Daylight savings time threw things off a bit this week. I got a late start after being used to telling the time by the light level. I headed out of my place at 8:20 p.m., after loading a P.A. and all my drum gear. Despite that, I was still ready for downbeat at 9:10 p.m. One problem though...Robbie and Alan weren't there. About 9:20 Alan strolled in with the same excuse as me (in his case, it was a unattended clock at his girlfriend's house). I called Robbie at 9:25, and he was "just heading out the door," after a late guitar lesson caught him off his schedule. We were finally actually playing at a quarter to ten. The lateness didn't really affect anything, though, since people didn't start arriving until 10 p.m. By 11:30, there was a nice-sized little crowd of about 20.

Robbie has been on a jazzy kick lately, and with Alan Hunter on stand-up acoustic bass, we were a regular blues-jazz machine. Robbie always amazes me with his versatility and awesome chops, showing a part of his repertoire I hadn't seen after not playing with him for four years. Leaning strongly toward the rockabilly end of things, Robbie also effortlessly pulled off customized tributes to T-Bone Walker and Hollywood Fats. The combination of 6'7" Alan on the full-sized standup on one side of the stage and the leprechan-sized Robbie on the other was a dramatic contrast. We joked it was the "Hopper's Vortex," since Robbie and Alan were actually the same size...

Robbie invited a couple of guests up to do their thing. Zacharius, the harp-playing singer/songwriter and infamous street musician stood up for a couple of numbers. Robbie's guitarist friend Reed Anderson, bopped along on a couple, and a slightly tentative but cute Megan James sang about four songs.

The good-natured, relaxed crowd hung in there till about 1:20 a.m. We played till about 1:45 a.m. to make up for the late start, and everybody was happy.

Hope to see you down at Hopper's next Tuesday night, as I rock with J.R. Sims!

Boyd