Is the gift certificate worth more than the cost of a SXSW wristband?

Heck no. But it's thoughtful at the least.

I got stood up on Saturday night and got a voicemail apology Sunday morning. SCREW THAT. No, we are not cool. No, I am not free this weekend. Jerk.

Good lord. I'm somewhat flabbergasted. What kind of dipshit would stand you up? Right-thinking men should be serenading you with slightly-sarcastic-but-mostly-sincere indie rock ballads and thanking their lucky stars you'd even consider spending an evening with them. Although this board may have people thinking otherwise, hot indie girls who know their shit are an all-too-rare phenomenon in this wicked world of ours.

On the apology, my wife made some excellent points to me last night. For one, I kept coming home from practice and saying that his lack of experience in organizing bands is glaring, and had led to my awkward role as permanent 2nd banana guitarist. He's a novice at this, she said, and if he really thinks this is his big break, he's going to be second-guessing himself constantly up until he plays the show. She also pointed out that I never seemed to be having fun playing his music, and was planning to quit, anyway. She said that I'd used the "exercise in humility" line several times in front of her already. She's a wise one, y'all.

I think the main things that pissed me off were the timeliness, which led to me being humiliated in front of y'all and other friends after announcing the show and now having to say "oh yeah, I was kicked out of that band," and the betrayal I felt from setting my ego aside to help the guy, even modifying my approach to the guitar to accommodate him and, at his request, sticking with the band after I'd indicated that I would just as soon leave.

But these things are transitory. He said that his label was giving him a hard time about having a second guitarist because his band is supposed to be a trio and further mentioned that he didn't feel comfortable with our disparate guitar sounds, which I should probably take to mean that as much as I try otherwise, when I play electric guitar, it's going to be snarly.

Anyway, he's basically a nice guy, which is why the sense of betrayal I felt was a bit more augmented than it would have been with musicians I've played with who are obviously self-obsessed assholes. And speaking of self-obsessed assholes, I have a few rules of organizing bands that I try to follow, but those are hard-learned rules from my 19 years of playing in bands, and I don't know why I should lose my shit just because someone who doesn't have my experience has violated a few of them.

If they're playing as a trio, but registered with SXSW as a quartet, that means he should have an extra wristband. IJS.

I think they're registered as a trio, which is part of the problem.

that means he should have an extra wristband. IJS.

I love Jon's laser-beam like focus on the wristband.

What kind of dipshit would stand you up?

Aw, shucks. But seriously this guy had major dipshit issues that I missed upon our initial meeting. He actually admitted that the reason he didn't call or show up was because he was NAPPING. Can you not just lie and say your dog was sick or something? Why even bother calling the next day? And throwing in a "how about next weekend" on top of it? I mean.. what? I figure I should just be thankful that he saved me from what I'm sure would have been a miserable night.

ETA: I need to stop using "Aww, shucks" On message board-y type formats. It looks so sarcastic typed out - when what I mean is "That's sweet. Thanks."

I like it when you type Aw Shucks.

Well I shall continue then. Misinterpretations be damned!

I'm all about the wristband.

Hey -- bands at SXSW don't get paid; all they get is a wristband (and one laminate to share amongst all the band members). If Corwood isn't going to get to play, it'd be nice if he could at least get "paid" for all the time he put into this.

Corwood isn't going to get to play, it'd be nice if he could at least get "paid" for all the time he put into this.

Totally agree.

and one laminate to share amongst all the band members

??!! WTF? Woe to the band member that loses the holy laminate.

Attention David Smay! -- This just in from John Petkovic:

COBRA VERDE STARS ON "THE OC" THIS THURSDAY!!!

Hey Hey Hey ...

How's it going? I could tell you about all the action on Planet Cobra Verde... The hot new album we're working on... Or how our drummer Mark is homeless because a flood consumed his house... Or how an airport terror squad accused us of being terrorists...

But ultimately it would come back to this OTHER thing:

At 9 p.m. Thursday, March 16, we -- Cobra Verde -- will make our prime-time acting debut on "THE OC." You know, the Fox drama about happy-go-lucky rich people in Orange County. The OC folks have been down with the CV action and have been trying to get us to come out to their sprawling Manhattan Beach studios -- which, by the way, is in Manhattan Beach, which is NOT in Orange County....

At first, we figured they'd have us give back rubs to "The Hot Moms" on the show or play stunt men or something. Nope. Last month, we flew out there to not only play, but also act. DUDE, we're like playing a FOREIGNER TRIBUTE BAND. I can't give away too much, but I am "authorized" to reveal this:

The main guy, Seth, asks us to play the 18th birthday party of his buddy, Ben, who really loves Journey. Seth prefers Foreigner, so he asks us to play Foreigner tunes, instead -- like "Waiting for a Girl Like You." (Coming up ANY DAY on iTUNES!)

The OC folks even made posters to hang out The Bait Shop -- the club where everyone parties on the show. You can see it --- and some other pics Tim and I took -- on cobraverde.com or our myspace site, [link]

The pics tell only part of "the story." For two days, we went through enough '80 clothes to stock an A-Ha (or Killers AND Yeah Yeah Yeahs) video, from mesh shirts to trench coats to those weird, floppy '80 boots. The overriding theme behind our "look" was, "Foreigner, Ramones, New Wave, Rock 'n' Roll -- it's all good." I guess it is when it comes to '80s nostalgia.

Tim wore a zebra-striped sleeveless shirt. Frank was breezy in his mesh shirt. Mark felt like a flasher in his trench coat. Ed looked like a fisherman-turned-safety-patrol-guard in his yellow vest. I had a hard time breathing in my red dog collar.

Like I said, check out the sites: www.myspace.com/cobraverdemusic and, of course, cobraverde.com. The tunes -- uh, I mean, that slow-dance anthem, "Waiting for a Girl Like You" -- is going up on iTunes any day, too.

Starting Thursday, we're also going to have a diary about about the whole experience, featuring stuff like:
1. Our worst bands and songs list;
2. True Hollywood Story behind-the-scenes gossip;
3. Reviews of the junk food buffet on the set.

Until then, hope you are all well and thanks again for being who you are, wherever you are....

Yr pals...
John, Mark, Tim, Frank, Ed

Now THIS is an album cover.