100 people there? (I’m a bad crowd guesser, so… dunno…)

I decided last night that I should probably change the strings on my guitar. They were sounding really dull… not staying in tune very well. I think this pack of strings has more than done its job. Whereas I used to change strings at least twice a month (sometimes weekly), this pack has been on my guitar for WELL OVER A YEAR.

Now that’s longevity! 🙂

So, I broke out the tools this morning, and rummaged through my bag of strings, hoping to find a complete pack. I pulled out one that looked that way and began the process. I loosened and removed all six strings. Then got out a cloth and shined up my poor, neglected Taylor guitar. I started pulling the strings out of the pack – one at a time – and got to the 3rd string and… it was not there. 🙁

It’s not so good to start stringing a guitar – especially one that has not been restrung in over a year – and just abruptly stop, leaving it missing a string or two. The tension difference can play with your tuning after that…

So, I looked up a local music store, and decided to head out. I needed to get this fixed asap. I took the boys and we had fun checking out a new music store. It’s only about 5 or 6 miles from our house. That’s neat. We had fun, but I had a mission (and Mom needed the van…) so we headed back.

Now the craziest part was, once I restrung the guitar – well, even AS I was restringING the guitar – I was immediately blasted back to the past. I used to do this ALL THE TIME. It was a strangely cool (and strong) nostalgic experience. I don’t miss doing all the shows we used to do… but I don’t mind that we did that. They are (mostly) all good memories. So, it was crazy doing what I used to do for a morning.

And an evening. Tonight should be more of that same thing. I just hope I remember how the songs go… 😉

If you are free, and near Palmyra, NY… please join us tonight for what is now a quite rare occurance. 7:30pm till about 9:15pm. Stop by their website for details…

See ya out there!