stress and relief

I've been meaning to post pics of the parade, but that will have to wait as I have a tramatic event to relay~! At least to me. This was closing week for La Cage, so things were pretty busy, and if you check the other blog you know we had lots of company this week and stuff. Sat I had a wedding (to play at) and then meeting friends for dinner and the show. So I hustle off to the wedding, a bit early so I can get all organized and warmed up. There is a rehearsal at 1 and the ceremony starts at 2, one assumes there will be prelude type music for a while before that. It is 12:45 when I pull into the parking lot, and no one was there.

This is a bad sign. I checked the doors and they were locked, and then I called MS, the music director of the church who had hired me. No answer on his cell. Panic rising. Leave message on cell. Call him at home. No answer. Remember cellist from La Cage is playing this wedding too, but I don't have her #. Call contractor for La Cage. No answer. Call Jim in case they call me at home. They haven't called but he is near the phone so that is good.

At this point I was kinda freaking out, since I had no idea what to do. I decided to try this church across town where I had played a wedding with MS several years ago (although every other time I've played for him was at the church I drove to first). I call my best friend who is kayaking in the Tetons. She offers sympathy. I call my buddy who plays clarinet in La Cage and ask her to look up the cellist's #, hoping her cell # is on her message machine. I call the cellist (who of course isn't home) and there is no cell # on the message.

Intermittantly calling MS, and after about 30 minutes I get through. Apparently he had tried to call and couldn't get through - I *thought* my cell beeped or something when there was an incoming call, maybe I inadvertantly turned that feature off somehow? Anyway, they were at the big church at the college, which wasn't too far. I zoom off and arrive at St. Als by 1:25. Of course they are doing Gabriels Oboe for the bridesmaids, but is a weird version that has been "straightened out", no triplets or 5tuplets so they can walk down the aisle better I guess. And then there was some insane version of Pachelbel's Canon (my fav version here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdxkVQy7QLM ) and I had the lead for most of it - I did get to run those two before the prelude music started. Crazy.

Anyway, it went fine and I had a decent reed, and no one seemed too put out that I was so late...hopefully they will still call me. Lovely wedding, and even though there was no A/C, it was cooler and St. Als is one of those big cathedral type churches so it was very pleasant inside. So all that freaking out for nothing. Yay.