Long story short: A few weeks back, I was asked by my two sons (22 & 17) to open a gig with them here in Raleigh this Thursday night.
I'm almost 55 - I've never really been on stage before, and I'm certainly no musician, but "no, thanks" was not an option. It's a once in a lifetime opportunity.
It'll be just the 3 of us - all new originals (prog rock-ish) that my eldest is writing (yes, present tense). There are some weird time signature changes in some of these songs, but I'm really happy that he thinks I can do it without oversimplifying the music. I'm struggling trying to learn these songs as he writes them, but the absolute truth is that the time crunch has helped quell the nerves.
What little rehearsal time we've been able to scrounge out has been a great deal of fun, and we now have 2 full days to finish writing, transcribing and practice. I've been video recording our rehearsals and watching them constantly. I know there will be some mistakes, but I'm really looking forward to it.
I may need a push to get up there, but I'm hoping the nerves will burn away quickly...
Steve