My name is Mitch

Hello. I never kept a journal before. Been thinking about it for awhile. Don’t know why. We’ll see how it goes.

Music is what I’m all about. I play music for a living, trying to anyway. Guitar and sax mostly. “Are you in a band?” That’s what people always ask me. Yeah, I’m in like seven bands. A couple of them actually have regular gigs.

I’m 27. Single, sort of. I’m from British Columbia. If you know B.C., I’m from the Lower Mainland. If you don’t know it, I’m from Vancouver. I was born in Richmond and I grew up there. Right now I’m living south of White Rock, not far from Cedar Point.

I didn’t finish university. I got a gig with a touring band in my second year so I dropped out.

It was a great gig, The Dick Parisi Dance Orchestra. We played swing tunes from the ’30s and ’40s and new songs in that style. I was on second tenor. We played all over western Canada and the northwest U.S. I learned a lot. It lasted about six months. Then Dick Parisi had a heart attack. We played a few dates without him but then they cancelled the rest of the tour.

So I came back home. Landed a couple regular gigs and did pickup work or fill-in work whenever I could get it. Wasn’t making much money. I got behind on my rent a couple times and got kicked out. Moved several times. Had a place in Burnaby for awhile. Then Surrey. Then I was back in Richmond for awhile, staying with my brother. Now I’m staying at my grandparents’ summer cottage. They close it up in October so I’ll have to find a new place then. Been saving my money, trying to anyway.

There’s probably some other stuff I should mention. Like how my mother died when I was seventeen and how screwed up my family is. I guess we’ll get to that.

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