I got a call from Donovan, who works at our booking agency here in Hollywood, wanting to know if the H.O.B. show was just gonna be the 5 of us or if we intended to play the F.C. songs with an ensemble. Well, originally, the plan was to do it as a 5 piece (hence the $17 tix) but 2 weeks ago the Singer asked us to find some local musicians who might be able to handle the gig. I contacted Gene (Arthur’s Mgr.) and he got in touch with Gunnar (the guy who wrote out the music for the Swedish Ensemble) who e-mailed the music to Dave Chapple, who printed it out and gave it to me who mailed it to the musicians, along with a burned copy of the RFH show. Whew!

Suffice it to say, we now have 2 trumpets, a violin, a viola and a cello. A tad lighter than the Swedish Ensemble but this budget could only handle 5 extra musicians, not to mention how Gene maneuvered a few financial things to make this work out. All the musicians came highly recommended. One is from Brain Wilson’s band, a couple from the Santa Monica Philharmonic and a few from a local group, WACO. By the way, the members are:

Probyn Gregory on Trumpet and Valvabone Dan Clucas on Trumpet Ana Vale on Cello Heather Lockie on Violin Paula Yoo on Viola

Ana stopped by my house yesterday, on her way to dinner, and picked up some more music. I really like how enthused this lot are. I feel much better about this HOB show and I think we are really going to redeem ourselves from that less-than-perfect ROYCE HALL show. Oh, shoot, I nearly forgot to gossip! I was dining at VERMONT Thursday night and guess who was eating 2 tables away (with a brace on his wrist)? Jack White from the White Stripes! I wasn’t sure it was him but when I went to the toilet he got up and said hello. We talked about the RFH show (He was there with Meg) and he may come out to the HOB show. He was dining with a certain famous gal who just so happens to be known for diaries. I HATE competition.

Mike Randle