Holy wow. It isn't over! Get this:
We have a fun local gig that happens about once every month and a half - medium sized club. Our latest installment was this past Friday. I got out of work at 5, made a U-turn through the shower, snatched up my stuff, and beat cheeks to get set up in time to have a little dinner before we played. My GF's son and significant other decided to attend as we hadn't hung out in a few months. We all got there at about the same time, chilled and conversed for ten minutes or so, then I went to get my stuff put together.
After I was all set up and verified, I returned to the table. GF's son asked, "Isn't your old keyboard player's name [Boomerang]?" I answered yes, and immediately asked what made him think of this. "Well, because I'm pretty sure I just saw him over at the bar. I overheard him telling the barmaid that even though he's not playing tonight, he's with the band. I think he was ordering a drink on you guys' tab."
* Palm to face. *
I looked over at the bar, but didn't see Boomerang. There was already a pretty good crowd in the place so I admittedly couldn't see everything or everybody, but I was still quite curious. When BL#1 showed up I pulled her aside and relayed the story so she could keep an eye on the bar tab, then sat back down. And two minutes later, who comes walking up? "Hey, Dave!" he says. I shook his hand but remained seated - I guess that's my baked-in mode of contempt. He said something to the effect of "I don't have much to do anymore, so I'm just jumping from place to place tonight."
And I was thinking, oh, how my heart bleeds. On a scale of zero to utterly ludicrous, he'd finally redlined it.
That was the end of our interaction and I went back to my normal evening routine. Though he was none of my concern anymore, I was personally dedicated to ending his presence at that venue if he created any problems whatsoever. Even my GF's son offered several times to eject him personally - he seemed quite eager - although I jokingly convinced him we should table the discussion until the situation really broke bad. As we were about to get started, BL#1 told me, "That was weird. [Boomerang] put on a sickening sweet face and told me how much he missed me! Eeeww! I don't know about the bar tab yet, but I'll check on break." We proceeded to play.
The good part of the whole thing was that we had some celebrity power in the house who came and sat in with us for several songs, making for a musically eventful evening, and overall the gig itself was a great success. Boomerang was nowhere to be seen. Apparently, he'd just come to avail himself of a free drink and a shot at schmoozing the BL.
I am now convinced. This guy really, really isn't going to quit. And as long as we don't have to put up with his playing again, I suppose he can show up to any publicized event he wants to...still, it's weird. Like, off-the-chain weird.
I have to go out of town next weekend so the bass chair for Saturday's gig has been subbed out; however, I will do Friday night downtown before I leave. Tune back in - the saga continues!
