Annual Rehearsal, Bammies Awards, Bay View Boat Club
April 8, 2000

Big thanks to Harvey for hosting our exhausting and extensive Annual Rehearsal...and to Arf for putting us through those extremely exacting "standstill" and "marching" paces so crucial to the continued excellence of our craftsmanship! Another Season underway! Despite everyone's reluctance to leave Harvey's hospitality, several of us (30-?) somehow did end up outside the Bill Graham auditorium by 5:45pm, in full regalia, with jugglers, as scheduled. We played enthusiastically for the assembling crowd...at least WE were enthusiastic.

The first hint of some "hitch-in-the-proceedings" came when we were informed by the Powers-That-Were that we needed to lower our volume, as we were disturbing the rock musicians inside! Uhhhh...? (It may have been the 9th consecutive refrain of "Beer Barrel" that did it. We were really on a roll!) The second big clue was that as we launched into "Walk Right In" at the appointed hour and attempted to DO so, we were unconditionally denied admittance. Uhhhh...?

Undeterred, Arf redirected us around the block to the Artists' Entrance (a.k.a. Back Door). After all, we now all sported personalized "backstage" badges! There, we faced yet another ploy. They cleverly herded us into a freight elevator backstage (and to think we fell for it: "Let's see how many of us we can GET INTO this thing-ha, ha!" etc.) and we ascended...and were disgorged into an empty upstairs hallway. Some revelers attending a private party in a nearby room enticed us in to play a couple tunes for them...somehow finessing our departing without ANY offer of libation-in-return, despite what seemed to be their greatly-under-consumed Wine Bar!

Back in the hallway, we did our best to maintain collective good spirits and eventually found an empty room in which to sit down and help ourselves to a large bowl of chips, and clam-dip-of-indeterminate-age, heedless of our Semiconductor's botulism warnings. The Organization then sent a waiter-nazi to admonish us to desist, as we were evidently wallowing in private vittles --intended for Truly Important Guests!! I think we faked him out. But THEY GOT EVEN. They played their trump hand--"passive resistance." They simply "LOST" us. Just couldn't "find" us when it was allegedly time for us to perform downstairs. The Bammies began ... and, eventually, Arf sadly bowwowed to Reality. Thwarted-but-Undaunted, we rallied into Full Party Mode and departed, heads held high! After all ... the Bayview Boat Club still wanted us ... or was it vice-versa?

So, a smaller group of us repaired to the Bay View Boat Club (about 10), where we spent the first 30 minutes or so trying to get a cocktail (the bartender is a volunteer and not really in much of a hurry). We played lots of tunes to the amusement or bemusement of the regulars enconsed at the bar. Jack did lots of piano man stuff, which was a bit hit. It was much more enjoyable than the Bammies!