Not a Drag

Last Tuesday night was the 35th Annual Paper Bag. I've written about it the past few years, so you can read about it here or on the website. But basically, it's a large group of local musicians who get together once a year to put on a ridiculously fun show. My Gia has been a part of it for the past decade or so as one of the singers. This year she blew the doors off of Adele's "Rolling in the Deep", jumped in at the last moment to handle the solo on Madonna's "Material Girl" (the theme for the Bag this year was The Money Bag) and did an impromptu rendition of Jimi Hendrix' "Purple Haze" toward the end of the evening. She's a fucking rock star!

The show goes from 10PM until 4AM, but we usually leave after her singing duties are over. Besides the occasional solo, she also sings back-up numerous times during the evening. When the singer of "Material Girl" had to duck out early, we checked the schedule and saw that she wouldn't be hitting the stage until around 3AM. At that point we said "fuck it!" and decided to stay until the bitter end. And we were so glad we did. The last scheduled song of the evening/morning was Zappa's "Dancing Fool", but afterward they spin the wheel for some random tunes to end the show. One of those was the aforementioned "Purple Haze". Lots of fun. 

Then for the very end of the show, the host and founder of the gig invites anyone still remaining up onto the stage for a sing-along. They do that every year, but this is the first time we have stayed until the end. Very, very cool.

We headed across the street for some much needed breakfast and found ourselves battling the morning sun on the way home. Wednesday was a completely lost day as we slept and ate and slept and slept some more. They do suggest you take the next day off, so I was only following orders.

This was my 6th Bag and my favorite one of all. I can't wait for next year!

Our Founder, Guido. You can't see 'em, but there are about 70 musicians on stage to his left.

Gia showering the crowd with love and stars during "Rolling in the Deep".

The Dude and The Stranger? "Got any sasparilla?"

A night for stars.