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I Have Band Practice
One of the best moments of my week
The itch started a couple months ago when my partner and I went with three friends to see a couple of bluegrass bands at a neighborhood venue. The music was familiar and rhythmic and singable and it filled me with delight. During the show, I leaned over to one of my friends and said, “Let’s start a band.”
A few weeks later, a mutual friend of ours invited us to her 30th wedding anniversary, where the entertainment would be a talent show by the guests.
I’m not sure whose idea it was, but this invitation sparked the genesis of a band with the four of us who’d watched bluegrass together that fateful night. We decided to call ourselves The Come Agains. (Picture an old man in a folding chair, leaning forward and cupping his hand behind his right ear.) We practiced twice a week for a month and mastered two very singable songs — Country Roads by John Denver and How Sweet It Is by James Taylor.
Gathering twice a week with these three friends became a sacred few hours in my week. Outside of the actual band practice, my favorite thing about being in a band was writing “band practice” in my calendar, or telling people that I had “band practice.”
“Oh geez, I’d love to go on a walk,” I’d say to a friend I hadn’t seen in months, “but I have band practice.”
