Gabe called me during the day on Thursday and told me Mike Gordon was playing later at the Parkside Lounge. Having been to the tiny Houston Street bar several times, I politely told him he was crazy. No way would Gordo show at such an out-of-the-way hole in the wall. Then again, this was the same guy who told me about the end of hiatus and the SNL performance before anyone else, so I guess should have believed him. He called me hours later with these words: "I'm at the Parkside Lounge now. You want to be here."

Minutes later I showed up at the Parkside, meeting my attorney buddy on Attorney Avenue, as well as Marcus, Josh, and the Egyptian girl Dina we met in Vegas a month earlier. There were a few people playing pool on the main room, and the back room with the stage had about 30 folks casually sitting around. There were even empty seats available. As I got there Mike was taking the stage, already full of bluegrass legends. The man in suspenders, Andy, to Mike's left, is Mike's banjo instructor. It was a rocky start, but by the end of the night, some real magic was created.

Click below for a 40-second video/audio snippet from the show!

Below are some photos of my friends at the show. Clockwise from top-left: Marcus, Dina, and Greg watch the show in awe; Gabe gets nailed coming out of the ladies room; Bobby D's jam away to 2-15-03 on the stereo.