I have a decision to make.

I had already made up my mind that I didn't want to play with Mike's band. As a matter of fact, I got up this morning with no intention of going even to jam with them. I called Mike and was going to give him some story, but somehow wound up saying “I'll be there in a bit.”

I liked playing with these guys. It was interesting. But I'm not sure how much Jimmy Buffet I could stomach. The approach is more or less acoustic. There are two front guys. One plays a 6-string and one plays a 12-string. Both acoustic. They sing harmonies. Jimmy Buffet. Crosby, Stills & Nash. Jim Croce. As well as a bunch of people I'd never heard of.

Jesus. I'm sitting here trying to find a reason to go the other way. I suppose I'm trying to talk myself out of this. I just told Bert that I've always played second fiddle to someone. Always. Now here I am, more or less facing the same thing again. These guys Mike is playing with are a duo who are adding Mike and I to round out their sound. It was more or less left unsaid, but clear, that they would be the bosses and Mike and I would more or less just be hired hands.

What a predicament. It is, quite frankly, a decision between money and music. I would have the opportunity of making lots of money with Mike's band, but Carmen's band is talking blues. And country. The college circuit versus smoke filled country joints.

God. I wish I knew what to do.