Fame and Fortune Await Me... Yeah, Right

Well gang, it's finally happened. I got the phone call.

Before you go asking, "What the hell do you mean, you got the phone call?", let me give you a little background.

Most of you know that I played in a benefit concert last year for the Kumeyaai-Ipai tribe in Poway. It wasn't only my first time performing in the concert - it was my first time performing in ANY concert. At intermission, I went out into the lobby to check out the items many people had brought to sell and was accosted by several people complimenting me on my performance, asking if I was going to be appearing anywhere else (including the concert the following year), and if I was going to record a CD.

Recording a CD had always been a nebulous sort of thing, but we began taking names of people who wanted to buy one. I spoke about it periodically with Mac, the man who organizes the concert every year and books all the performers. He often calls just to chat, so when I got a call from him the other day telling me to call him immediately, I figured he had something he wanted to run by me.

He did indeed.

The upshot of the call is that I'll be leaving Wednesday for Los Angeles (we're renting a cabin in the San Jacinto mountains - it's lovely - and Hubster and Emma are coming), and turning all this into a mini-vacation. The cabin has a hot tub under the stars. It's going to be heavenly. So why in the hell am I going to Los Angeles?

Because next Saturday, I'll be in the recording studio RECORDING MY FIRST CD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'll be playing the Native American flute.

(I'm not excited about this one little bit.)

I was going to drive myself, but I drove today for the first time in months - and just to my mother's house, 15 minutes away - and when I got home, I slept all evening. I didn't wake up until well after midnight and haven't eaten a thing since Friday. I had such great plans for last night, too - finishing up on the shop, frying chicken to take over to Mom's house today, blah blah blah - but that got shot in the ass. After seeing how tired just a quick drive made me, Hubster decided that he was going with me, bringing his computer and working from the cabin while I knit and practice, and bringing Emma along so she can romp around in the forest (on a leash, of course - I would die if anything happened to my little sausage). I'll take myself to the studio on Saturday (and we'll both go over to Mac's house on Friday so I can practice; we'll all eat dinner together that night at Mac's); and then we'll head for home on Sunday. Since the cabin has a fully-equipped kitchen, I'm hoping they'll come over for an evening at "our place", too. All in all, it should take us about eight hours to drive down there, since Mac actually lives in the mountains east of LA (and in-between LA and San Diego), and Hubster is worried that I would be too exhausted to navigate the mountain roads, even if I broke up the trip into a two-day voyage. I'm secretly glad he's going. The idea of driving by myself was a great one, but realistically, I just can't do it anymore. That bums me out. At least I got to drive today with the top down (we finally took off the hardtop - it's the first time since I bought the car in 2003 that it's been off), and my first time driving a convertible. It was awesome.

So I had to cancel prison day because I just have too much to do to get ready for all this. I have to find all the flutes he wants me to bring (there's about eight of them), get my rattles (including the ones my boys made me), my drum, and everything else I need for the session. I'll be in the studio for eight hours recording duets, solo performances, and performances with a backup group. I'm already getting nervous about this, but I'm also really looking forward to it. As for the concert (I've probably already told you this), they've pared down the number of performers due to budget cuts. I'm cheap - I don't take payment for my performance, don't accept money for lodging or food, and just go for the sheer love of playing. The Elders love me. :) Carlos Nakai (for those of you who are familiar with the artists in this genre of music) is the star attraction of the concert, and I'm one of two performers opening for him. My boys are telling me to not just open for him, but to embarrass him. I don't know about that, but I'll do my best.

I'll try to post one more time before we leave, and I'll also have my laptop with me so I can post from the deck of the cabin as well as attend to shop matters. We'll also be bringing our camera. Emma will miss her puppy class on Wednesday, but that's okay - we'll do a makeup. She's so smart that she picks up the new commands after two tries.

As for the shop, we'll be open for business, but all orders placed Wednesday through Sunday of this week won't be processed until a week from Tuesday. I'll need a day to recuperate before I can wrap anything up. I have several new vendors listed already and will get as many more listed in the next three days as I can. I also have some updates which will be done. I'd like to get Creatively Dyed listed before we go, but that's the last thing on my list.

Think good thoughts about me this coming Saturday at 10 a.m. PDT and send those vibes my way.

I'm going to need them.