C6, Rocknroll kid.

Good Mornin!

Guess what?

C6 went to his first BAND REHEARSAL last night!

More on that in a bit - first, I must tell you that we (Ad Frank and The Fast Easy Women) have a show coming up THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 27th AT THE MIDDLE EAST, CAMBRIDGE, MA! Did I mention the show is THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 27th AT THE MIDDLE EAST, CAMBRIDGE, MA??? Did I? And it is with Freezepop, whom I adore. (Get your tix early - it'll sell out for sure.)

ANNNNyway, with my recent medical issues and other band members busy schedules, we hadn't had too much in the way of full band rehearsals over the summertime. So the few rehearsals we do have scheduled are really important.

Late in the afternoon yesterday, C5's project at work went into overdrive and he had to work late. On rehearsal nights, I need to leave the house a little before 7:oo. He wouldn't be home by then and didn't know how late he would be. The rehearsal had to be 7:30 to 8:30 as other band members had commitments right after rehearsal, so delaying our start time wasn't an option. And C5 didn't know exactly how late he would be. Ugh! I scrambled to see about getting someone to sit with C6 but was AMAZINGLY UNSUCCESSFUL. I thought that I would have to bail on going to rehearsal. Then I thought- heyyyyy, why not try to bring C6 along? He likes the rock. He likes the roll. Maybe it'll work.

...and maybe monkeys'll fly outta my butt!

All the livelong day C6 had disagreed with EVERYTHING. EVerything! Every. Thing. Screamingly so. He even objected, tearfully, to my choice of shirt. ("NOOOO! NOT THE RED SHIRT!!!!!!") Now, I know I'm no fashionplate, but gimme a break, kid! He was in rare form, and so was I. By the afternoon, I was looking forward to the end-of-the-day C6 handoff to C5. I was looking forward to my big night out - rehearsal! (...and maybe even an ice-cold beer!) By the afternoon, I was physically, mentally and emotionally exhausted. I was sore. I was sweaty and gross. C6 was a screaming tornado of rage. I was a puddle of goo in an (apparently ugly) red shirt. How did I expect to have any kind of productive rehearsal???

We picked up my band mate Sarah, who lives nearby, and headed into Cambridge to the rehearsal space. C6 was excited to be out in the evening! And he was a little taken with Sarah and sang her a few songs, including "Twinkle Twinkle, Little Poo".

C6 really enjoyed the rehearsal space - especially the smelly hallway with all the doors! When we got into our rehearsal room, he met all my bandmates and shook hands, just the way his Dad taught him ("look'em right in the eye!") I set him up next to me on the floor with his Sesame Street Water Wow book, a drink and a snack. We put in some earplugs but they didn't stay in very long. I brought some big headphones, which he liked trying on at home, but those didn't stay on either. (I thought they'd muffle some of the volume.)

We started to play and C6 immediately grabbed the guitar pick from my fingers. I gave him a few to play with but he always wanted the one I was USING so I had to go without for most of the rehearsal. Oh, the sacrifices we Moms must make!

He was happy while we played, dancing a little bit, rockin' out, putting the earplugs in a line (making the MBTA Orange Line and Purple Line on the floor), sticking all the guitar picks in the little hollow area of the monitor, playing his egg shaker.

I was pretty much on autopilot, playing with one ear on the music and the other on C6, the majority of my attention on the boy. I kept thinking that C6 would "go off", or unplug something, crunch his snack into the very nice carpet...but he didn't do any of those things. He was excellent! I was very happy about that. My playing wasn't great, but it wasn't atrocious either. Under the circumstances, we both did great. Whew!

...he wants to go again next week and play the gween dwumset. I gave the Classic Mom Answer, "We'll See."

-Scurvyann. Rocknroll Mum, Over-n-out. xoxo

ps: BLAST FROM THE PAST! The photo is C6, age 2 months, sporting his "rock me" onesie, a gift from my pal Limey G.