Did I Miss Something

Did I miss the real meeting and only dream the one that I recall? After determining that we would take the existing (near)working song list and each band member would identify 2 songs that they thought were worth replacing and suggest 2 songs to put in their place. Bill volunteered to redraft the existing list (there were actually two – one that we have been practicing and building for 6 months and one that they used at a cookout they played without me) and email it out to everyone. Bill is a close friend of Ken’s and was specifically recruited because I couldn’t attend our first informal gig - the aforementioned cookout. Bound and determined that this family gathering was very important to our future, Joni insisted we find a fill-in – or even a full-time 5th member. Although agreeing that a 5th member – one who can sing, play guitar and piano – would make us more versatile, I wasn’t convinced that we needed more versatility (we could certainly select and learn to play 1000 good songs very well with the original 4 of us). I expressed a concern about trying to add a new unknown (to most of us) member might disrupt the friendly easy-going atmosphere and feared that the process of getting him up to speed and learning a dozen or more of his songs would seriously slow down our progress. As good as everybody is, we already weren’t as far along as I would have hoped but we were starting to feel very good about ourselves. We were convinced that we were “almost there”.

Now, instead of redrafting “the working list” and suggesting 2 to drop, 2 to add - Bill opted to forward a list of 20 songs to practice – 18 that were not on the existing list. My recollection was that this is what we were deliberately trying to avoid – endlessly suggesting “potential songs” that may or may not eventually make it while never solidifying the working list. So I end up having this silent debate in my mind – do I stand my ground, do I shut up and just see what happens, do I try to be politically correct, try to negotiate, tell myself I’m being defensive or jealous or egotistic or overly sensitive, trust that things will work out alright, or see the writing on the wall? Did I intuitively predict the future or am I creating a problem that doesn't actually exist? Was I right or am I wrong?