Nice Way to Welcome the Year; 2 good sets

So, because I have a tire with a slow leak, and because I despise roadblocks, even if I have nothing to hide, as far as I know.  The party was in the vicinity of roadblockland.  I ended up riding in with Kevin and Lauren, and out with Cliff and Linda.  Fiscal Cliff, I call him.

The party took up the bulk of the restaurant.  The back half is the main dining area, I guess.  Nice enough area for stage and such, and maybe 50 or 60 people.

[photos are bound to show up. I'll put one here to make the post look less boring.  There may be video. If I like it I'll post it]

The guy throwing the party scheduled a few different people to play.  He either gave them 15 or 30 min set.  Plus he had some of his old band mates in, so he and his crew played plenty.

We, the Coppercreek crew from Ballistic Mountain, played a thirty minute set.  Then played again for maybe twenty minutes or so.  Time flew, because I was having fun.

Prior to playing, my ears were plugged up and I could not hear well.  Someone gave me an allergy pill and it gave a little relief.  It was only an issue when I had to sing a verse of a song.  I adapted.

It was an appreciative crowd.  I didn't know the majority of people there, just a core group who play.  That is good because they only react if they like what the hear.  The usual musician crowd applauds for everyone.  It's California, we all get a prize.

They only ran the party from 6 pm to 10 pm.  After that some of us went to a lady's house and played until after two.   They had all the alcohol that you could want, but those driving pretty much refrained, and no one got psycho drunk.

I had no intention of being out so late.  I chose to go to that party because it is part of a long term strategy in my goal of mingling with non-hideous single women who may fall into the age envelope as I see it.  That is not an envelope made of iron or cement. It is highly elastic these days.

At any rate, it is very rare that I enjoy playing as much as I did last night playing with our mountain group.  We had a few people sit in the 2nd set who really did well.  Some of the video has to be good, assuming they got it all.  I think the party house lady and her pal have video of the who thing.

Everyone who played was on their game last night.   One note on the A harped choked, but I think I was able to slur it so that it sounded intentional.  Other than that, I'm not aware of landing on a note I didn't like.

You never know because it trying bluff your way out of trouble you can convince yourself in a nano second that you really did like it and that it was exactly what you wanted.  When I get to play some extended thing in those settings, it reminds me of when I was a kid playing football in the neighborhood.

The yards were good for it.   When I was between the age of 7 and 15, I loved nothing more than running with a football.  Started to go out for it and canned the idea for various reasons.

But the feeling of time changing pace, and of knowing where you are headed but not for sure how to get there.  And the process of navigating through a bunch of older bigger people becomes an artful moment.

Nothing ever gave me that feeling until I started playing at Somewhere Else Tavern way back when.  The hint of that was there or I wouldn't have played so much on my own and with a guitar player here and there.

So, that is why I still play; because, sometimes, it feels like running with the football, reacting before you even register it.  It's really a remarkable thing when you hit that zone.  Not something that is always achievable.  And it may not sound right or do a thing for anyone else.  That's the danger.

Most of the time people tend to like it when I like it, so I don't get banned from playing with others in pubic.  Please limit yourself to the meaning of "playing" in the context in which it was intended.
Thank you