San Jose Municipal Rose Garden

A view of the fountain at the center of the Rose Garden.

This was our first practice at San Jose Municipal Rose Garden, and by some happy coincidence, we ran into a meeting of the Santa Clara Valley Fiddlers Association, an organization best described as Band Practice/Party with several dozen older musicians.

What BP/P might look like in 30 years.

We took over a picnic table off to the side of the SCVFA meeting, but soon attracted the attention of folks who might not be used to seeing a group of twenty-somethings rocking out on a variety of acoustic instruments.

This guy is seriously rockin' out on the recorder.

Vijay and our guest fiddler.

Steven, Vijay, Kate and Devin practiced our set for the show at Steven's company picnic on August 15. We also played "Siki, Siki Baba" in response to a request for mariachi music. (I guess we figured that Balkan brass band music is close enough...)

A familiar sight at a Band Practice/Party. That ukulele belongs to Kate.

We had a jam session with a guy who played some pretty intense violin solos in the key of D. Then, Devin and Steven got sidetracked into a jam of The Who's Tommy. Kate played and sang a couple of folk songs on her ukulele. Finally, we found ourselves playing Beatles tunes, including "I Feel Fine" and "We Can Work It Out."

That's Devin with his harmonium.