Which Direction Do I Go?

Today was filled with so many choices and possibilities...I had no idea which way to turn. I woke up late because I didn't get home until 3:00 a.m. I guess it serves me right for deciding to go to Woodham's, my old hangout place I rarely go to these days. The ukulele has pretty much taken over my life, and definitely will continue to. But today I took a break from the ukulele. Last night, I have to admit there was a ukulele involved. The evening began innocently enough -- with an office party at one of our attorney's homes...it was a lovely party where people serve you drinks at the door, totally catered. We all felt so pampered -- It was like being in one of those surreal TV shows with cocktail parties. A band of four guys who looked kinda of bored played "soft jazz" music out in the yard on the grass behind the "open bar." It wasn't even the good, exciting type of jazz but it almost reminded me of "elevator music." Of course the music added to the ambience -- a little bit. The bartender was much more interesting. He made me a drink he called a "Daisy." He talked about how margaritas back in the day were not like the ones you see now, those huge blended drinks in giant glasses with decorations on them. No, they used to be "light," a shot of good tequila (Petron) with a dash of sweet and sour and grenadine and I think there was something else too, but I don't remember what it was. 

So I sipped on the drinks and socialized, attempting to "mingle" with my coworkers. I love my coworkers, don't get me wrong but mingling with them at parties isn't always easy -- except for my closer friends. I felt "happy" for a while...we ate lovely food and I sat at a table with my friends and ended up having a good time in spite of the band. Then I attended a singalong jam that apparently has been happening for many years at this one guy's house. I had to find the house on a very dark street in Los Altos but the steps were all lit up...walking up the steps was like walking through a light tunnel, but the house and everyone in it was warm and inviting...most people just sang songs reading the lyrics from these songbooks...my friend Bruce played keyboard and guitar...he was the best musician in the room. I met him because he runs a new meetup group called Eat, Drink and Sing -- he had just moved to San Francisco and wanted to start a new group. I played my ukulele! we sang Beatles songs and other cool songs that I liked and then I headed off to my old hangout place I hadn't been to in ages, Woodham's, where I ran into my friends Larry and his band After Sunset...the minute I walked in, Larry and the band started playing Twist and Shout...SOOO COOL!!! I saw people I hadn't seen in ages and at 1am we were all still dancing and singing... 

So yeah I slept in Saturday -- but there was soo much to do and no way to figure out what. I felt almost immobilized as I dragged myself into the shower at noon and attempted to sort it all out in my head... Okay, there's the Beatles "Sing" at the Chit Chat Cafe in Pacifica right by the ocean. That starts at 2pm... I could possibly zip over there, but what about the Los Altos Art & Wine Festival where two of my favorite local bands were playing, Blue House and the Megatones??? that also began at 2pm... 

Not to mention the evening where things really got sticky...the KihnCert at the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View promised a good time with the likes of Pat Benetar and Steve Miller Band!! and I could've probably gotten a relatively cheap ticket. An awesome ukulele player, Brittini Paiva, was playing at my beloved strum shop all the way up in Roseville, CA where I won my Nalu ukulele... do I make the trek? THEN, to top everything off, my friends invited me to the Corn Festival in Brentwood to hang out and AC/D-SHE and Pablo Cruise, among others...! I'd never been to the Corn Festival, yet I'd been to plenty of Art & Wine Festivals and knew what they were like. 

the day progressed yet I still sat at home...dealing with daughter Megan who was visiting for a "short time" between her crazy, mixed up dramatic life as an almost 20-year-old... I hung out with Baby Jeremiah for a while thinking, okay if I don't do something, I won't do ANYTHING>..

by 5pm, I knew my choices were becoming more limited -- the Corn Festival it is! So I got in my car and headed towards Brentwood, a town I'd never even been to before driving on a 2 lane road for about 16 miles right past those weird, windmill looking things you only see in the distance from the freeway, but now they were practically right in front of me as I drove over the hill...it was dry and dusty out there, not damp like the coastal drive. I listened to my GPS and also tried to read the piece of paper I'd printed out since I had no idea where the heck I was going and Brentwood seemed like a small town. When I finally found the Corn Fest parking area, I couldn't believe it cost money to park  -- what can you do. It was so dusty and dry out there that at first I wondered if I'd even made the right decision to go out there...reminded me too much of Porterville, that weird, dusty town in the middle of nowhere I'd lived at for one year ten months and five days.

But here I was, and it was a little after 6pm. The AC/D-SHE band probably just started and I'd already missed the Groove Kings. It was hot, but not humid...got my ticket to get into what looked like a giant carnival having to do with corn and walked into the dusty area...had to get tokens just to get cold water, heard a country western band sing a Ringo Starr song..."They're gonna put me in the movies...they're gonna make a big star out of me!" I felt bad because hardly anyone stood in front of the stage...I knew that wasn't the stage I was supposed to meet my friends at -- it was, I was told, on the other end of the festival. I had to walk through a carnival area, almost getting run over by exciting kids a couple of times, and then I could hear the unmistakable AC/DC music played by the all female band, AC-D-she...and wow, they rocked! Found the stage...filled with people all over the place and there were even bleachers filled with more people...how does one find anyone here, I thought? I started rocking to the music with people I didn't know and then my good friend Michael tapped me on the shoulder and pointed up to the very top of one of the bleachers where his wife MoJo waved with her one good hand...she broke her other hand. they were my friends who told me about this event or I'd never have any idea...so I followed Michael up to the very top of the bleachers where it was shady and much cooler...and we had a perfect view of the band playing and the sound was fabulous because we sat right in between the massive speakers on each side of the stage...the dude on the equalizer machine or whatever it's called just a little to the left of us... and we could stand as much as wanted because no one was behind us...it was perfect!

When the band broke into Highway to Hell, the three of us, me, Michael and Mojo, stood up and sang along at the tops of our lungs, soo much fun. Mojo was right...this band was fabulous...playing all of our fave rock AC/DC hits from the earlier days of Bon Scott. In fact, the lead singer introduced herself as "Bonnie Scott!"

It became darker and cooler and the entire festival was alive with lights, so beautiful! Pablo Cruise was cool...ended with their most popular hit. We stood at the top of the bleachers with smells of cotton candy and roasted corn wafting through the air...kids screaming on the rides and all the lights...reminding me of days from the past when my kids would have been the ones running around the carnival...Mojo's 9-year-old grandson Adam was having a blast with their friend's son... some day baby Jeremiah will be that age and everything will happen all over again...

we trudged through the carnival at 10pm and I picked up a huge bag of fresh corn for $2.00...and a band on the other side still played "With a Little Help From My Friends" and a few people milled about... hmm...they didn't sound too bad either.

So I missed the KihnCert, sadly, and I missed some of my bands play...but at least I got to experience the Corn Festival!