how things go...

**written jan 17, saturday. sitting in a window seat at urth cafe, santa monica. for the record: cappuccino and tortilla soup. :) *

again, the fruit of making no plans is a chance encounter. this time with dear friends not seen for too long.
whenever i have these random meet ups i think about all the decisions that could have resulted in our missing one another. tonight, it was right down to turning left, not right, after crossing the street.
there they were: emil, moe, amy, kirby and baby kate!
i've had one chance meet up with moe before: outside the arclight cinema in h'wood. when i lived on the west side, we used to live in the same neighborhood. seeing each other on the street wasn't so rare, and was always a treat.
just two weeks ago i ran into my friends sue & craig at a dave rawlings machine show @ largo. for MONTHS sue has been dilligently trying to meet me for lunch or something. (i'll be seeing them next weekend when i attend their baby shower! *crazy exciting this!*)
when i have these unexpected friend sightings, i realize i am a lucky bastard. those who know me, are familiar with my reluctance to make plans. that these people who mean so much to me just happen to be on the same street, at the same show...

these chance meetings remind me of vinnie. she's my oldest friend. whenever we were within a certain range of the other we would cross paths: bumping to each other @ the tapestry & talent fair, she & loretta driving down guadalupe expwy. when i was sitting there, on the hood of my car which was stuck in the mud, her walking across my blanket at a grateful dead show in monterey (i didn't even know she listened to the dead!)...
this doesn't happen to us anymore. i live in california, she in oklahoma. but i think about her a lot. she is on my mind. i wonder if we're doing the same "running into one another thing" but long distance, in thought.

it's what the kids call a barn burner!

**ok, so this isn't a letter. but i just got home from this fantastic fun night and wanted to add it to the page.**

worked a little late tonight *cough* but managed to get to the old crow medicine show only about 10 min late. they were playing two sets with no opener. i passed up the bar to get down on the floor. the place was packed and people were dancing. a lot! lots of whoops and hollers from all around. this crowd did not need any warm up time.

this band ripped it up! i danced my socks off and sang along. boy howdy.

here is the bonus bit: during the second set david rawlings came out to play with ocms. "wagon wheel" --> "tell it to me" --> "cc rider" --> two more songs i can't remember. holy cats.

then. for an encore: david, gillian welch and jakob dylan joined the band for "the weight." man alive, the whole room was singing. wonderful!

additional, side bonus: i was wearing a gillian welch tour shirt that doesn't have her name on it. it's a cool shirt, i get compliments on it, but no one has ever recognized it as a g.w. shirt. tonight 2 people at this show commented on it and one man said, "you must have been stoked tonight!"

yep!

fun facts from tonight:
--i made a friend! met another woman during the set break. we shared some hollers and high fives and looks of "hell yes!" when ocms pulled out some amazing songs.

--met a couple from tennessee who'd just moved to los angeles. they'd seen the band several times back in tn and were excited to their guys in their new town.

--the guy next to me dropped his full beer getting quite a bit of it on my arm, shirt and right shoe. i danced in a beer puddle the rest of the night. somehow, it seemed kind of fitting. :)