Ubie Jammin' with Neo

Now for a cool freaky story:
My friend Brenda, from Akron, has a neighbor with nephews in Oz (Will is in Melbourne, where I am, and Jack is from Darwin, all the way in the North Coast). She sent Will's email address to me, which I forwarded to him with my mobile phone number. He texted (is that a word yet?) to say that he was out of town but coincidentally his brother Jack was in Melbourne to play two gigs with his band, 'Neo'. Jack called and invited me to meet them at the "Open Studio" at 4:00 as they set up and did a sound check. After meeting the other three members of the band, Jack informed me that usually there are 6 members, but the drummer had an operation on his wrist and wasn't touring, so these gigs were more acoustically based. (Hmmmm, can you guess what happened next...?) I told Jack that I was a drummer and did some soundboard work. I helped with the sound check and they asked if I would be interested in sitting in on some percussion (They only set up a bass drum, snare drum and hi-hat cymbals). Well, I played the second set with them, caught onto their funky vibe and fit right in. We had a blast! Afterward, they asked me, "Do you want to come and jam with us tomorrow night at the bar "Glitch"? Of course I did.

Although the band is from Darwin, many of their friends came to see the show in Melbourne. It was like a homecoming of sorts and made the room feel like a big party. Afterward, I was rewarded by hearing band members discussions about how they hadn't had that much fun at a gig in a long time. The energy level and funky groove was infectious. The dance floor was packed with friends and the band is very interactive. We sat on the tour bus outside of the bar until 4:00AM, then they gave me a ride back to where I was staying. THE END!
Not really, but that's it in a nutshell.

The following day we all met at the annual St. Kilda Festival just outside of Melbourne. The streets of this bohemian community are closed to traffic and 300,000? people converge for a day of fun, sun, food and music! There are 5 themed stages with bands all day long, ethnic food stalls throughout, street buskers and various entertainment and demonstrations. An epic day!

Two days later, I was invited to join them on a journey down to the Mornington Peninsula, which separates the mighty Southern Ocean from calm Port Phillip Bay. We stayed at Drew's bungalow "Rancho Relaxo", just off of St. Andrew's Beach. Miles of beach in either direction with no one around!! We waded 100's of yards into the low tide waters and body-surfed huge waves for hours. Then, back to the bungalow for an outdoor patio candlelit dinner followed by a gentle jam session with guitar, flute, clarinet, two hand drums, etc.
Next day, same thing....

You might think it's just luck or something, but this type of synchronicity, serendipity, karmic situation has been happening to me consistently since I started this journey. Soooo many times, in so many ways! Coincidence? I think not...