Thank You Rabbi

The Cool Manager: Shiree

    I got there at the usual time for set up, got into my room... and waited for the right time to carry all my equipment into the Tarpon Lodge....and get set up for the gig....I have so much fun with the employees at that place....Everyone that works there is just fun to be around....we have our own rapport, should I say....last month when I played there, the manager and one of the waiters (the manager of the bar) had this conversation between them about me that he did not work on the nights I played but they screwed up and he was scheduled that night while I was playing and they did it with such straight face....and while they were conning me with this, the manager, Shiree, crawled around on the floor behind me and one book at a time took my music books and hid them, she wrapped them in my shawl that had fallen to the floor, and inserted them under the cushion in the chair in the front foyer behind me.....She said later that they thought that I was going to play out of one book that whole night , before I noticed my other books were gone....they waited and waited and waited and finally.....

     And this time I actually had some time to sit down and get rested up from the set up....Then I went back out to the bar to get my equipment turned on and talked with some of the very nice people that were part of the party that was there to get married this weekend....

     The Tarpon Lodge is almost the perfect setting to get married, the sunsets and the beautiful gazebo on the grounds, with the pool and the 5 star food, the fishing guides at the dock....I found out that there were going to be 4 Toms there and one of them was the groom and the bride's name was Diane...All of a sudden I had an attack of very bad heartburn so I  ordered a dark foamy beer while I was out there getting a sound check, to try and make the heart burn go away.  When I made mention of the heartburn, 3 people at the bar (out of the 5 bar stools there) offered me some of what medications they take for heartburn....it can be so very bad and one should "swallow the camera" as they say, to take care of it so that it does not turn into something worse later on.

     I have been taking a medicine for my stomach for years but the last time I filled my prescription the insurance company said they would not pay for my particular medicine (Aciphex) any more so I now had to call them and find out what they will pay for and get a new prescription...I had forgotten since I am in and out of town so much these days...I finally accepted a purple pill from one of the Toms.  It (or the beer) saved the day.

     Well last night I ended up taking something I think was "THE" purple pill...and it worked so very good...of course I did not know it would work so I had a second dark foamy beer just to be sure I would be okay to sing....A person simply cannot sing with heartburn...way too much pain...

    Much to my surprise, while I was singing a song, I looked up at the end and there stood the Rabbi I recently met, and her husband.   They came to hear me sing.  She said that she would try to, and then all of a sudden there they were.  I was very happy about this because I had committed myself to singing alto in her choir for High Holidays(Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur).  This all began because I am working as a personal assistant to a friend of mine a couple days a week who is a realtor going through Chemo' for her current breast cancer...And she has come to hear me sing many times, and sings very well herself.  She also said to me that I should help them in their choir because they need an alto right now.  I went with her one time to choir practice and worked on my computer while they practiced and while I was there I spoke with the Rabbi and she was such a nice person I decided to sing for her.  Since most of the songs are in Hebrew, the Rabbi had assured me that I was not going to sing anything that was against my own religion, as it was all only in praise of God that they sing their prayers.

     We had a great time that night. The room was packed and except for the fact that the Rabbi and her husband were so upset because the crowd was very loud while I was entertaining them, it was all good.  The Rabbi herself had been an opera singer, (and is also the cantor at the Temple) and knew how hard it was to sing to a room with noise in it, but I am used to it from starting out in Rock and Roll.  I eventually got control of the room even though the audience was so involved with themselves, being wedding people, and it turned out to be a very respectful and appreciative audience when I got done with them.

     High Holidays finally came and I do have to say I had never been in a religious service that lasted more than 2 hours...My first day which ended up being the morning of Rosh Hashanah, because I was booked for an engagement of my own on the evening before, was a four hour service....Well!!...about half way through I asked one of the other women in the choir..."so how long is this service?" and she said, "Oh, eight hours" and kept a very straight face....I laughed it off but I was beginning to wonder.......after a while.

     Then came the time for Yom Kippur.  I was actually going to be in a service that lasted all day.  I had been booked once again the night before, at my gig of half way to St Patty's Day, and was pretty exhausted for the next day, but I did make it.  This service was 3 hours, then 3 or 4 more hours, and then 3 or 4 more hours.  However the Jewish services always ended in food being served and eaten together, very good food, and with everybody talking to each other it was quite nice.

     I said my goodbyes that day to all my new acquaintances at the Temple, because my commitment was now over, and spoke again with the Rabbi and her husband.  He, himself, was absolutely entertaining.  The Rabbi kept saying things like we will be seeing more of you, and my not understanding why she was saying that, and of course she was explaining that she did not mean she was trying to proselytize, but she would be seeing me, and that she wanted to talk to Judy.  Later upon finding out that they might try to hire me to be an alto in their choir, I felt very honored.  I also felt very honored to have met the Rabbi and her husband and will greatly respect their friendship, and I am quite happy for the education of the Jewish prayers that I have learned to sing.  I have  a special gratitude for the learning of the Hebrew that I now have.  It is a beginning.  I would like to learn more and I would like to learn their numbers system, I believe it is called "Gimatria"...but I have been wrong before (usually only in marriage ha ha)(not my first marriage though).

     The next morning at the Tarpon Lodge eating their exquisite continental breakfast, I ran into the "Tom" who gave me "his" purple pill.  I truly did hesitate to take it the night before because I could find no particular printing on it of any kind, but I was in such pain.  It is odd the things we do, mostly when we shouldn't.  I later found out, when I called my doctor for a prescription of my own, that it was probably not the purple pill I took.  I mean 'THE" Purple Pill.  It, I am fairly certain, is something different, but you know what?  The one I have works pretty darn good.