OUR LONG NATIONAL NIGHTMARE IS NOW OVER

Poor Gerald Ford. He's barely in the ground, and I'm again using the phrase he himself coined. But it seems to be true, people.

Thanks to my maven Stennie, and some kindly blogger employee nice enough to read my umpteenth message on the google troubleshooting page, I am now operating at full speed again. I have working archive links, so you can go in and see what I was doing in 2004 (not much, really, I don't know why I bothered), and - yes! - I now have working comments. Go in there and comment like crazy, readers.

So, what's been happening with me since last I wrote? Same old stuff, I guess, with the exception of an interesting Sauerkraut Band gig.

Yes, New Year's Eve had me traveling - well, wait, let me start at the beginning of the day. Yes, New Year's Eve had me scrambling around town trying to find a "quick fix" FM transmitter for the car for my ipod, which put me about 15 minutes late on the road, then it was a stop by Mr M's in B'burg, then we were both on the road to the small town of Orange, VA for a "First Night" New Year's Eve celebration. For the uninitiated, if there are any, a First Night is a thing some towns do around here, a big town New Year's, family friendly, alcohol-free.

Think about that. Sauerkraut Band, alcohol-free. OK, now pick yourselves up off the floor, because it gets better. Sauerkraut Band, alcohol-free - playing in a church. Yes, your very own Sauerkrauters, some of the best sinners you'll ever meet, playing in a church.

I was reticent - oh, yes, I was reticent, but we got to Orange in the afternoon, a lovely little town, too, found the church, and started to unload podmobile2. The set-up was going on, chairs and stands and the whole nine yards, right there on the altar, and I started to get that "SK Band as human sacrifice" feeling, but it was certainly a nice church, rather roomy, huge brick pulpit behind us and the altar, and a loft at the back of the room holding a beautiful pipe organ. We got everything set up, got into our "silly people" German costumes, and then, en masse, walked across the town to a bank building where we were to be the honorees at a reception. Well, not just us, everyone who was performing at the various venues in town for the night.

I was feeling a little hungry, and so was hoping that this reception would be more than speeches and hearty handshakes. At least a bottle of water and cheese on a cracker. We found the bank after walking down the middle of the blocked-off main street (Russell said we looked like a really weird version of when the bad guys amble into town in an old Western), walked in, and there was no cheese on a cracker. Instead, there was a buffet of hot foods set up, a buffet that contained some of the most amazing eats I've consumed in a long time. The overriding theme of this buffet was "400 Years Ago," and the dishes included pepper-encrusted bluefish, fire-roasted vegetables, suckling pig with grits, and Devonshire beef with butternut squash. Fuck cheese on a cracker, this was excellent.

It was crowded, all the tables were taken by the time we got there, and so we were encouraged to sit and have our dinners - at various and sundry bank higher-ups' desks and comfy chairs. It was Sara Beth (the lovely, the vivacious) who imparted the wisdom upon us, when we were all a little worried about leaving our instruments behind in an unlocked church, "This is a town where they open up a bank building and let people roam in and out, sitting at unlocked desks. I don't think we need to worry about our instruments."

Once we were nice and full we headed back to the church to get things started. There were things going on at the same time in several different places in town, bands, entertainers, and the like, and I was frankly worried that no one would be interested in us over them, but the place started filling up rather quickly. We were to play three sets, at 7, 9, and 11pm, with other acts at 8 and 10.

Our first set went very well, even if we were a little subdued, but sometimes that's a plus because we tend to play better that way, and we seemed to be something of a hit. Of course, no singing "Ein Prosit," no toasting, no drinking, but still, I feel a good time was had by all.

That over with, the second act in the church was the town's community band, and they were kind enough to invite any of us Sauerkrauters who wished to to sit in and play with them, and most all of us did. I did, and it was fun, I took a comfortable 3rd clarinet part and sightread away.

Then we played our 9:00 set, where the "Trumpet Echo" found Eddie, the Jagermaster who'd been relieved of his duties for a night, up in the organ loft, and Russell, self proclaimed peeceewee peeceebee, sneaking up into the mile-high pulpit, donning a chicken hat, to play his part of the echo, which may have been the liveliest that church has gotten in decades.

The 10:00 act was a barbershop quartet, and they rocked, and I'm not being facetious here, these guys were amazingly entertaining, and Sara Beth, our Fearless Leader Ed, and I sat on a back pew and enjoyed them a great deal. Afterwards, of course, we had to do our own barbershop trio with a few selections from "The Music Man," which had dogs howling and cows dying, but we had fun, which is all that matters.

Then we finally played our last set, and by this time my constant standing in a pair of very comfortable shoes that had suddenly turned very uncomfortable had made me one very tired individual indeed, and that left us about 15 minutes till the ringing in of the New Year, where a big Orange was supposed to drop from the courthouse in town, and so I rushed off to get out of that dirndl and especially those shoes. When I got back to the altar, people were still milling around and tearing down our set-up, and it was right there on the altar that 2007 struck. I think. No one seemed to have the correct time, so I went by Sara Beth's watch, gave her a hug, said, "Rabbit Rabbit," and continued to put stuff away. Mr M and Tom kept telling us it wasn't time yet, so we walked outside to see if we could make it into the street for another celebration, but it was not to be. The after-orange-drop bells were now ringing, and so it may not have been much of a whooping "Happy New Year" moment, but hey, I'm old, what do I care?

Some of us drove back home, and some of us decided to stay overnight since the town sprung for us some hotel rooms (I mean, when this town has a festival, they do it up right), and so Tom, Mr M, Jude (the Corruptor, who could not corrupt anyone in the church), Sara Beth, and I all stayed. We headed out for something to eat and took it back to the room, where Tom offered wine and I offered Goldschlager. I drank a glass of wine and basically collapsed. It had been a very long day and night.

We headed back home on New Year's Day, where the annual Sauerkraut Band New Year's party was to take place that evening. I had told everyone I couldn't go, because of distance and having to work on Tuesday, and on the way back Sara Beth and, yes, you guessed, Jude the Corruptor had just about convinced me to throw caution to the wind and go anyway, until I got to Mr M's house, fell asleep for two hours, and barely had the energy to drag myself off the couch and to my car for a trip home. I sat around Monday night all frowny because I wasn't with my buddies, but got a healthy lift in spirits when they called from the party and passed the phone around from reveler to reveler.

Damn, I was tired, though. Playing sober really takes a lot out of a person.

Betland's Olympic Update:
* Did I mention I have comments now?
* Episode 37, first episode of the new year, of the hucklebug is now posted for your listening enjoyment. Go here, or subscribe through iTunes, to listen.