Raucous last night.

Picked up my good friend Nikki Rae who just arrived from Seattle and headed over to the Blue Nile for Dr. Lonnie Smith & Idris Muhammad with Donald Harrison & Will Bernard & Eric Krasno & Karl Denson &... The Purple Haze was crisp and fresh on tap, the players were, shall we say, adequately overwhelming. Ran into friend after friend, including my man Steve who managed to bring the wife out for some carousing. Nice to see all of y'all.

The cluckers came out of the woodwork when the balloon guy arrived.

We moved on to Rotello's with Zack and Julie(?) for Simon Lott's Things. Another round of great players, but as Nikki put it, "they didn't play very well together, you know, as a group." I thought it was certainly interesting enough to stay until after 4am. The trumpet player was insane, with lots of electronic gadgets and a seriously hyperactive style. Simon had a lovely hairdo.