Our jazz trio ( guitar, saxophones, bass ) played a sundowner at a winery last Saturday evening. Lovely venue on a hillside with dining tables set up on a well manicured lawn spread out in front of the restaurant overlooking a large vineyard.
We set up under a gazebo on the paving between the restaurant and the lawn, and though we were hired to play background music while people enjoyed their evening drinks and meal, we received a very enthusiastic reception, especially from a couple of tables of younger patrons.
It was a warm evening (32 C / 90 F) and by the end of the first set, we were ready to relax and have a drink, so we put our instruments away and the guitarist and I walked over and sat on the grass while the sax player went into the restaurant to get us a soft drink.
The grass felt great; cool and spongy, and after walking four to the bar, busting out bossas, ballads and bebop for the previous hour, I decided to relax and stretch out by lying down (You can see where this is going, can't you).
Five minutes later the sax player came back with our drinks and we downed them while sitting on the grass. Ten minutes later we were back in place ready to commence the second set.
Things were going well and after finishing the second tune, the guitar player called 'All Blues'. I decided to play this one slightly more up-tempo than usual and it's probably a good thing I did because as the guitarist launched into the solo section, I sensed something crawling around in my hair. Then, within a few seconds, *nip, nip, nip* "OUCH" whatever it was had begun biting me on the scalp! I put two and two together and thought "grass - uh oh - MEAT ANTS !!! ", and while not too worried at first (I'm familiar with these ants and they don't sting, they just bite, but annoyingly so) these little guys had REALLY decided to go to town. I was trying to play bass and brush these things out of my hair at the same time, playing faster and faster - clams left right and centre - so we could finish the damn tune, which we eventually did and at which point I quickly laid my bass in my lap and vigorously brushed the ants out of my hair.
I apologised to the guitarist, told him what had happened, and we all had a good laugh.
Here's an example of what I was dealing with. The common Australian meat ant.
It could've been worse. We have an ant here which is 2-3 cm long called the "Bulldog ant" which is extremely aggressive and has a very painful sting ( I've been stung many times), though I dare say had one of those crawled onto me, I would've known about it long before we'd resumed playing.
We set up under a gazebo on the paving between the restaurant and the lawn, and though we were hired to play background music while people enjoyed their evening drinks and meal, we received a very enthusiastic reception, especially from a couple of tables of younger patrons.
It was a warm evening (32 C / 90 F) and by the end of the first set, we were ready to relax and have a drink, so we put our instruments away and the guitarist and I walked over and sat on the grass while the sax player went into the restaurant to get us a soft drink.
The grass felt great; cool and spongy, and after walking four to the bar, busting out bossas, ballads and bebop for the previous hour, I decided to relax and stretch out by lying down (You can see where this is going, can't you).
Five minutes later the sax player came back with our drinks and we downed them while sitting on the grass. Ten minutes later we were back in place ready to commence the second set.
Things were going well and after finishing the second tune, the guitar player called 'All Blues'. I decided to play this one slightly more up-tempo than usual and it's probably a good thing I did because as the guitarist launched into the solo section, I sensed something crawling around in my hair. Then, within a few seconds, *nip, nip, nip* "OUCH" whatever it was had begun biting me on the scalp! I put two and two together and thought "grass - uh oh - MEAT ANTS !!! ", and while not too worried at first (I'm familiar with these ants and they don't sting, they just bite, but annoyingly so) these little guys had REALLY decided to go to town. I was trying to play bass and brush these things out of my hair at the same time, playing faster and faster - clams left right and centre - so we could finish the damn tune, which we eventually did and at which point I quickly laid my bass in my lap and vigorously brushed the ants out of my hair.
I apologised to the guitarist, told him what had happened, and we all had a good laugh.
Here's an example of what I was dealing with. The common Australian meat ant.
It could've been worse. We have an ant here which is 2-3 cm long called the "Bulldog ant" which is extremely aggressive and has a very painful sting ( I've been stung many times), though I dare say had one of those crawled onto me, I would've known about it long before we'd resumed playing.
