APRIL IS THE CRUELEST MONTH
2001.

So apparently I'm taking over the Sunday Songwriter Spotlight thing completely... I guess... and I spend the week after the March non-show flyering -- a nice generic flyer, put up in the music & record stores, looking for talent to play the now-monthly thing. I promptly line up three guests for the April show.

At some point that month, starting before her cat dies but finishing afterward, the thing with Lori finishes falling apart, we agree the distance is too far, the dating not far enough along before she moved, the 'catch-up' too much to handle, and we quietly call it off. There's more to the story as I write this three months afterward, but I'll get to that later.

So anyway, April isn't much fun this year. Kinda the way February is every year.

A week before the April Spotlight, I decide to go by the club to make sure everything's still set, since I haven't yet rented a PA, and so I can call & double-confirm the guests and start pushing the gig at work.

When I get there, I see they've taken down EVERY mention of the existence of the Spotlight. My flyers, their flyers; their April calendar now reflects that they've booked in a completely different act the following Sunday. I bail quickly, call Linda the next day, receive line about how the owner was supposed to call me, and how the owners have decided to stop doing music on Wednesdays & Sundays.

As I write three months later, they've had live music in there EVERY Sunday since that conversation.

So, we're toast. I take down the flyers as I get around to it, although a few of the stores they're in go out of business before I get a chance.

A few months later, the first Enzo's gig comes along JUST in the nick of time, and music saves the day once again.

Better still, despite still working the night shift, I'm able to put together my best live music week ever:

Monday - Drums & Tuba @ Club One
Tuesday - Jenny Labow @ Barkley's
Wednesday - Ester Drang & Semiautomatic @ Curly's
Thursday - Me, the Darlings, & Special Purpose @ Enzo's (and later, Jenny Labow @ Slow Duck)
Friday - Guided by Voices @ the Other Side
Saturday - some jam band with one of the Phish guys in it @ Monkey Bar

I even squeeze in a Drillers game on Saturday before going out. Sometimes it's all about making up for lost time.

But I don't even want to THINK what my Rolling Rock expenditures amounted to that week.