Although it's now Tuesday night (technically Wednesday), I still wanted to mention the fun time I had this past Saturday night at Dogfish Head in Gaithersburg, MD. My old friend Cliff Hillis played a solo acoustic set there and was amazing as always. Karri and Greg brought out a bunch of their friends and Jason came out too, so we added a good-sized group to what was already a pretty packed house. It had been so long since I'd seen Cliff that I'd almost forgotten how talented he is and how cool it is to see him live. He's the kind of guy you really want to see succeed because although he has a quiet confidence that's befitting of someone at his level, he is one of the most humble, gracious, and down-to-earth people I've ever met. Besides, Cliff is the kind of guy who eats, sleeps, and breathes music and always has been. At one point in the evening Cliff was kind enough to invite me to play a couple songs and I agreed. I actually decided to just play one song because I'm frankly not at a level where I should be sharing the stage with someone like Cliff, but I was happy to play that song because Cliff was one of my major influences when I started playing guitar. As I explained before I played my song, I first saw Cliff in one of his early bands, The Name, when I was about 15 years old (I think he was 17). One day I stopped by the record store where he worked and recognized him right away as that guy with the crazy new-wave-rocker hair who was playing in that band on Rehoboth Avenue a few days before. I ended up asking him if he gave guitar lessons and he agreed to some half-hour lessons at his house for $5 each. After maybe two or three lessons he decided not to take my money anymore because we usually spent most of the time just hanging out, talking about music, and looking at his basement full of music gear (it looked like the Eagles lived there). It could have been that I just wasn't a good student and he didn't want to teach me anymore, but we became friends nonetheless. I've always kept up with Cliff over the years and popped in at his shows unexpectedly, and after all the successes Cliff has achieved, playing and singing at a real gig of his was an honor. You can hear some of Cliff’s songs at http://www.myspace.com/cliffhillis.