Laura's Leap Year Birthday Bash - We're Two for Two!

We did it again, this time with more people. Laura's 36th birthday party was held on March 3rd and since it was actually a Leap Year, like Bristol Palin, we went all the way! My only issue is that Laura bought a hot pink sparkly tank top before I could get one.

Jeff, Josh & Scott

Mitra telling me "you're done" so she could surprise me with her own lyrics. Notice Will's face in this picture. He always makes this face when he hits a really cool accent.

Scott & Becky rockin' with a beautiful disco moon overhead

Jeff's obscene bass playing....which made me laugh really hard in practice. This guy is definately the foundation of this band. We couldn't hold a practice without him. Amazing musician!!!

My girls dancin' to White Lines

Becky and Laura singin' backup for the amazing Geoff Nicolle

That's the place my weasels were born

Mmmmm... Gravy!

Laura's got to know she's a special individual for this much effort and for this many people to make their way into our backyard last Saturday night. Several friends came from out of town, our good friend Mitra came from San Francisco. She's attended the last three Leap Year Birthday Parties for Laura. Jay, Greg and his wife Christy came down from San Francisco as well. Mr. Howard Morey trekked down from Portland.

In comparison, my birthdays suck. :-(



Loren Barroca was such a big help. She helped out so much that day and evening especially the tasty homemade bread and homemade lasagna. Thank you Loren. Laura's mom Daphne also provided some tasty food for all including the Meaty Lasagna. And Laura's dad Al was as always a huge help with the sound. Al and I started early Saturday morning laying cable and setting up the mixer and computer and did not finish until about an hour before the party started. We didn't get to soundcheck the whole band which showed in the first song but oh well.

We challenged our Laura Powers Leap Year Birthday Party Band even more than last year. We expanded as well, including keyboardist and backup vocalist Becky Wicks (I diligently checked her school records and apparently she didn't help our collective GPA...bummer) and of course guitar virtuoso Josh Meehan. I wish we set up more songs for him to play his lap steel guitar. Both of which were very welcome members of our group. Geoff Nicolle provided a magnificent amount of vocal pyrotechnics including an amazing vocal performance of Beck's "Debra" and Zeppelin's "Ramble On". Laura fantastically expanded her role in the band and played sax, xylophone and provided a very nice backup vocal performance. Howard Morey was dragged out of retirement and plopped in front of an audience one more time and he did not disappoint. Mitra Sapienza brought forward a customized version of "Waterfalls" while Jeff Barroca definitely had the "funk" that night dropping down solid bass licks.



My biggest regret is that we didn't get the whole set on video. A couple songs were missed, a jazzed up version of Jimi Hendrix's "Fire" where Howard Morey affectionately opined.."let my residence be within the proximity of your immolation". We also don't have footage of Howard's rollicking version of "The End" by the Doors..."Kukla, Fran and Ollie woke before dawn, they put their boots on. They took the face from the ancient puppet galley and they walked on down the hall...". And lastly our well-orchestrated hillbilly medley original "Weasels/Gravy" went unfilmed as well....
"I got a truckload of Weasels, I'm taking 'em to Reno
'cause that's the place my weasels were born
And I wish I didn't hadda, but I'm takin' 'em to Nevada
'cause they're illegal here in Californ"
...all rights reserved.
CMT will be clamoring for that song in no time.

In terms of the keg...another mission accomplished! We have damning videos and photos that we will hold in secret until needed. Names will not be mentioned but y'all know who you are.

There was a lot of lessons learned in this endeavor. I hope we remember them in four years.