“Battle of the Nerves”

The song lasted one minute and 57 seconds.  That’s it.  What could possibly go wrong in such a short span of time?  Plenty!

I didn’t wreck “All That Jazz”  when I touched the stage last Saturday night at the Triangle Corporate Battle of the Bands Competition in Durham… but I didn’t kill it either.   The way I wanted to.

There was a fantastic crowd on the grounds of the American Tobacco Campus.  They were all happy, upbeat, and ready to have a great time.  Those wonderful folks made it  super easy for me to work as emcee for the evening.  My job was to make announcements and intoduce the bands.  Piece of cake, until I had to transition from host to singer.  While I was acting as host and waiting to introduce the next act, the lyrics to All That Jazz kept playing in the back of my mind.

Earlier in the evening, before the crowds arrived, I did a soundcheck.  I couldn’t even get through the first verse without messing it up.  I rolled on through it, but I knew I had to get it together.

As one of the bands for the evening, was setting up on the stage, I told my event handler that I had to get to a quiet place to warm up,  go over the song,  and just settle my nerves.  I ended up in a kitchen prep area.. just me and an assortment of stainless steel islands… and some various and sundry storage cabinets..  I was given about ten minutes and then it was showtime.

I felt ready and walked on stage after a brief introduction.  There wasn’t a moment to get comfy. The sound guy hit the button for the CD musical arrangement.  I was hoping he would wait for me to make eye contact and nod that I was ready.  Not so.   I was hearing the music intro before I knew it!  Nothing for me to do, but sing the song!

Started out just fine..  a bit tentative…but the lyrics flowed.  That is, until I got to the line about WHERE THE GIN IS COLD BUT THE PIANO’S HOT.  The old brain went a numb for a second and I sang, WHERE THE GIN IS WARM BUT THE PIANO’S HOT.  Couldn’t stop, had to keep going.  From there the rest of the song flowed fine with a nice big finish.

To my great surprise and relief, the crowd showed me big love.  They stood to their feet and applauded.   I bowed, then exhaled with  great relief.

Here’s the thing:  Now that my special  moment’s over.  I can sing that song with the greatest of ease… like I’ve know it all my life.  But who’s asking?

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