Community Music Hangout #35 gathered on Saturday October 21st, 2023. We met under mostly sunny skies with just a bit of high clouds. It was, once again, a beautiful day to play a bunch of music with whoever we happened to find and whoever happened to find us. As Rikki and I walked up to the piano, hangout newcomers Dylan and Howard were already jamming. Nice! Carly (the piano) was in really fine shape all day. She’s a trooper. Howard shared an original tune that I enjoyed and led us through a few songs as well. Great playing and singing, Howard! Soon, Joe wheeled up with a bunch of gear. Joe’s a regular at the hangout, usually with his cajon or an acoustic guitar. This time he had a hand truck, a little guitar amp, a battery, a music stand, and an iPad! It feels great that the Hangout is the kind of place where people like Joe make significant efforts to contribute to the sound. Great stuff! And speaking of making significant efforts in the service of contributing to the sound, Zack wagoned up with his drum set. Excellent. Then Paul biked up with his melodica joined in on the way to a drum circle elsewhere in the park. We intercepted Vinny on his bike ride and he picked up the guitar for a few tunes. One of the cool things about our location is that people end up stopping and joining without intending to. Another example of someone ending up at the hangout by accident was Cynthia. As she was walking by, she shouted, “IS THAT MY DRUMMER?” at Zack. It turns out they play together in a party band called Love Bomb! She was on her way to a barbeque further west in the park but we roped her in for a number! She sang “Son of a Preacher Man” and she killed it! Super fun. And then we had a real magical moment and cosmic coincidence. The piano we meet at is on the Golden Mile; local musical John Elliot wrote a fabulous song about this place and called it “On the Golden Mile”; we play it every hangout. It’s kind of like our anthem. So we played it again on Saturday and when we finished who was there on his bike but John Elliot himself! It was so special. I could tell it meant a lot to him to bike up and hear his song being played at the Hangout and that meant a lot to me. Unforgettable musical moments at the CMH!
As we reeled off songs, we saw our pals Lief and Emma again. Great uke playing as always, Lief! Brett was there with his typewriter and joined in on a string of songs as I kept finding songs he couldn’t resist. And Alex stepped up to the piano to play some Adele. Great playing Alex! It was nearly 4pm by the time we wound down CMH #35. It was another 4.5 hours of musical excellence. There we so many smiles shared, new friends met, old friends seen. Fantastic. Please note, there’s no Hangout scheduled on the weekend of October 28-29. We’ll see you next on Sunday, November 5th from 11:30 until at least 2:30. See you then!