Monday I had a great jam with my friend and former co-worker Jason at his studio in Oakland. He plays drums and we've been talking about getting together to play for weeks, and finally made it happen. I brought my music, borrowed his friend's bass and mic, and played and sang through just about everything I've learned. Jason particularly liked "Let's Get Together" by the Youngbloods, and he and his friend who tagged along both praised my singing voice. I promised I'd try to learn songs that Jason already knows too. We're going to try to get together to play again this Wednesday.
Tuesday I had a date with a guy I met recently on OKCupid, which I think went well. It was nice to dine at the Berkeley branch of Herbivore since I haven't been there before, and I waxed nostalgic over the various places downtown and on campus I used to frequent. I should really come to Berkeley more often now that I have the time...
Wednesday
boyziggy and I went with mike20 and his friend to see Robyn Hitchcock at the Great American Music Hall. This was a last minute invite and I wasn't sure I wanted to spend the money as I'm not familiar with his work, but it was a great performance and a fun evening. He and two fellow musicians (one of whom was quite versatile, playing at least four different instruments) performed most of the songs from the album I Often Dream of Trains, and a few others.Thursday I spent the afternoon with
euneeblic, walking around Shoreline Park in Mountain View. It was an absolutely gorgeous sunny day. I brought my good camera and took a lot of photos, but I'm afraid very few came out well; I haven't processed or posted any yet. We did much enjoy watching pelicans dive into the water; one landed just a few yards from where we were sitting.Today (Friday) I had a nice lunch, walk, and conversation with
jeremyrandall, on another absolutely gorgeous sunny day. It's weird and wonderful wearing shorts in November. Tonight I was going to go to another concert but was tired and hadn't done my assignment for tomorrow's bass lesson yet, so opted to stay home. I was procrastinating on the assignment because it was to write a 16 bar song, basically, and I didn't feel inspired to do so. I finally forced myself to come up with something this evening, and was impressed that I was able to write it out longhand fairly accurately without checking my work on the keyboard. Steve had asked me to do it this way, and it was easier than I thought, though I did use a fairly simple (and not particularly interesting) melody.Tomorrow's the protest at City Hall, followed by my bass lesson and then karaoke at the Mint. Looking forward to a sunny, pleasant weekend.
