This past weekend made it my fifth year playing the Vintner’s Festival up at Roudon-Smith Winery in Scotts Valley. Where does the time go? (Hey, great idea for a song…wait, I’ve already done that.) Hard to believe that it was just a few years back that it was me and my “band” at the time (Greg Scott on bass) doing the few original songs I had under my belt. It’s since evolved into a little two-day music festival, where I not only get to play but also organize the thing and host it.

These days, it’s a full-band (me, Greg Scott, Aaron Bagchee on lead guitar, and Darren Walker on drums and percussion), and we did a 90-minute set both days. Wrapped around that were local favorite songwriters like Sherry Austin, Dulcimer Girls, and Alisa Fineman and Kimball Hurd. We were also treated to cover tunes from Rob Hastings and the acoustic duo Harry and Joe. Sunday was particularly special when Hawk, one of our dearest friends – and in big part the reason I can sing and play guitar – treated us to a mini-set of three originals:

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All that, plus two days of perfect weather, great friends, and of course wine. It just again reminds you that life certainly does not suck. Especially on days like this.

We’ll be back at Roudon-Smith on October 24th and 25th, to do this all again for their annual Post-Harvest Party – another event I’ve been fortunate enough to rope myself into putting together. In the meantime we’re gearing up for our big show at Don Quixote’s Music Hall next Thursday, 6/18. Details to all of these are on my Shows page.