Mssrs Peeler and Kowalski

I’ve had two numbers for weeks that I’ve meant to call, and I finally wrote both down on a piece of paper, figuring that if the numbers are laying around on a desk or something, I’d be more likely to remember to call them.
One is the home number for Mike Peeler. He’s a drummer I jammed with some way back in the early 1990’s. I lost touch with him around 1998. I figured it was about time to ferret him out. I’ve searched the Internet for him off and on through the years, but never found much of anything. Mike has never seemed interested in the Internet. So no web page. No e-mail address that I know of. No pages on JamWave or BandMix. But he popped up on a web page for a couple of musicians called KT & Aaron, apparently playing drums with them on occasion. I wrote KT & Aaron and asked them if Mike had an e-mail address. After awhile, KT wrote back and told me he didn’t have one she knew about, but promised she’d mention me to Mike and see if she could get his phone number. A few weeks later she sent me his phone number. So whether he’s prepared or not, I now have Mike’s phone number.
I figure Mike is safe from my crazy schemes. He lives in North Carolina and I live in Florida, after all. I just always liked the guy, and thought it’d be nice to stay in touch. He’s one of the best drummers I ever played with. If some of my projects ever get off of the ground, I wouldn’t mind throwing some studio work Mike’s way.
The other prominent musician in my thoughts these days is Paul Kowalski. I’ve never actually met Paul. He’s a musician who wrote me because of my BandMix page, and we’ve been threatening to hook up and jam ever since. We haven’t yet mostly because of my rotted brain. I’ve meant to call him nearly every night over the last couple of weeks, and I never think of it until it’s too late to call. I don’t know why. I usually think about calling him in the afternoon and figure I’ll call him later in the evening, but then I forget. He might think I’m some kind of nut by now, but I fully intend to hook up with him. It’ll be nice to have someone down here to jam with.
Paul mentioned that he “spent about 2 years dissecting early atonal Phish tunes”. That bodes well. Most guitar players don’t know how to deal with me. They expect someone who’ll stand behind them and play a supporting role. Then they meet me. I’ve never thought of the role of bassist to be subservient to guitar. I figure if the guitar player isn’t doing his job, my job is to fill in the cracks, and I’ll run circles around a guitar player if he can’t keep up. That’s not bragging or anything. That’s just been my experience. I’ve listened to too much Stanley Clarke, Jaco Pastorius, Rush and Primus to think that it’s a critical disaster if the guitar player’s amp stops working in the middle of a gig. The guitar player’s amp is out? Cool! Bass solo!
I’m looking forward to jamming with Paul. I have a feeling that he’s a bit of a weirdo musically. Especially if he’s dissected some of the weirder Phish tunes. It’ll be fun to see what kind of noise we can come up with. Assuming I ever remember to call him, that is.