The Communnity Music Hangout gathered on Sunday, December 10th for the 39th edition of the Hangout. We gathered under high clouds and cool conditions. And we did so in a special location! This time, we met in front of Chalos, a purveyor of delicious Argentinian empanadas + churros. We were on Taraval St as part of the Holiday Walk taking place up and down the street. It was fun setting up in a new spot and Chalos fed us all! How generous and delightful. Thank you! Rikki and I had very good parking luck, which was greatly appreciated. Because we weren’t meeting at our usual piano, I had to bring my 50 lb digital keyboard and a bunch of gear to go with it. So it was nice not having to carry it any distance. We got set up and started playing. Soon, we started seeing Hangout regulars. I was very pleased that so many of our usual suspects followed us to our new location. We had Joe on guitar and Brian biked up to add his vocals. Alex strolled up with his ukulele. Sage ambled out to the outer avenues to join in. The vibes were different than being out on the promenade but they were no less good. Annie from Chalos took very good care of us; at one point, she came out and asked if we wanted a churro break and we sure did! Delicious. Zach brought his drums on the bus to get out to the spot! I thought that was really cool. He’s got a compact kid that he can fit into a wagon and then he was able to just wheel it right on the bus. As a group of people who formed around a pedestrianized thoroughfare, you might not be too surprised to learn that we’re all transit advocates. So big kudos to Zach for moving his drums via the bus. A highlight of the day is when we talked youngsters Emilio and Kai into hopping on the keyboard and leading a jam. At the CMH, we love getting kids involved! Thank you, Emilio and Kai, for being bold and stepping up to the piano! Great job. Another highlight of the day was when we welcomed newcomer Sophie to the Hangout! Sophie had been sitting and listening for a bit, and, after some encouragement, came around to join in the singing! Love it. Welcome! Hope to you see you all again at future hangouts. The sun was getting low in the sky and we were all quite chilly by the time we packed up at 4:30. We tucked into some hot and crispy empanadas which were perfect to warm us up. All in all CMH #39 was another great day of making public music with any and all comers. We’ll be back at the usual spot for CMH #40 on Sunday, December 17th from 11:30 – at least 2:30. Also, it’ll be my birthday!