Johnny-come-lately, the new kid in town

Everybody's new sometime. Today, I'm it.

Yesterday was a travel day. I didn't know exactly what was in store. I knew I was hopping into someone's rented van and heading north. The details of where we were going to go and how many people we were picking up were a bit shady. I knew we were bringing musical instruments and sound equipment. I thought some of my stuff would be along for the ride, but it wasn't. Then I met a bunch of guys in Orlando and helped them load a bunch of gear onto a truck.

Hell, this could have been organized crime. We could have been stealing equipment. I have no idea whose stuff this is!

We split ourselves into two cars and drove up north some more and ended up in Gainesville. We checked into a hotel and ate pizza and announced what time we would congregate today: noon.

It really is pretty cool what we're doing and how the whole thing is organized. And it's all on the up-and-up.

What we're doing is taking our stuff to the Phillips Center at University of Florida and rehearsing for our show there tonight. We're playing Hotel California, a collection of nine songs by the Eagles including the hit title track, "Life in the Fast Lane," "Victim of Love," "Pretty Maids All in a Row," and the song that describes what I am now, "New Kid in Town."

I've never been on a tour before. I've played plenty of gigs before, and the most successful run was a three-consecutive-night residency at one venue. That didn't include any loading or unloading for me. Everything I was going to use was already set up. This is a whole different enchilada. I've also never traveled so far for a gig. We're eight hours north of my place in Boca Raton. As Dessie pointed out to me by phone this morning, that's halfway to Washington, D.C., isn't it?

It was really strange being introduced to these folks last night. I traveled far, but some of them traveled even further, hopping on planes in Toronto and flying into Orlando. But here I am in the middle of all of this, meeting these people whose names I barely knew, and barely knowing who plays what instrument. All I know is we're all going to be playing music together soon, and it's going to sound an awful lot like the Eagles.

That's what brings us together from all these different places: the music.

When I used to work as a journalist covering the indoor air quality industry as my beat, I would attend various conferences all over the country. People would fly in from all over because of their common bond, some aspect of buildings. They were all on a mission, or several missions: to educate themselves, to network with others like them, to catch up with colleagues past, to protect or change their lifework, or maybe simply to escape the office or home. Point is they'd all show up for one reason or another and see some of the same faces each time.

This music thing is kind of like that. Only difference is we are flown out here on the promise of a big paycheck in addition to our hotel with continental breakfast and complimentary wi-fi access. That's because we've been deemed worthy of the task at hand; each of us must go out and recreate integral parts of the Eagles' landmark album and other numbers from their catalog.

We're the type of guys who pay attention to how many times a rocker played the rhythm this way and then switched to a slightly different rhythm on the seventh time. Like on "One of These Nights," the piano chords are simple. I can play them with my left hand behind my back. It's just how many times to strike them and on which beats that I have to pay attention to. Once that guitar solo is over, the piano chord pattern is twice as long. He hits the chords not only on beats 2, 3 and the & of 3 but also on the next measure's 1, the & of 1, and the & of 2. He does that pattern six times before adding another one on the second beat 4 for the CMaj7 chords and two additional between-the-beat strikes on the GMaj7 chords (or, since my part omits the tonic, the Bm7 chords). He does that, and I'm going to replicate it. It's my job to know that and to do it just the way he did.

And people love this stuff. They've been posting for months about how excited they are for this Classic Albums Live tour. We're in Gainesville today, down in Lake Worth tomorrow, and finishing up in Jacksonville on Saturday. Some of the band is playing a bunch more shows in Canada after that. Me, I'm just heading home, having done my part.

It's great being brought in for this. I'm already booked on a few more gigs, with some of the same musicians, and then the summertime will probably be full of these shows. Then somebody else will be the new kid in town. But there doesn't seem to be any harassment of Johnny-come-lately. We're all equals in this environment. No jealousy, few gripes. Just know your part, show up, and do your part -- all while dressed right. These seem to be the rules. Adhere to them, and you'll be fine.

I like it.