Hi! My name’s Phil.
I’m Linda.
Hey, whaddaya know — the drummer in my band has a sister named Linda!
Well, it’s a pretty common name. Nice party. How do you know Lee and Elaine?
Lee and I used to work at the same company before he opened his bar. He gave my band some of our first gigs!
At O’Connell’s?
No, the Midnight Oil.
No, I mean you worked together when he was at O’Connell’s Digital Equipment?
Oh — yeah. We found out later that Gabe — he’s the lead singer in my band — also worked there once, before we met. Just a coincidence.
It’s a pretty big group.
Not really — just a full rhythm section, lead singer and two horns.
No, I mean O’Connell’s. It’s a large company so a lot of people in town have worked there. Are you a keyboard guy?
I’m the rhythm guitarist.
I mean at O’Connell’s — I know Lee used to work in quality control for screens and keyboards.
Oh. Right — I was in quality but I transferred to sales, at that office out on Route 4. It’s next door to the studio where we rehearse.
I hear the brass is hard to work with.
I don’t think so — we only have the one trombone player, but we get along with him really well.
I mean the management at O’Connell’s. Lee told me he quit to open the bar because he hadn’t had a promotion ten years after joining the company.
Ten Years After! Great group! We do one of their songs.
Well, you have to have a strong base…
That’s for sure — the bass player really carries the whole thing in those sixties blues numbers.
I was going to say you have to have a strong base of education and experience to get ahead in a tech company. Lee never went to college, you know.
We’re playing a college dance next weekend. My brother teaches remedial English at State and gets us gigs there once in a while. In fact, he handles all our bookings.
That must be a hard job.
Not really — it only takes about ten minutes to work out the details for a gig. It’s like half an hour a day on the phone, tops.
No, I mean teaching remedial English. So many young people today have poor composition skills.
Not us — we write most of our own songs.
Uh-huh. So, ah, OK — tell me about your band.
Well, we’re called Sonic Tsunami and we do a mixture of folk, rock and folk-rock but with a pop beat, and we do this thrash metal version of “Doe a Deer” as our break number that’s…
Wait — I mean your awareness bracelet. I wear a “Livestrong” wristband. You know, for Lance Armstrong’s cancer foundation.
Mine’s just a wristband. Hey — our sax player’s father is dying of cancer!
Sorry to hear that.
We’re probably going to play at the funeral.
That’s nice…
Maybe you’d like to come!
That might not be appropriate.
No problem — I’ll introduce you to the widow.
I don’t think so. Ah, maybe talk to you later…
Come on — it’ll be fun!
Bye now!
Well at least when we take drugs it’s not cheating!!!
* * * * * *
Hey Phil, calm down! Who were you yelling at?
Sorry, Lee! I was talking to that Linda person. Not much of a conversationalist.
Oh — Elaine’s cousin. She’s a professional opera singer.
Well that explains it!
Explains what?
Why she’s so full of herself.
