When the music's over

OK, so I had a long week, alright. Besides physically taxing aikido sessions and djembe lessons, I taught Ashitanga yoga to my students for the first time. Six times. Rainy season is officially upon us, suddenly high humidity taxing muscles and drawing out fatigue. Plus I actually worked quite a bit, mindless hours bookended by commutes. So that's my excuse why I left the gig early.

Nami san came to town, as he does twice a year. The last time I'd seen him was three years ago, when I flicked a Guinness poptop as percussion, and Ken-chan tapped a metal cup arhythmically with a toothpick. Tonite, many of the figures who've appeared in previous posts were in attendance, making it akin to the final scene in The Wizard of Oz. (Pink Floyd optional.) It was a wicked set. Nami-san usually has two speeds: drunk, and therefore blazing through rock and blues numbers, or baked, all navel-gazing and ballady. Tonite he was all over the map. The livehouse was a new one, not much bigger than a parking space. Seriously, the stage took up half the club. When he's played bigger spaces (including my yoga studio, before it was such), there is the usual arm waving and foot shuffling that passes for dancing around here. All we could do tonite was sit on the floor and nod. Nami-san started out solo, then called a new person up for each song. Mii-chan looked cool swaying next to his stand up bass, plucking with eyes closed. I couldn't see Tim around the corner, but new sounds kept eminating from back there--mandolins, slide guitar, quiros, and maracas. I was gonna come up late in the second set. During one slow song, I went out to get nonalcoholic drink from a vending machine. On my return, I saw a few friends outside the club, on their way home. I was pretty wiped out myself, and practicality (my old nemesis) took charge. As the walls throbbed with a Japanese version of Psycho Killer, I biked toward the land of Nod.

(So why am I typing this the next morning at 7:30. Aaarrrrggghhh!)

On the turntable: Donovan, "Greatest Hits"