Summertime Blues

Summertime Blues                 5020  (1060)

Friday, July 14, 2006-4:45 P.M.

It's unavoidable...summertime cancellations.  I've been very lucky the past few years, booking more or less "sure shot" clubs for the summer, because it's much easier to replace fallouts in the colder seasons, but this year, the chips just fell the way they did.

I was supposed to be performing at Cozzy's in Newport News, Virginia this weekend, but a double-booking accident (not on my part) left me out in the cold.  I was looking forward to going back to Cozzy's, because the last time I was there, a massive car accident on I-95 kept me from making the Friday show until just a few minutes after the show ended, breaking a years-long string I had going of always making it to the show.  I worked the two Saturday shows, and in an amazing show of charity and good will, Lorraine Cosgrave, the owner of the club, awarded me full pay for the weekend.  Never you mind that she had to pay for a substitute to fill in for me on Friday; I tried giving the money back, but she wasn't having it.

I'd been calling the club since about 5:30 in the afternoon, warning that I didn't think I was going to make it, since traffic was at a stand-still coming out of D.C....come to find out, there was a terrible accident on I-95, and they were closing the southbound lane (my lane, to be precise) to land medivac helicopters.  I had to drive all the way back into D.C. and take an alternate route to I-95 to bypass the accident, and by then it was just way too late.

I've been wanting to get back to the club to get the monkey off my back; I haven't been able to secure a rebooking in over a year, and I'm confident that it's fallout from my last engagement. I hate having stuff like that hanging over my head, particularly when it's stuff I have no control over.  The previous time I played the club, I did great and got a bonus, so I always held on to the possibility that I just wasn't aggressive enough about securing a rebooking, but comics aren't famous for toting around bags of self-confidence.

So, I guess the monkey is going to stay put, and I'll have to put this weekend to other use.  I got some stage time in the form of an American Diabetes Association benefit last night with longtime comedy buddies Danny Liberto and Tiny Glover.  The event was coordinated by Julie Donofrio, a student of the three of ours from back when we taught a comedy class together, and she also performed.  The crowd wasn't very big, but the room wasn't big either, and we raised a few hundred bucks for the cause.  It was certainly better than sitting around and not performing, given the cancellation for the weekend.

I'm looking forward to next week, with performances at both the Cleveland Improv and Dr. Grins in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  It's a good long road week before a headlining stint at my home club in Rochester, and then a little rest before my annual Florida summer tour.

I may try to book some work for the winter, if the conflict in the Middle East doesn't blow up the world first. 

Have a great weekend.

Ralph Tetta

Rochester, NY