This was the gig Max had actually asked me to play before September’s mission materialized, so this gig’s been on the calendar at least since… August? You’d think given the amount of time I’d be supererogatorily prepared. You’d think that!

Our last gig was followed the very next day by a set with Roger’s then-unnamed band (subsequently christened Super Mid), two gigs bookended by recording sessions for new albums from Executioner’s Mask and Nathan Hubbard’s Territory Games which left my brain swimming with some forty or fifty new tunes to keep straight. I was looking forward to this gig for the opportunity to put in some serious rehearsal time and just focus on the music at hand. Well, things have a funny way of playing out.

Back in June, Nathan assembled an ad hoc recording session for the two of us in a trio with LA cornetist Dan Clucas, and a couple hours later we had nine freaky little tunes tracked in a Naked City/Lounge Lizards vein. I didn’t hear much about the recording after that and assumed it was one for the vault, until Nathan asked if we could play the venerable Vernacular New Music series in Sunland on the 17th. (On the off chance you’re reading this the day it’s published and happen to be in LA tonight: pull up!) So then it was time to pick up those nine tunes again, plus three new ones Dan and Nathan had written in the meantime. Then Nathan booked the Territory Games band to play that record in its entirety at the Jazz Lounge on Saturday (pull up there, too!) and then Roger asked if I could play guitar for him at Aztlan Libre (and there!) in the afternoon on the same day.

At least we had rehearsal, right?

Some big areal flood has been threatening the west coast since last week, and given the fact Panama 66 is fully outdoors there was a strong likelihood the gig would be rained out, so we canceled last week’s rehearsal. Thankfully most of the tunes on the setlist were held over from the last time I played with the band, so I wasn’t too worried on that front.

Anyway, I’ve got basically nothing to report on this gig as far as the actual playing. That’s a good thing! Everyone showed up on time and barring a slight drizzle and a couple chart issues we blazed through two sets without incident. Hannah brought a bunch of her friends, her parents made it out and even my mom showed up to see me play for the first time in a decade since Those Darn Gnomes played Soma.

Last time I played with Sandpiper was in an ersatz quintet with Max and TC the only regular band members and subs on every other instrument. This time we played as an octet with most of the band’s regular lineup, barring myself and the violin. Everyone in this band rips on their respective instruments (and occasionally on each other’s) and sitting in with them has been a joy. Sandpiper holds residencies at Panama 66, the Riviera Supper Club and now Blind Lady Alehouse. If their regular guitarist ever ends up in a mysterious accident, I swear it wasn’t me.