Still Life with Pumpkins and Elvis

Leave your gifts with the King. I couldn't help but crack up when I saw this, the gift table at our friends' wedding yesterday. It was a fun backyard shindig. The bride wore jeans. There were pumpkins everywhere, and homemade salsa from the garden. Jon and Teresa's backyard sits right on the banks of the Susquehanna, and they have the sort of garden I can only dream of, at the moment. It's huge. Long, wrinkled shell beans hang on their plants, squashes shine like gold dubloons among the leaves. I was all too happy to join the other guests in eating its exploits, drinking beer and making conversation among a comfortable, easy-going bunch.

Jon is the band's bassist. As such, all of the members of said band were in attendance, as well as some alumni. The predictable outcome of this situation was:

At some point, someone pulled the plug on the wedding music, rallied Band and Friends next door in the garage (their rehearsal space) opened the door, and dug in. Somehow this motley gang of guys was able to sound like they'd always played together. The cues were tacit, the solos were smokin'. There was a relaxed, enthusiastic crowd outside who knew all the words. It reminded me of why I love live music so much-- the chemistry, the energy, the sometimes just-barely-making-it immediacy of it all. You just can't get that from a CD. You can't even get it at a concert hall. Sometimes, you need to be sitting in a musty armchair drinking a cheap beer, watching your husband's band play a song they haven't done in five years, and hit every chord change, nail every verse.

Don't worry, tomorrow I'll be back to my regular scheduled topic: canning!