damnedest things happen sometimes when

damnedest things happen sometimes when you turn your back on want and woe. both of the music ensembles i’m in are going through a bit of turmoil.. blah blah etc. you know where to reach me if you want the details- this isn’t the interesting part of the story. ;)

at a gig some time ago i met another accordionist, who told me about an eastern european session that goes on at a pizza place in SE portland. a week ago, i coincidentally received an email from an old friend whom i had intended to email soon (i hadn’t spoken with him since before steph and i broke up, so we had a bit of catching up to do!), and he mentioned again this session-at-a-pizza-place.. because his girlfriend dances all manner of balkan folk dances! so..

tonight after rehearsal ended (it ended early due to aforementioned turmoil) i started to head home, but decided instead to take a meander over that way. found the session, did not see my old friend..so i called him up and we agreed to meet up. so far so good.

while i was waiting for my friend, watching the musicians intently, one of the women who had been dancing came and sat down at my table and introduced herself! (???) she asked me who i was.. and i gave her a very, very brief “intro to steve’s world” - getting as far as ” .. and i play the fiddle and accordion in an eastern european-” when she cut me off! “you play the fiddle? bring it in!”

so i did!

she then introduced me to dennis, the leader of the session, who was playing a gadulka, who explained that they’d just lost their fiddler and would i like to play along, here is the music.. and would i like to come back again!!

would i ever, i told him!

i only played for one and a half songs before my friend arrived (and i could gracefully bow out, tee hee), and we caught up on old times, and when i finally got around to leaving, they had given me three sheets of tunes and insisted that i come back again .. to be a regular fiddler!

—

i recently received a fortune cookie which neatly summed up the last month of near-nonstop turmoil and upset-to-the-status-quo in my life:

Be prepared to modify your plan.

most days anymore, i have no idea when i wake up what to expect the night may bring.

(another by-the-way: i’m suddenly taking drumming lessons now, too!)