All and all, the Hermosa Beach Street Festival was a great concert venue for the band,  and I guess we impressed the Mayor of Hermosa Beach some much that we were asked if we wanted to do New Year's there.  Well,  that gig is still up in the air,  since we are wanting to wait for more offers. 
 
Well,  on the trip back to San Diego,  we ran into some heavy traffic,  mainly due to Memorial Weekend travelers,   and possibly due to people coming down to San Diego to attend the graduation ceremonies at San Diego State University on Sunday. 
 
 
Croce's Top Hat 
 
Now,  the Croce's gig Saturday night turned out to be a VERY special gig for me.   Tired and exhausted,  I didn't expect to really play the drums very well that night,  and we had already played very hard earlier in the day.   The band was fortunate however,  because when we arrived at Croce's there was a jazz festival of sorts and it was running late.   So,  instead of starting at 9:30pm,  we ended up starting at 10:30pm.   Great,  we didn't have to play for very long! 
 
For those of you who don't know,  Croce's Top Hat is the night club venue owned by the widow of the late,  great Jim Croce,  the singer/songwriter of such fine songs as "Time in a Bottle" and "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown",  and sadly,  the singer/songwriter who perished in a fiery plane crash just when his career was taking off.   Now,  I've performed here with many great bands already,  so Croce's is not new to me,  I've played here countless times before. 
 
But Croce's has a very special place in my heart, maybe because when I was younger and was an aspiring musician,  I dreamed of someday playing at Croce's,  and I used to come here to watch bands play and dream of playing here myself.   To me,  this place is THE place to play in San Diego for a local musician.   It's famous worldwide,  and a lot of the tourists that come to San Diego end up coming to Croce's,  and Croce's has built up it's fine name and is pretty much THE place to see some great jazz,  latin and blues in San Diego.   OK,  enough with the Croce's plug. 
 
Well,  I don't really know how it happened,  but during my drum solo on Sing, Sing, Sing,  I really "felt" it,  I seemed to be in the "zone",  I was on fire,  and I think I gave possibly the best drum solo of my life!   I still don't know what I did,  but the conditions were right.   After Sing, Sing, Sing I really was received very well and the cheers and applause seemed to last a lot longer than usual.   I was kinda blow away by the whole thing.   Later on,  after the gig,  when I was already on my way home,  I suddenly had the uncontrollable urge to cry.   I thought I was having a nervous breakdown.  I guess the emotional response was just too much for me to take.   I got too emotional about it,  and I shouldn't have,  but I was really touched by the audience's reaction that I couldn't contain myself.   In retrospect,  I feel I really gave something to my audience tonight,  and they gave it right back to me!