Army

Army                                         8133  (1353)

Sunday, June 24, 2007-9:10 A.M.

Well, the gig I worried about all week has come and gone, two shows in Palm Harbor, Florida at the Comedy Zone.  I did a radio call-in on Thursday and got the news that the club was cutting down to one show a night (not good) and was in a new location (not good) because the old place was in bad repair and the landlord wouldn't fix the roof which leaked and Florida is in their rainy hurricane season (not good).  I was worried that we weren't going to have very good shows, and I was going to be sent away with a check instead of cash, and as I sent all my money home to Pamela so she could maintain our household, I would be strapped for cash to get to my next job.  Happily, the shows were decent, I moved some product and the club paid me half in cash, half in a check.  It turned out not to be such a nightmare after all.

I'm up early for the longest drive of the tour so far, a 6 1/2 hour drive to Fort Walton Beach, home of Howl At The Moon (the dueling piano bar) and home of Fort Walton Beach's Comedy Zone.  I'm not sure I remember correctly, but I think it's far enough up the panhandle that I actually pick up an hour, but I'm not taking any chances and hitting the road early.  Howl is a pretty good gig, well attended and a lot of fun, it's just so damn far off the beaten path I was a little reluctant to do it, but I'll net some cash after the gas cost, and it's another chance on stage, so what the hell.

I woke up with an interesting memory, and had to go back in my journal to see if I had mentioned it, and I saw that I hadn't and I feel like I wanted to share this.  At the start of the tour, I did the Comedy Zone's gig in Columbus, Georgia.  Columbus is an Army town, the home of Fort Benning, and when I checked into the hotel, I noticed that a large number of the guests were from someplace else, and I couldn't place their language or tell by their physical attributes where they might be from.  Honestly, they could have been Middle Eastern, Greek or some kind of Eastern European.

Anyhow, they were nice enough, and at night, they were outside cooking on a charcoal grill and drinking beer inthe hotel parking lot, so they were all right by me.  When I checked out of the hotel the next morning, I was heading toward the elevator with my many bags of crap, including a large black duffle bag that has seen better days, slung over my shoulder.  An older man, part of the foreign group said to me, "Are you ready to go?"  At first I thought he might be a member of the housekeeping staff asking me if I was ready to check out, then I thought no, he's a guest, maybe he thinks I'm part of his group.  I told him I was heading for the elevator, and he says, "No, are you ready to go to Iraq?"

Now, I don't know what the physical specifications are for the military in his country, whichever that is, but I'm pretty sure I'd be rejected as 4F in any country that knows what a Body Mass Index is.  I guess I must have thrown him off with the duffel bag and fresh haircut which made him think, "A-ha, MILITARY!"  Anyway, that was a funny little happenstance that I wanted to pass along.  My touring life isn't exactly chock-full of stories, so I appreciate them when they come along.

I can't wait to get home, but I have another nine days and I feel like they'll pass pretty quickly.  I'll keep you posted.

Ralph Tetta

Rochester, NY