The Community Music Hangout met for the 28th edition on Sunday September 3rd, 2023. We gathered under mostly marine-layered skies with very brief flashes of sunshine and a steady breeze throughout the day. At the start of the day, Carly, our piano, had a number of sticky notes. But as the day warmed a bit, and we played persistently, she came good. Such a resilient instrument. Rikki and I got the day started, as usual. Soon, Brian biked up to join the mix. And then Nick came back with his guitar and Nina came back with her violin. Just like that, we were off and rolling with a few familiar faces! Soon we had young Sam step up to the piano to share a song. Great job, Sam! Then we met Mark, before seeing some more familiar faces in Sage, Alice and Gio. Welcome back, friends. At the Hangout, we’re always happy to try to accommodate requests! We had a great one from young Paxton, who was visiting with is parents Diana and Allen as well as brother Klayton. He wanted to hear some Queen, so we played all three tunes in the book. Always happy to oblige, especially for youngsters. This time around, we saw Aidan again. Last week we saw him for the first time and this week he came back. It feels great when folks come back to the hangout for repeat visits. It makes me feel like we’re on the right track here. And Aidan brought his friend Nathan. With a bit of encouragement, Nathan jumped on to lead a jam and I provided some saxophone. It’s always fun to get people off the fence and onto the piano. Nice job, Nathan! Then, Tiffany stepped out of the crowd and up to the piano to share a few numbers. Really great stuff, thanks for playing! We also had Eric who “knew a song or two” come up and lead us through a bunch of Beatles songs. I especially liked his rendition of Lady Madonna! By this time in the day, we were starting to wind down. Tradition dictates that something cool is bound to happen at this point. CMH #28 was no different in this regard. We had a couple of contributors jump into the milieu towards the end. We had Luwa playing and singing a couple of tunes. We had Sarah requesting “Valerie” and joining in the singing. And we had Nora very courageously solo singing a couple Taylor Swift songs. It takes guts to step and perform in any context, but especially with not backup music! We had a great number of contributors in #28 and everyone played and sang fantastically! I hope to see you all again at a CMH in the future. It was after 3:30 by the time we finally managed to pack up CMH #28. Once again, we shared four more hours of musical joy. We’re so lucky to have this space to gather, and I feel so lucky to have met everyone. I’m already looking forward to CMH #29! We’ll see you on Saturday, September 9th from 11:30 – 2:30 (at least) on JFK at Stow Lake Drive.