Sunday, March 11, 2012

Serendipitous musicians

It was almost 10 p.m. and the sushi restaurant was closing. Most of my friends had already decided to call it a night, but the small handful of us remaining decided to go somewhere else. This being Tucson, our late-night options were limited. One friend suggested Village Inn. I was tired and didn't want to drive that far. We settled on an upscale place called Kingfisher.

Maybe 15 minutes after we were seated, the band returned from a break. I didn't know who they were, but they were good. Really good. They started with a song called (I think) "Haunted," which grabbed everyone at the table. We paid much closer attention to them than people usually do for restaurant music. We weren't the only ones.

"Who's the band?" I asked the guy who came to fill our waters. He didn't know, but our waiter did: Amy Langley and Kevin Pakulis.

Wow. Really? Kevin Pakulis is a big deal in the Tucson folk scene. I'd seen him before. I hadn't heard Amy, but clearly I should have. Her voice blended so well with his.

As luck would have it, they were taking another break when we were ready to leave, and we introduced ourselves. Turns out Kevin and Amy had heard me before. They were at a songwriter open mic at Cafe Tremolo, and they really liked my sound.

Small world, Tucson is.

I'm happy we went elsewhere for dessert. I'm happy we didn't settle on Village Inn. It's amazing who and what you'll encounter when you alter your routine just a little.

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