The End Of An Era

This past Sunday brought to a close the Aaron Maras chapter of The Varnish Cooks. At least for now. Aaron is moving back to Louisiana (by way of Portland, Oregon first) this week. We played three final gigs together with Aaron this past weekend: a late Saturday afternoon show at Hobart & William Smith College in Geneva, a string band festival concert at the Eastman House, and the ARTWalk festival, both on Sunday afternoon. They were great shows to wrap up Aaron’s tenure with the band. We’ll definitely miss him, and wish him the best of fortune in his future endeavors, where-ever those lead.

The four of us had a little going-away get-together at Aaron’s uncle’s cottage in Hilton, and he promised he’d be back to visit, probably in the spring. We assured him that he could sit in for a few tunes with the band.

Not willing to crush the momentum of the group, we’re playing tonight with a potential guitarist to fill the vacancy. This guitarist is a very skilled local musician with many great connections, both here and in other cities. He’s already raised the possible opportunity for us to open for a nationally touring string band. I’ll fill in the particular names and details as they become concrete, but I don’t feel it’d be proper to do so until they’re confirmed.

In other news, I am forced to withdraw from MCC this fall due to financial aid difficulties. I have apparently defaulted on a previous student that I wasn’t aware of, so until that’s cleared up I won’t be eligible for student aid. Damn it. If I can get my financial ducks in a row this fall, I should be eligible by the spring 08 semester (at Brockport), which is what I’m aiming for.

And finally, Fido, my old grey cat, is hospitalized at the vet’s because he virtually stopped eating. Apparently he now has diabetes too. They’re pumping him full of insulin for a couple days, and he’ll come back home tomorrow or Friday. We’ll see how long this reprieve lasts, as he’s extremely resistant to taking medicines, and I can imagine it’ll be a pretty nasty fight every time he needs an insulin shot. If he won’t let us give him medication, then the end will come sooner than later...