Tolerance

Tolerance is a wonderful thing...especially if you are the one being tolerated!

We played at Las Oasis last night to a full house, about 140 people, most who were there for dinner and music.

Being a budding guitar player, I make a lot of mistakes. Of all varieties.

I miss chords. I hit wrong notes. And the big one, I bend notes and miss the tone by a little bit resulting in a sour noise that will drive you crazy.

And I still get to play in a damn good band.

Now that is tolerance.

Rock n' Roll guitar demands a lot of sting bending. You hear it all the time but you probably don't recognize the bending because it is so common in doesn't register in the ear. Hell, I don't recognize it when I'm listening and I play that damn thing.

Bending a string takes a lot of getting used to, and strength, if it is going to sound right.

Sometimes you bend a half tone, sometimes a full tone and sometimes you bend a tone and a half.

And, you HAVE to end on a true tone. There in lies the problem! I either don't bend enough or I over shoot and bend to much. No time to evaluate, put in correction and get it right. Too FAST!!! For me anyway.

Well, I'll get it eventually, just not now.

Thank God for tolerance or I wouldn't be on stage with this group. Oh, and a scarcity of guitarist helps too!

We have been having some cultural issues with The Oasis, which is owned and managed by a Panamanian lady. She is an astute Panamanian business lady who owns half the town.

When we play, we draw a big crowd, for here anyway.

This inundates the restaurant with 100 or more people, arriving at the same time, all wanting their dinner at the same time.

Now the cultural problems start.

Panamanians don't mind waiting. They have waited their entire life. It is hard wired into the culture.

Gringos don't want to wait. And they get pissed if they have to wait.

The Panamanians are baffled that waiting is a problem.

The first 2 times we played The Oasis, gringos waited up to 3 hours for their food.

Many refuse to return and were very vocal about telling others about this problem.

The owner took some steps to speed things up and about 80% of the time, it works.

Unfortunately, the final 20% include all the muckity mucks with the big bucks. It is always the big wigs who fancy themselves as a gift to Panama who don't get served in a timely manner.

Wouldn't you know it.

Now we have another 25 people...very vocal, influential people...who refuse to return to The Oasis.

Unfortunately, we may have to stop playing at this venue. I am still amazed that we draw as many people as we do, having had so many people burned. But, this will catch up with us soon or later so we may have to nip it in the bud before our reputation gets crushed.

Too bad, it is a great place to play.

We shall see.

Oh, by the way, it was a great night. Most people had a ball.