Well, it’s been nigh on year now since I signed up with Tango Fire & nearly 9 months of that has been spent on the road (or in the air!) & I’ll admit, cracks & questions appear every now & then. There is definitely a longing for ‘home’, not Melbourne per se but to actually be surrounded by my stuff . More to sleep in MY bed & sit on MY couch etc.– have somewhere concrete to return too! I must admit though, when your whole life/house weighs approx 25kgs, it puts many things into perspective. It makes you realise how little you actually need to survive or to have a ‘life’. Material possessions fade into the background & it becomes quite clear that your friendships & the things you can’t buy, are the measure of your existence – not a new HD, Widescreen TV (which might be nice though..!)
Being away from your friends definitely makes you realise the good things they bring into your life & how much they are needed. I’m quite happy having alone time but definitely miss my friends. I’m reminded through a certain song or sometimes you just have the urge to catch up with a particular person. The great thing is I get out of the blue SMS’s from people at various points (my Aus number is always on), as if I’m in Melbourne and they’re generally nothing important, just random gags of old or something dumb – which makes them even more important than conveying anything new & informative!!
I’m probably even more carefree in my approach to life than I was before. The ‘dream’ is to save enough to buy a house, well, have enough for a decent deposit but I’m not counting every penny. The luxury of not having bills to pay or monthly rent has meant that I’m much more free with my money. It’s not that I was possessive previously but I haven’t really bought any true souvenirs/knick knacks on my adventures so far as I have nowhere to put them!! It also hasn’t been a conscious choice either. On my travels gone past, I’ve bought a vast array of trinkets but each item is bought with it’s position on a shelf already thought thru, or where it will hang on the wall. Now, the option they have is to go into storage...! Defeats the purpose of buying it if you ask me!
What I have been buying is a fair bit of music. (Remember how I lost my CD Library {read iTunes} when I decided to leave my ‘lounge room’ in Atlanta..?) I haven’t been replacing CD’s I already have, just buying new music or CD’s that I always meant to buy – you know the ones, you’ve picked them up time after time, even when on special but just never purchased them!! I’ve also bought a number of CD’s from listening to bands at bars. I’ve also been buying alot of clothes – mostly t-shirts & tops & now have quite an extensive wardrobe! For some reason black is making a comeback. Haven’t worn black for quite some time but I guess with being back on the stage, it was always going to creep back in!!
The other very lucky part about my gig is that I’ve had more time off this year than I have since I started out in this Industry, nearly 11 years ago (yikes, have I been doing this as a ‘professional’ for that long..?!?) I’ve had a 6 week holiday through the States with Ric & I plan to take most of the time off between the Aus/NZ Tour (which is next) and the next leg that covers China, Germany, States, Portugal, Canada, Greece & England again. It’s going to be pretty much 8 months straight on the road & both my Birthday & Christmas/New Years will be away from home so I plan to spend as much time with friends & family that I can. No doubt I’ll work a little to have some $$ coming in but nothing along the lines of what I’ve taken on when back in between legs before.
When I am back in Melb I have a great network of friends who offer spare beds & rooms as a base. My general course of action is to ‘hide’ at Mums for a few days first so I actually get to stop & recover & to enjoy one of the most simplest things in life – home cooking! A few times now I’ll take a slight detour & head down to Tassie first & catch up with Dad & Kerry & have some true time doing nothing on their property. Does drinking port & eating oysters count as nothing...? Then it’s a heavy social calendar trying to actually catch up with everyone without leaving anyone out before I disappear again!! It’s great fun to see everyone & it is nice to constantly have people ringing up & wanting anything from a coffee to a few beers that usually lead to a few more!!
That’s what’s made me truly value the friendships I have & also, kind of sadly, realise that they continue to evolve without me. It’s not that my growth has been stunted as a person thru this Tango experience but I’m not sharing it with friends as it happens. Does that make sense...? Buller... Buller...!! Having been away from them all for months at a time, upon catching up with them, you slowly hear about who’s done what or what’s been achieved. Many times I’ve gone “They’re where...?”, “Hold on. When did that happen...?” For them, it’s grown gradually from Point A to Point E but for me, it all gets taken onboard in one hit!! Due to the wonders of Skype, Facebook & this whole Internet thing on which you read these very words, I get glimpses of my friends & family by “Instant Messaging” & posts & I can hear their voices as I read what they’ve typed, sometimes right down to the inflections!! The only thing missing is that it’s not face to face and I can’t raise a glass to them!!
And what makes matters worse is that, within the Tango Fire Company, my apordo (nickname) is Hombre Chancho, or to those who don’t speak Spanish, very simply translated, they call me Pig Man...! But... it’s actually a good thing believe it or not! Very few of the Company are ever called by their real names & with the Argentine community at large, a nickname is a mark of respect. Call me it in English & I’ll probably get annoyed, call me it in Spanish & it adds that air of mystery to me..!?!?
The name came about very early on, way back on the UK Tour. It was during interval in ??? and we were Loading Out that night so we were breaking down the tables & prac lamps. I thought everyone had cleared the stage and as I put down the last of the table pieces at the Loading Dock Door, I did a great big & resonate burp...! In one of the quickchange areas, unbeknownst to me, was Caro – the Argentine Artistic Director...! She came out & over to me, by which time I was prob going a little red, waving her arms around (as if she was mad but appearing to be all in fun) &blabbering in Spanish. Please note, that at this time, my Spanish was limited to yes, no, hello, how are you, see you tomorrow & a few basic swear words!! She eventually conveyed to me that I was a pig and demanded Toni fire me. I must admit, at this point a few beads of sweat may have appeared on my brow, after all, I had quit a perfectly good full time job only a month ago and this was the Artistic Director saying I should be fired..!! Luckily it was eventually made quite clear that it was all at my expense!! As is all things Argentine, when something funny happens, everyone has to be told & they were!
Due to the nature of the UK Tour, we didn’t travel with the Argy’s or have that much contact with them so it was sort of lost... Until some point on the US Tour! I have no idea where or why it was revived, but Chancho came back!! (No, it was not due to another burp!) Hombre was added somewhere along the line & then I developed my own theme song – to the tune of The Village People’s “Macho, Macho Man” and a star was born!! To this day, that song is sung as a greeting or echoes through the Dressing Room corridors!! I very really hear ‘Tim’ anymore but, as dumb as this may sound, I’m proud of my Argentine Badge Of Approval!! Occasionally, if you listen hard enough, you can hear a pig squeal... (yes, I also do sound effects for them!!) The Hombre has sort of been dropped, bar when I’m serenaded, but Chancho is their Illuminado Perfecto every performance!!
(Yes Mum & Dad, they call do me Pig Man but they’re my friends... honest, really they are..!)
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