Small-group Gatas gets it done

Just a brief note on a Samba Gata gig last Thursday. One of those lunch-time open air gigs that attracts random passersby - this one on the Portland State University campus. This was a gig Pauline had almost cancelled multiple times because key players kept discovering they couldn't make the gig - Tanya, Stacey, Angela, a few others, all dropping out. But Tracy volunteered to try to play double surdo (two surdos at once, mounted on stands), which might sound easy but is actually not at all easy to do the first time you try it (especially when you're the only surdo player. The responsibility is like an elephant sitting on your back), and I volunteered to drive down from Seattle special for the gig (and another long drive down for the rehearsal the week before). It was still a bare-bones gig with more things going wrong at the last second - Pauline dragging herself to the gig sick, and our singer suddenly down with a sore throat. So would it fly? Can Samba Gata pull it off with just a few players and our leader sick?

It flew!! It went great!! It was even fun!! Tracy was fantastic, Ara was rocking on third surdo (even though her third kept bouncing backwards. I kept expecting her to disappear entirely off the back of the stage). Had great fun playing with Camille. We pulled it off with a small group, felt pretty solid, and hey, we even managed to fill an hour. Great reaction from the crowd, the PSU guy wants us back and a we got another gig inquiry too.

The only bad thing about this gig for me was just that it kept me in the city on one of our first truly beautiful spring days - and I haven't got that many days left in Portland, and I've been dying to go visit the coast. I didn't get home till 2pm, and the coast is a couple hours away. But suddenly I thought: Wait a sec, the sun is staying up past 8pm now! - so I hopped into the car, still in my Gatas hot-pink minidress and psychedelic pink-and-black print stockings, and charged out of the city and clear to Cape Lookout. Pulled up in front of the Cape Lookout trailhead and hopped out, pink minidress and all. Definitely got a couple funny looks from the surfers walking up from the beach. I hiked the whole trail clear to the point. Hot pink minidress and all. What a great day.

I'm glad I went out when I did, because 2 days later I was laid up in the most awful way with the same bug that had brought down Pauline. I can't figure out how it hopped from Pauline to me, because we didn't even share any drums or drumsticks. It must be transmitted by samba somehow.