Jammin' with the locals

It is close to midnight, there are about only 30 people in the bar and I'm
getting my arse kicked in pool by a guy in a wheelchair.

I put this down to the fact that he's more relaxed as he gets to play the
whole game sitting down. I try to ignore that he has had a lot more
Guinness than I have.

But at least I'm getting a life, as I have been for the last year.

I moved apartments, stopped traveling so much. Got out of the house most
nights and realised that I just didn't have the same time nor motivation
to write the way I used to.

I think this is a good thing.

So here I am, out on a weekday night in a local bar in my home town
losing badly and enjoying myself. I'm drinking with the Sushi chef from
across the road because he told me that the drinks were cheap (mostly)
and the band rocked, which they do, And he occasionally plays bass.

This is what I like about San Francisco. This is a city where everyone
plays music. I've been to places where even the the most complete stoner
still got his 45 minutes of fame, even after playing a good 12 bars of one
number before he realised he was in the wrong key.

"Sorry dudes, I forgot what key that one was in."

This is also the kind of city where, while I'm watching this band play,
the guitarist stops and hands his guitar to someone else at the bar. That
person just picks up and keeps playing the same riff with perfect timing
and clarity.

It would be one thing if they were playing smoke on the water, but they
were jamming out some random blues funky thing that you either got or
you didn't. These guys did.

"Is it always like this ?" I asked my chef.

"No, sometimes he hands him the trumpet"

Of course, thanks to a city that spawned the tech boom, I'm also able to
go over to a guy in the corner who has a laptop and stack of blank CD's
and get a copy of the entire set at the end of the evening.

In this town, there are no big shows here, no headliners. Even some of
the biggest, popular venues only hold a few hundred people. This is a
city that overwhelms you with choices of music. Anything you want, any
night of the week.

Everyone gets ten feet of stage and an up close audience.

Why stay at home ?