The 24th gathering of the Community Music Hangout took place on Sunday August 6th, 2023 at the west piano i.e. Carly. I started the day full of joy from the night before as we celebrated the marriage of Nikki and Bobby. Congratulations, you two! It had been a fabulous, magical day, and I was looking forward to channeling that energy into our own little joyous gathering. For CMH#24, we were treated to quite possibly the nicest day of the entire year. The conditions were marvelous, with ample sunshine and cooling breezes. The day began quietly, and for a bit I was out there playing by myself. But soon I was singing “Hey Jude” with the lovely family of Adi, Kelly, Noa and Leni. Thanks for joining in! And from there, we were off and rolling. In a span of just a few minutes, a bunch of familiar faces turned up at the CMH. Brian, Sage, Lief, Emma, Brett, and Ankur all rolled up at almost the same time. How fun! You guys are becoming the core of the Hangout (and anyone else reading this is encouraged to and invited to join the core!). A little later, I turned around and asked someone new, “Hey, do you play?” and he replied with a straightforward “Yup”. Do you know how many awkward “…uhh no…” interactions I had to get through to get to that one? And it was super worth it. Great to meet you, Cooper! And great playing, great to play together. Hope to see you back again soon! As the hangout was rolling along, I looked up and saw two folks with ukuleles and a guitar on their backs. I was mid-verse, but I wanted to invite them over. They got the hint from the signage and the scene and invited themselves in! That’s a great idea, thanks for joining. That’s how we met Valeska and Robert, visiting from Santa Cruz. A funny music moment happened when a Recs and Park work truck came by on the promenade. They all have their backup beepers on full time as they traverse the pedestrian thoroughfare; I’ve learned that every beeper is pitched to a D. A truck came by as we finished a song which was resolving from E to A. Which is to say that the beeping truck provided the leading tone that resolves the E to the A! The party continued until around 3:30. Once again, the sun was brilliant, but it was also tiring! So I packed up the wagon and wheeled on homeward. With the wedding on Saturday and the Hangout on Sunday, it was a joy-filled and exhausting weekend. I had an exceptionally nice relax after all that wound down! We’ll be back again for the quarter century – CMH #25! – on Saturday August 12th at Carly i.e. the West Piano. It’ll also be Outside Lands, about a mile away down JFK, so that’ll be interesting. See you then!