WorlView 4.0 Pac NW tour part 2

Well, well.....Saturday we played at the Crossroads Bellevue and we saw more friends there. Jed Rodriguey from our days together with the 49er big band and the "Hooters From Hell" tour to London, England came by and his first word that arrived from his mouth was "Hooters". I knew it was him..... Frank Grijalva and Ron Howard from my days with the SF chapter of the McDonalds All City Jazz Band from 1985 fell by. Frank teaches in Bellevue at a private school and Ron is currently selling real estate but is rapidly reigniting his trumpet career as we speak. Jim and Kemi Norton as well as a few more family members came by and afterwards Kemi and Jim took the band out to dinner (thanks you two, it was delicious!!!). Matt Beasley who turned 40 years old today(5/31) at 10:30pm met up with us and from there we caravaned up to Bellingham. Farren and I dropped the guys off at their hotel and we landed at our dear friend Sharmon's pad and went to a party at her ex hubbys place. We had a fun time and much fine wine was consumed and then it was time to crash for tomorrow was a big day. Sunday, we gathered up the cats and had a fine breakfast at a restaurant next to Tony's coffee house and afterwards we hung out at Sharmons pad till the hit. We were playing at the Lucia Douglas Gallery, a small and intimate venue and after 2 days gigging, the band was on fire!!! That first set rivaled any gig I have ever played. We had such a blast playing & the audience knew it. They were a very hip crowd. Except for the ballroom dancer guy who told me our version of Visita Social was a samba and not a cha cha as I related to the crowd. Sometimes, people feel that it's important to give their "professional" opinion to us musicians as if we don't know our own material...I hope my smile and head nod was enough to appease you. Otherwise give me a call and I'll tell you what I really thought of your (for the lack of a better word) ignorant comment 650-740-7004. This was the only negative vibe I got the whole weekend from anyone. After the gig, Judd (the promoter for the Jazz Project) took us out to dinner at the Mambo Italiano. That place never disappointed me and is still one of my favorite places to chill and grind (Hawaiian for eating). A couple of hours later we packed it up and made our way back to Seattle where the cats flew out the next morning. Farren and I took back the rental van after we dropped off the equiptment and I left late that afternoon. Overall it was one of the greatest experiences I ever had. I want to thank Farren, Sharmon, Jim and Kemi Norton, Shelly Devlin, Kim Clarke, Matt Beasley, K-Dogg, Bob the sound guy at Crossroads Bellevue for doing an absolute bang up job with the PA, Mark from the Upstage for having us, Judd Sherwood for having us at the Lucia Douglas Gallery and anyone else who helped make this a happening and eventful weekend. We'll be back in November so look for us then.