Community Music Hangout #33 took place on Saturday, September 30th at Carly i.e. the West Piano on The Golden Mile at Stow Lake Drive. We gathered under practically perfect conditions. There were some low clouds, some high clouds and some sunshine. But often the sun was masked by high clouds and it kept us all from being too sun baked. It was Hardly Strictly Bluegrass weekend in Golden Gate Park, and what a magical event that is! Rikki and I went on Friday and Sunday, but we decided we had to do the Hangout on Saturday. That meant missing some pretty good music, but we knew that we’d be making a bit of our own there with Carly (the piano). Plus, with the fest just down the road, we knew there would be lots of music lovers out and about. And there were! However, the day started quietly. Jaggi had seen the Hangout once or twice before but this time he introduced himself and joined in the singing. Nice to meet you, Jaggi! And then a new Nina cycled past the Hangout only to double back to join in the fun. As she did, Ryan jogged by and decided to join in again. Good to see you again, dude! So, Ryan took the piano, Nina took the mic and we played some CCR. Nice. Soon Brian turned up again and we all managed to rope in Christopher to join the singing. He added a really deep baritone to the mix which, with Brian and I, made for a formidable sound! And then Zach rolled up, and Kyle rolled up. And we suddenly had a full rhythm section. Excellent. In a bit, we saw Shijie and Isham. Thanks for stopping by, guys! Nice playing. At the Hangout, as I look around between songs, I’ll often ask if we have any piano players who want to share a song with us. It’s not very often that I get such a strong and immediate response as we got from young Dylan and Daniel. They’re twins and they both played wonderfully. Thanks for jumping at the opportunity to play for us! Keep it up, kids.
We were practically on fire at this point, things were going so well. Next up, we saw Lief and Emma again. And then we saw our usual Nina with her usual cello. Great to see all of you! Around that time, Ryan came back and led us through Autumn Leaves. Check out the video below! Ryan said he hasn’t really played with others before, so I think it’s great we were able to provide that opportunity at the CMH! You’re all invited to take up a similar opportunity.
As we wound down, Damari jumped in on guitar. Nice! Finally, Stan played some number just before it – believe it or not – started raining for about 5 minutes. It was nearly 4 PM by the time we rolled away from the piano. We say this every time, but, as we left, we once again felt like we’d reached a new high at the Hangout. So many smiles, so many songs. I feel so lucky to be apart of this thing we’re building together. I spend the whole week looking forward to the next time out! Which will be: Saturday, October 7th from 11:30 until at least 2:30 on JFK at Stow Lake Drive! You are invited to join! Come on out and get some more music in your life.