I'm not going to call it a hidden talent because I have no talent for it and therefore nothing to hide, but I play mandolin. Kind of. Well, I own a mandolin, anyway, and I take lessons and have even been known to practice, but I'm terrible at it, which is why it sits on a stand in my writing room, staring at me in a vain attempt to shame me into practicing.
A while back the sound board operator for a show my ex husband was in happened to play mandolin in a band called Chance the Arm (gotta link it:
https://www.facebook.com/chancethearm). My ex mentioned to him that I, also, play mandolin, so next time I was in the green room the subject came up. And then he brought his mandolin out and played it for us. Not just played - he owned its little wooden face. It was awesome.
And then he handed it to me.
Crap.
I couldn't think of a single song.
Stalling for time, I asked him how long he's been playing.
"A year," he said.
Crap crap crap. I'd been taking lessons for three years at that point and I still couldn't manage tremolo (still can't, for that matter).
I stared at the instrument for a bit like I'd never seen one before and wordlessly, apologetically, handed it back.
To this day I believe he thinks I was lying about playing mandolin, like that's a thing people make up. Maybe they do. I didn't, but I sure looked like I did. I am The Mandolin Liar!
