In other news, that show we played was fucking awesome!

It was the best show we've ever played. We had 2 practices with our lineup, our old bass player who joined another band hadn't played with us in months and also the harmonica player (he plays it like a synthesizer except when soloing though) from his band joined us too. The first practice was pretty janky, and we were all nervous. The second practice was 20 times better, and the show was 20 times better than that, we just killed it, people loved it, we got fully into jamming territory while maintaining our direction and our plan. We went off the map a few times but we all knew just where to go and when. Then we listened to the set from the other band who invited us there, they're amazing, and they have one of the best bass players you'll ever hear. Then after that, we had spontaneous jams with various members of both of our bands, all night until about 3am, with tons of dancing. The other band was so happy we came and they had a lot to tell us about how they loved what we were doing. It made me feel like a full-fledged musician, because I realized I could hang with these guys, I was putting down really nice support stuff in the jams and then coming out with great solos when it was my turn to. The lead guy of the other band told me he loved the textures I create... the other band's keyboard player told me he admired how I was able to direct the music so much and not just play fills and support.
The event was the birthday party for the band's uncle who passed away very recently... he was young and I gathered he had been murdered. It was a really sweet and touching event, we had this moment where we all held balloons and released them together for him, and some other stuff. There were speeches, and passing around of the whiskey bottle. Everyone there thanked us profusely for coming to play and be a part of it, I felt very welcome and the whole thing was so filled with love and warmth, it was really humbling to be able to be such a big part of it, everyone so was great. Combined with Psood's death, it really had me thinking a LOT about sudden death/loss, even though I didn't know the guy from the party, being around so many who did was impactful.
My drummer and I were the only ones who stayed the night, and we each took 125ug of ALD-52, and had a great trip. Shared some really deep stuff, had a great time, lots of laughs and so on. He agreed that ALD-52 is basically exactly like the best acid you've ever had.
All in all, very refreshing and envigorating night. The other band was really impressed with us and it may lead to opportunities. Plus they host an open blues jam at my favorite venue every Sunday and any time I go to that, I know I'll be able to get right up there and play.