House Party!

I always thought it would be pretty cool to have a place where you could shove the furniture over against the walls, plug in the amps, and have a party.

Now I know just how cool it is.

Doug Sovern lives in exactly such a place, and the other night, we shoved the furniture, plugged the amps (after hauling everything down 60 steps, but more about that later). and partied.

It was the Eyewitness Blues Band House Party. No set list--we just made it up on the fly. No amp for Mike Sugerman--the one I "borrowed" from my son for Mike to use had a short and was threatening to electrocute him. And no Patrick on lead guitar, so Doug's girlfriend Sarah's friend Adam (are you following?) filled in. Beautifully.

Were we rough around the edges? Hell, yeah. Too loud? Probably. But damn, I think it worked. I even caught My Long-Suffering Wife bobbing her head and tapping her toe to the sweet 4/4 beat.

Of course, she didn't have to haul amps, drums, and PA speakers down the Twisting Path of Fear to Doug's house. This gorgeous Craftsman-style lodge sits way below street level, and everything goes in (and out) via a set of uneven concrete steps hacked into the hillside. For all I know, some of the gear is still down there, awaiting someone with enough courage and muscle to hump it back out of there.

But hey, a small price to pay. The payoff? The woman who came up to Mike afterward and said, "Hey, you guys were better than I expected."

There's the title of our book right there.