You just never know where an evening’s gonna end up or how friends will connect you with other friends…
Last Sunday, me and my pals John Cirillo and Christian Raphael were playing our regular in-the-round gig at the Bayview Hotel in Aptos. Great crowd, gorgeous summer day on the coast, and always nice playing with friends.
I noticed a guy sitting in the back noodling on his guitar. I walked by during a break, and he said he really liked my SUV song. Said he thought he heard it on the radio. I told him unless he was in Reno last weekend and heard it over KTHX, that was doubtful. Then we introduced ourselves. I was talking to Will Strickland.
For anyone within earshot the Monterey Bay area and KPIG radio, the words “I got a hog call for ya baby” can only belong to one man. Will Strickland does many of KPIG’s signature ads and promos. These days he’s also on KSCO in the afternoons (4:30 pm) interviewing bands on their way through town.
So the connections: I told Will, “you probably heard my SUV song at Jimmy’s house”. (Jimmy Jackson produced my CD and is good friends with Strickland.)
More connections: I asked him, do you remember Roger Collins? (Roger’s married to my wife’s childhood friend Denise. They both live in Tahoe.) Strickland said, “Yeah, Roger’s one my best friends”.
I went back and finished my set. Will asked if he could play after us. He treated us to a 45-minute set of what he does best: Completely improvised songs. He did a nonstop medley of made-up rhythm and blues numbers based on whoever unsuspectedly walked out the backdoor of the restaurant. Just brilliant. (The rest of us were busy dancing and waving percussion instruments.)
It was just one of those magic nights. You never know where a gig will go. As much fun as I have making music, the real joy in the thing is the friends I keep making. And when you make new friends and you both have good friends in common, that’s just icing on the cake.