May I gloat? Who likes acoustic folks and country music?

[GregD]

I just got home from the most amazing evening. A friend from KPFA invited us to her friend's home for a holiday party. The invitation said bring eats, and an instrument if you play.

We had to do the family dinner thing first, so we pulled up to the party just before 10, praying it would not be too late. I already missed her graduation party in Tilden Park (Oakland) last summer, and I did not want to miss this one. We could see folks moving around, so we headed in.

There were about 75 people, most of them musicians. In each of 4 rooms there were jambs going on. Guitars, mandolins, fiddles and banjos. Even a couple upright bass players. I've rarely seen so many instruments in one place, much less most of them being played simultaneously. In one room there were 2 peddle steel guitars accompaning some incredible players and singers.

If any of you Bay Area folks have been to the Berkeley Free Folk Festival at Ashkenaz, I recognized many of the players from that and other such local events.

Highlight of the night was when Laurie Lewis pulled out her fiddle, and surrounded by several other players started belting out song after song, while we sat on the sofa 5 feet away and just simply delighted in it all.

One of the best evenings of music I have ever ever enjoyed.