When I look back over the last couple of days I find it hard to express my love and appreciation to so many people. My family AND friends took such good care of me, and surrounded me with their affections, music and gifts. The music included a stop at the Visulite on Thurs. to catch Lost in the Trees - that 10 pc. rock orchestra headed by the velvet pipes of Ari Picker, balanced out by 2 cellos, 3 violins, tuba, accordian, trumpet, drums and guitars. This night we arrived early enough to spend time catching up with our friends from the Visulite, Allison and Chris, and ran into Jay and Jenn and Jon after the set. We had to rush off though and AGAIN missed The Alternative Champs. One day, hopefully.
The Muse was pretty busy when we arrived and Chris Smith/Sunshone Still put on another emotional whale of a set, which included our own Rodney Lanier on pedal steel. Whoa. Our friend Heather, hearing them for the first time, compared the music to more country-fied Nick Drake. That works. They managed to carry the crowd along with them on that slow, mournful road, and we were delightfully exhausted again at the end. Gorgeous job.
From there .. well it was after midnight and officially the 14th, (thank you Chris for the bd wish and song dedication from the stage!) so we were invited to celebrate across the street at the Sanctuary with friends. And we did. The owner Kevin decided it would be only fitting if he lined up everyone he could in the bar into a "reception" line, if you will. I didn't realize what was happening at first, until one by one I was being kissed and hug by a whole bunch of people .. men and women, one behind the other. It was a first in my lifetime, that's for certain. Extremely hysterical, but so very sweet as well. I'd give it all back to them again in a heartbeat! (I almost forgot to mention the "Laurie! Laurie" chant after all that!)
Our singer/songwriter friend Dylan Sneed played the Muse earlier on, and we had him as our overnight guest once again. We stopped to show him our other late-night favorite stop, Amelie's French Bakery. After a few cups of hot coffee, egg sandwiches and chocolate/sweet desserts for the men, we realized it was about 4 am and we should probably get home and get some rest.
The next morning I awoke again way too early at 7:30 am. But, I was looking forward to seeing what the day would hold. I got a few calls from friends, Dana and I spent a couple of quality hours together at the mall, came home to open presents and watch Baby Mama together. That is as long as we could keep our eyes open, which worked on and off for a while. I was happy, as always, to have that time together with her and sharing those moments. They get rarer and rarer.
I had no idea what I wanted to do the rest of the day, and poor Don was trying his hardest to find something/anything to please me. We then got a call from Jeff & Rhonda and they said they were headed to NoDa and invited us to meet them. I pretty much never pass up an opportunity to get together with these dear friends, since it doesn't happen too often. We met up with them, and Michele, Mark V. and Luke at Solstice for a few drinks, stories and laughs. Those couple of hours flew by, and before I knew it we were heading to the Muse for the Lovers and Covers show. I didn't think I'd make it, but it turned out the show was NOT what everyone expected from a Valentine's Day Lovers & Covers show w/members of the New Familiars and Reeve, Grey, et. al. It was pretty much a full-on The New Familiars high energized show, enhanced by Jason Atkins on keys, Grey Brewster on lead guitar and the beautiful voices of Reeve Coobs and Allison Modaferri! The room was packed and we ran into a lot more of our very dear, close friends (Nick, Johnny, Chris & Candy, Alex, Jeff & Champagne..more more more!), the chairs removed, and it was one big party for all of us. What a nice surprise, and needless to say I got my second wind. Everyone was having such a great time. And again, thank you to Josh, Justin, Eric-Scott, Pat & Daniel and all for the sweet comments and song for me. From there, a quick stop at The Sanctuary where we got to see Uncle Louie, Scott, Larry (who made me THE strongest drink ever! lol) meet more new friends and talk to Kevin and give him a proper thank you for the craziness from the night before. I'm SO blessed to have all of these beautiful people around me. What a very special couple of days. Thank you from the bottom of my heart..dear Don, my Mom, Dana, Chris and all these people I'm blessed to call friends.
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