Tonight was an amazing night, where a very important, wonderful, awesome, and wished-for connection was finally made in my musical life!!!  But wait, I must start at the beginning.

At the grand opening of the Happy Healthy High Horny Herb Shop, I was fortunate enough to play music with the amazing Greg Vaughan (the Wizard.) It was lots of fun, almost a year ago…maybe October of 2010.  It was a small shop on Santa Monica in Ocean Beach, and Greg and I could barely play SOFT enough to set the mood and the vibe of the grand opening.  Lots of fun, magical potions, and my first taste of Damiana Tea.

THEN the Happy Healthy High Horny Herb shop outgrew its small shop, and moved into a much larger space on Newport Avenue in Ocean Beach.  When they wanted to have a GRAND RE-OPENING, Greg and I were called to service once more.  Greg invited Jose to come play congas with us, and I figured in the larger space a fuller sound would not overpower people talking to one another.  If Gabriel had not been stuck in a border line coming back from Mexico, he would have joined us on percussion too.

On the event page, I noticed Matt, Brother Orphic, wanted to stop in towards the end of our set and sit in on accordion.  I was pensive because I wasn’t sure how that would go over and if it would work with the vibe….we were going to go with it!  PEACE AND LOVE BROTHER ORPHIC!!!

So Greg, Jose, and I start to play.  Greg has a new chair he can sit on, making it really easy for him to switch guitars between 12 string, 6 string, and various acoustic instruments.  He and I both plugged in to our amps, and the sound between the violin and guitar with the congas was a really even blend.  Everyone was loving it!

Adelaide was there as well, doing LIVE PAINTING in the corner!  It was beautiful, and she worked on a picture of a harlequin throughout the night.

Brother Orphic arrives, and so we continue our jam and include the accordion.  It’s getting towards the end of our set.  Greg finally starts standing while playing, which means lots more jumping around and animated faces with the audience.  We were getting them to sing along with us.

Then Greg leans over and says, “Do you know what’s about to happen right now???”

I look up, and I see MELISSA BARRISON, the Red Foxx, WITH HER VIOLIN!!!! We had just started playing “Nomads.” which is one of the gypsy tunes in 6/8 that lends to some really fun improvisation.  THEN WE HAD TWO VIOLINS PLAYING ON NOMADS!!!! Plus the guitar, the accordion, and the congas.  (Greg wasn’t singing because the PA was with Gabriel, who had used it in a gig in Mexico, which little birdies told me went AWESOMELY AWESOME.)

Back to the violin-gasms.

EVERYONE LOVED THE TWO VIOLINS!!! I loved it so much.  I had been wishing and thinking that Melissa should play on some of our songs that we play pretty often.  We could make up duet parts with the different parts of the orchestration.  And then BAM there we were, improvising on the song, and it was just…so…how can I describe?  It was like birds in flight in sound.  The audience went WILD!!!!

It was such a spontaneously perfect connection, between all of us musicians, the artists, guests, and everyone who works at the Happy Healthy High Horny Herb shop.  The perfect ending to the perfect moment, and a wish come true for me.  And I love it because it’s the beginning of so many beautiful moments!!!!

Oh just wait and see what happens next in these chapters.  Sharing moments and music with each other heightens and inspires us, and it’s a chain reaction!

Thank you, Melissa and Greg and Jose and Matt and everyone at the Happy Healthy High Horny Herb shop!!!  That was spectacularly beautiful and inspiring, and I am excited to share more music and moments like these.

Next time we need our Leilainia and Gabriel and Sandy to complete the picture!!!!  🙂  🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂