On Sunday, June 9th, the Community Music Hangout gathered for the 60th edition of the Hang. As always, it was a thrill to reach another round number milestone. Here’s to the next 60! It’s been 60 afternoons in the park, making friends, bringing people together, encouraging folks to take musical chances, and putting smiles on faces. That’s basically two solid months of Hangouts! I love putting it in those terms. All told, we’ve probably spent 200 hours hanging out, and I can’t wait to spend 200 more. I wonder what will happen! Who can say. What I can say, however, is what happened at CMH #60. We gathered under a smattering of low clouds, scudding their away seemingly just above the treetops. We had a pleasant mix of sun and clouds; the day was cool at times, but never cold. When I rolled up to the piano, my buddy Ted and his dog Rufus were already in attendance. Ted would hold down the bass fiddle all day. I hadn’t jammed with Ted since, gosh, High Sierra music festival in … 2018? Good grief. Great playing with ya, dude! Early on, we had a young fella named Samuel who was out on a bike ride with his father. He stepped up to the piano to play a Spy tune for us. Rockin. Great job! Moments later, we had Allegra take a pause from walking her toddler around in front of the piano (we love those baby steps!) to jump on the mic and sing a couple with us. Wonderful stuff. Great job! Thank you for joining the party. Next up, Phil came strolling up to the piano. I recently learned that Phil got engaged to a lovely woman named Claudia and I would like to congratulate them on the engagement! Congratulations, you two! Phil also took the mic for the first time at a music hangout and sang a great rendition of “My Way”. Awesome. Keep it up, dude! Then, I looked up from the piano and saw Zach rolling up to the hangout with his drums on a longboard, if you can believe it! I thought that was a pretty amazing way to move a drum set around. I wonder how often that has been attempted before? He may have been the first in the world to pull off such a stunt. Great to play with you again, Zach. It was most excellent having a full rhythm section with Ted and Zach on hand! And then Josh rocked up with his trumpet. Always good to see that dude, and he always plays fabulously. Then, Annelise biked up to the piano. Excellent! She sang a few numbers and we were all glad for it because she sings wonderfully. Great to see you again! We were really rolling along by this point. The vibes were immaculate and the hours were just melting away. And then Brian biked up to join us and we hit another level. A little while later, Edward biked up. Edward is one of the first people I met when I started going out to the piano around 18 months ago. I’m always glad to see that fella and he played some Chopin for us. Thank you for sharing with us! And then Jamie and his crew of friends rolled up to the piano. Good to see all of you! Jamie played and sang a couple of numbers, with the highlight definitely being the Britney Spears song. Good stuff! And then Nina showed up to the piano again, and she brought her cello! What an awesome development that was. Great to see you again! Lovely playing. To follow that up, we had a youngster named Otis step up and play for us. Great job, young man. Keep up the good work! Last, but definitely not least, we saw Chloe again this week. It was a delight to have the full rhythm section this time to fully bring her songs to life. Check out a few videos below. Super fun backing her up, I hope to see here again at the Hangout soon!

It was nearly 4pm by the time I wrenched myself away from the piano. CMH #60 was, once again, a fabulous way to spend 4+ hours out of doors, with friends new and old, playing whatever with whomever. Thank you to everyone who took part. Onward towards 60 more Music Hangouts (and beyond?). We’ll see you next for CMH #61 which will be at Sunset Mercantile’s Second Hand Saturdays – 37th & Ortega from 12 – 2 with a hard stop at 2.