I’ve been playing with a community orchestra for the summer, and this is the final week of practice. Today was also the first time the orchestra met with the performers, so it was an important practice. I’m playing my 5-string electric bass with this group, and I have to say I’m having a great time. I’ve got the amp turned up loud, and groovin’ along with a lot of 50’s style music.

While we were practicing I was amused, and maybe feeling a bit smug, when the cast, all of whom are young adults, checked out the orchestra. Usually there are few surprises, we’re all a bunch of musicians of varying ages, but it still raises a few eyebrows first, when the bass player is a woman, and second, and most amusing, when the rockin’ bassist is the same age as most of their mothers.

When I was that age, I would never in a million years have imagined my mother playing in a quasi-rock band. Sometimes I wonder what my own children think of me, with all the things I do. Most of the time they just shake their heads, but when they were little, they didn’t really realize that none of their friends’ mothers did any of this stuff.

Next weekend, dress rehearsal on stage Friday, then Saturday, 2 performances. If you live in my area, I invite you to come to The Act Theatre and have some fun.