6 weeks to go.

And then there were 6. Not only weeks to go, but also players in the band. You see, Robert (our ex-pipe major) had never really got over being shafted from his leadership position, and for the last few weeks had been making life rather difficult for us - not listening to instructions, not learning the tunes etc, and just generally being a Richard Cranium. Eventually, it got so bad that something had to be done. There was a band meeting held with our employer, (which Rob promptly left as soon as he understood what the meeting was to be about, thus robbing himself of the chance to defend himself), and as a result he had his contract terminated. As Casey hasn't yet been replaced after she left, Rob's departure has left us with 6 players, but we all get along much better, and there's much less tension in the air when we rehearse or perform.

We have also had members of the public up here at The Park for the first time since February - the customers and staff of The Construction Bank of China got to come up and see the place before the grand opening on the 28th (There was something that happened on the previous grand opening [the 18th], but that seemed to be confined to the golf course).
We were out there all day, playing our 4 x 25 min sets, with not enough time in between to really do anything. We did christen the new KFC at lunch time though (it's going to be deadly having a fast-food joint with us on the mountain!). The highlight of the day, was when a little kid (about 5 years old) was posing in front of us for a photo, in a karate pose, with one arm stuck out horizontally in the plane of his torso, and the other arm in the same plane, but with his fist over his head. Then the call of "quick march" came, and the sudden (loud) sound of the drumrolls scared the crap out of him, and he ran to mummy. This drew giggles from the crowd, and I had to concentrate on not laughing myself.

They've had us do a dress rehearsal today for the big parade they're putting on on the 28th, and it was clear that the bosses had never organised a parade before, it was such a gagglefuck. (It means just what you think it means!). There was no need for us to get dressed up, but they made us do it anyway - the poor puppeteer had to lug all his stuff around, for no purpose. It should be interesting to see how it all comes together (or falls apart at the seams, we'll see!).

We will be playing quite a lot over the next 6 weeks, but I will try to keep the weblog posts coming.
See you all later
Owen.