[vent]
Oh my god, I can't stand the band drama. One of the guitar players started dating a girl a few months ago, she's a singer, and before long he invited her to join the band. Ever since she joined it's drama, drama, drama. I became aware of it when she tried to manipulate me and get me to take "sides" against the bass player, who is one of my best friends. She was trying to get him kicked out, and said that "everyone" agrees, but that isn't true. She is fixated on this idea that he's irresponsible and selfish and a bad person and she really has it in for him. It's been 2 days in a row now of facebook group chat attacking of him by her. And her boyfriend joins in, he used to have a problem with the bass player on his own but they seemed to have gotten past that until she came around. The bass player's mom, without consulting him on timing, bought him a plane ticket to go on a trip with his dad, which coincides with a show we have scheduled. He's working as hard as he can to find a replacement stand-in and teach him the material, but they're accusing him of not being dedicated to the band, which is laughable because no one cares about it or works as hard at it as him. He's an integral part of what's going on, and she just sings 2 songs and doesn't play anything and constantly complains that she should be a bigger part of the band, but she doesn't do anything about it, she expects us to MAKE her a bigger part of the band. Meanwhile, they go out of town and are just like, sorry, guess you're out a band member. Yesterday she laid into him about not being able to make a practice today, and then after hours of annoying drama and personal attacks she ends it with, oh, and I'm not going to make it to practice today because I feel a little under the weather. 8) Today she REAMED him out publicly in response to his trying to say it's going to be fine, the stand-in will be able to do it and to try not to worry too much because we have over 2 weeks to prepare. Then her boyfriend joined in. It was madness, incredibly immature and mean. All kinds of intense personal attacks, calling his character as a human being into question, etc. Eventually I stepped in and said that this was really inappropriate and mean-spirited and that the correct course of action if you have a problem with someone is to bring it up with them privately, and that all this accomplished was increasing the negativity. She turned on me then and accused me of just trying to avoid conflict and turn it around on her, and that I have a "weird" loyalty to my bass player friend. I mean I do have loyalty to him, he's a really good friend and we're close, and I defend my friends. If she could prove herself a friend and not some power-grubbing, immature, selfish and destructive person I can't trust, I'd be the same way with her. It really bothers me the way they portray him, because it's mean and inaccurate. I know him well and he's a beautiful person, I trust him with music as well as being focused on the right things regarding a music career than any of them. I get that he can be difficult to live with sometimes but no one's perfect, and he's a good dude who I trust with my life, a really conscious and thoughtful and nice person. And she's always getting in the other guitar player's ear and trying to turn him against the bass player... they are roommates and also really good friends and today he took sides with them. It makes me nervous because the core group, the 5 of us who I want to play with no matter what, have always been tight, we've had discussions that if things don't work out with the other 2 that we'll still have our band and it will just be a little bump. I resent the fact that she's always trying to get in the middle of that as much or more than anything else she does. Her boyfriend used to do that too, he seemed to have chilled out about it but I never really feel like I can trust him all the way and today reminded me of that.
Ever since she came around she's been a destabilizing and corrosive influence on the band. I hope she quits. Today she ended the conversation by saying that if the group situation doesn't improve soon, she's leaving. She meant it as a threat, but I hope it happens. She's nothing but a bad thing for us. Most days there's some sort of drama and it's ALWAYS from her. The group dynamic was going fine until she came along, there were issues that came up but we dealt with them and were in a good place.
I hardly ever get and stay mad at anyone, but I can't stand her anymore. She's only looking out for herself and her boyfriend, I think she'd ditch the rest of us if it would get them "farther". She's manipulative, mean, immature, and unstable. And she's entitled too... she constantly pressures us about making her more of a controlling force in the band (I believe she wants it to be her and her boyfriend's band and the rest of us be the band featuring them), but the fact is, she wrote and sings 2 songs that are pretty good, doesn't play anything, and isn't willing to learn to play anything, even alternate percussion. She wants to sing backup vocals but she expects us to tell her what to sing note by note. We even wrote the music for her songs, she just wrote the basic structure, words and melody. None of the rest of us were told what to do... we're big parts of every song because we make that happen, we invent our parts and try new things. Someone doesn't make that happen for you, you make it happen for yourself.
[/vent]
Asthma is newly developing. I'm not quite sure he would tolerate inhaled/nebulized medications very well without at the very least scratching the shit out of me (I can barely cut his claws without it turning bloody.) I might start him on some corticosteroids. I'm not a vet, though, so I'll take him to one to explore the options ...
! I LOVE Gretsch guitars. They were a little out of budget, which is why I went for an Epiphone dot, a semi-hollowbody and although I love the guitar, the pickups are a little boring. I'm thinking about setting it up with P90's, but those alone cost more than my epiphone. Perhaps I should rather save for a Gretsch. Just the look of them. Pure sex 
