Three Track Party

:)

I haven't had this much fun in quite a while.

Five of us gathered Friday night in the party room of S's house, a friend of SQ's. Besides those guys and me, SQ's roomie (D) and S's friend (K) were there, too. Other than me, ages ranged from roughly mid-twenties to mid-thirties. But the musical tastes ranged further -
a *lot* further.

We listened to everything from rap to folk, classical to jazz. Obscurities from Bowie, The Doors, Jackie Wilson, and the Doobie Brothers. Classics from Vic Damone, Django Reinhart, Joni Mitchell and Beethoven. Plus modern stuff like The Postal Service and Sufjan Stevens, too. SQ even schlepped in his turntable so we could hear some tracks (like Damone) that he only had on vinyl.

The format was one track per person per round, in a sequence at least partly determined by rock/paper/scissors. You could either preface the track or follow it with comments. Some people told personal stories about why the song was meaningful, or suggested listening for this or that in the music. At some level, you connected the music to the person offering it.

K, the only female, was skeptical at first, and thought she might leave early, but after one round of music decided to stay. She was supposed to go out on a first date with some guy later that night, but she enjoyed it so much that she texted him to cancel. We toasted her good judgement with Leinie's and Red Stripe. ;)

But, girls, the secret's been revealed. :P We watched it happen. Now we all know that what we've always suspected is true - that what the girl says was the reason she couldn't make it... probably isn't.

"Car breakdown" was certainly easier to tell him than that she preferred sharing her appreciation of music with four men over beer, to drinking tea with only one. And a text message easily avoided the embarrassment of the sound of loud male voices and clinking glasses.

So naturally each of the guys began going back and rethinking every time that a girl told us that "something came up." Um, yeah. Right. It was really probably a better offer from another guy. Or for that matter... four guys.

Ah well. Another innocent male illusion shot to pieces...

But back to the evening. Round two was followed by champagne from SQ's recent wedding music gig, round three by sambuca from yours truly (with 3 coffee beans and served flambeau!)



When the three rounds were officially over, Dr. McGillicudy's Peppermint Schnapps followed, along with the playing of several "unofficial" tracks that did not make the souvenir party CD burned by the host on the spot.

The talk ranged as far as the music, from movies to relationships, from cars to families, from bands to careers. Wonderful stuff.

What a great time. This we will definitely do again. And despite the refreshments and the lateness of the hour returning home (2:30AM?!?) I recovered well enough to nearly break the 8 minute mark for the mile Saturday over lunch. Hm! No worse for wear, I guess.