Hi there! Miss us?

Yep, we had a week away while I saw amazing films at Fantastic Fest, a cool genre festival at the Alamo South Lamar and Jeff focused on his webcomics (NSFW) and drawing.

But Monday night we came roaring back! We played our second engagement at Billy's open mic at Conan's Pizza at Stassney and Manchaca first. We showed up a lot earlier this time, and the place was a lot less crowded, but Billy was incredibly welcoming and a friend who hadn't seen us before was there to grin and cheer us on. We played Sylvia, Potential, Heartbreaker, and Panic. We played them better than last time, and the small crowd was appreciative. Again, being surrounded by so many plants that we couldn't see some of the audience was surreal, but we dig this surreality.

Then, after listening to the gentle jammer who played after us, we headed off to the legendary Ham Jam, a gathering of Austin musicians only - all players, no audience (except for girlfriends and the like or something). We got there and were immediately intimidated by the amazing chops of the jazz folks jamming upstairs. I found solace drinking wine with Greg Klyma for a while, but I finally went up to check things out.

There I found a group of folks playing Django-style jazz. I whipped out my tin whistle to join in while they were in "D." I played the whole song quietly, away from everyone till my fingers loosed up. Then, once I had the confidence to join in, they started another song. In C sharp. That was the last song in "D" I heard all night. Fine. I put away my tin whistle and whipped out my kazoo. I played low drones like I'd heard saxes do when they're trying to blend in. Suddenly, Albanie called on me to solo. And it went great! I had a terrific time and even took it around again. Wow, what a rush! Everyone enjoyed it, too. I felt no pity or back-pats for the guy trying to play a kazoo with the "real" musicians. So I played along for a few more songs, getting into the music like I never have before.

Parched, I headed downstairs for some water and more wine. Satisfied, I headed outside with Meaux Jeaux, a great bassist, and Flash, the dobro player. We hung out, and soon were joined by Slim Richey, Jane Bond, and Sick, some of the best jazz players I know. I stayed put and played along low with my kazoo. Sick, that big sweetie, made eyes at me to jump in, but someone else beat me to it. Then, Flash nodded that it was my turn. I kazoo'ed my heart out, and low and behold, they liked it. I even sat in for another song with those venerable folks. I gotta say, that blew my mind. Sitting in and soloing with folks like Slim, whom I've been going to see since 1991, and getting respect at the end. It was beautiful.

And I was out of breath. Again I rested, then played along with a county jam upstairs so rambunctious I could barely be heard. Then I found out where Jeff had gotten to. He was playing bossa nova with some cool cats in the same place I started out. After a few numbers, Jeff asked them to play along while we did "Potential." It was so beautiful to have so many talented players playing on our song. We decided to leave off the end bit to not blow the bossa nova vibe, and headed home.

I was exhausted at work the next morning, but I'll never forget the nigh.

See you soon,
reed