Last night I was given a box several inches thick. It was such a big box that I naively asked, "What's in here?" The drummer, a very easy-going guy named Steve laughed and said, "Your music." I was nonplused; I un-did the clasps and slid the lid off and revealed a massive stack of chord charts. This was their repertoire: each piece numbered and indexed from 1 - 2061. If that wasn't enough, Skeets handed me a stack of new pieces that they were going to sight-read that night. Fair enough: I was sight-reading all of it.
Despite this daunting introduction I felt like the rehearsal went well. There were definitely a few times that I really felt in the groove with them. Then there were a few times that I got lost interpreting the hand-written notes of my predecessor, but I always found my way back in the end. They have a great sound and it was a joy to contribute to that sound and slip into their groove like an old shoe (even though I'm a 'new' shoe). What's more is that they were all really friendly and welcoming to me, and they made me feel right at home.