Impromptu gazebo jam

SATURDAY ABOUT 3 p.m., I received a message from Paul Wood, the awesome percussion player in the band Seven Days Fuller. He wanted to jam in the Washington Park gazebo, across the street from the store, at 6:30.

I thought about it for a while. Sheryl and I are usually wiped out by 6 Saturday, when we close the store. We had a great weekend and if I'm not playing with The Cheeseburgers or Pepper Spray or whatever thing is going on, we like to go home and chill.

But I was intrigued by Paul's offer, so I went to the park about 7. It was a beautiful spring evening, 70 degrees, the sun setting over the river and the promise of summer in the air.

Paul and his wife, Jackie, were hanging out in the gazebo. A few more people stopped by. Then young bucks Collin Felter and Liz Bentley arrived. Then the crazy and funny A.J. showed up. Then Lenny and Tricia Bart, who were on a bike ride, stopped to hang out and Lenny started banging on the bongos.

Just chillin' and jammin' in the park .... (photo by Tricia Bart)

Pretty soon we were making an unholy racket and having waaaaaayyyyy more fun than you should be allowed. I don't think I've ever seen anything as cool as Collin playing Jimmy Hendrix's "The Wind Cried Mary."

People came by to watch. One gal who lives in the nearby Lincoln-Douglas apartment building was very kind. "I thought I was listening to a record, but it was you!" she said. We apologized for the noise. "Honey, don't worry about it," she said. "Most of us over there can't hear you, anyway."

Nearly three hours later, fingers blistered and barking, we called it a night. What. Great. FUN!

Thank you Paul for thinking of me. We'll do it again. And I've crossed off another bucket list item - playing in Washington Park!