A couple of months ago I wrote about the one “day off” I had during the whole change-your-life kinda summer that 2007 provided me. On that day (June 30), in Eugene, I wandered about Saturday Market and ended up at the stage area listening to a local musician sing the entire Beatles Abbey Road album from start to finish…while accompanying himself on the ukulele!

What a tremendous treat that was!

And, what a totally Eugene, at-home-like experience that turned out to be.

Given my subsequent move to a new and totally unfamiliar part of the world, I have been asking myself: when am I ever going to be able to replicate that kind of feeling again? Will I ever be “at home” again? And also: when will I ever hear live Beatles music again?!

Well, as it turns out, I didn’t have that long to wait. (At least for the answer to that last question…)

Last Sunday, the little hippie-dippie Marin County town of Fairfax held its second annual Town-Wide Picnic at the local ball field. Now, I didn’t really plan to attend. In fact, I was absolutely oblivious to the fact that this thing was happening at all until, on a whim, I decided to visit Fairfax that afternoon simply to check out a nearby place with a Eugene-like (read: “liberal” or “tie-dye”) kind of reputation.

As I was walking around, I noticed posters in a couple of windows advertising the event (that was supposed to be happening at that very moment) and, at first, all I could think of was “where’s the ball field?” Well, given that this is an extremely tiny place, it didn’t take long to find out. (I simply followed the foot traffic!) Of course, I was initially a little reluctant to join in the festivities, given that it’s a very small town and I’d be gate-crashing their party. But the thing that helped me overcome my hesitancy was the Beatles music coming from the stage. A group called “The Liddypudlians” was up there churning out some great stuff!

The band was 26 members strong…yes, I needed to count them! There were several (rotating) lead vocalists, lead and rhythm guitars, drums, a chorus -- as well as horn, string, and woodwind sections. This was an orchestra that reproduced Beatles songs quite faithfully -- meticulously consistent with any studio-produced Beatles-album track.

I sat on the lawn, soaked up the sun, and enjoyed three sets of live Beatles tunes for just over three hours. I loved this group!

For a little while there, I almost felt like I was home.