i feel sad because i tried really hard.
there’s a pub down here that i asked for an audition at. boss welcomed me to do 30 minutes between the house band’s two sets. i think the house band performs well for what they’re there for. they know a lot of songs and can take requests. they bring the atmosphere, and to my hearing, they play well. guitarist could play pretty good from what i could see.
i am very aware of the idea of “di pan” (territory) in taiwan. i tried as best as i could to act like the guest i was. i asked the house guitarist before going on if for my last song we could play a blues, with him soloing. i thought this was only polite- “bu yao lai ti gwan” (don’t come kick in the door of someone else’s school).
my students told me that when we finished he said something like “gan na guh lao wai”. they said he was mad because i showed him up. the guitar player asked me to solo in the middle which i didn’t think he would do. i swear: i never tried to show him up. i’ve never thought in a competitive way. i just tried to make the solo sound right.
band is mad because the boss told them she was going to fire them and let me have friday night (economics: 6 member band vs one guy with a drum machine and effect box). i only want to do my little 30 minute show, not ursurp a whole band’s gig!
now boss says she wants to put me on wed night. i know that one. nobody goes out on wed. even andy lau couldn’t pull a crowd on a wed. i don’t want to play for an empty house. so i told her i just want friday between sets and she said “okay but only twice a month”, which is fine for me.
where did i go wrong?