Thursday’s Night on the Town had me and the wee one stopping off to listen to Deborah Page and Paul Uhl at Sanford & Son, ‘pon the recommendations made by trusted advisors Dave and Gretchen (themselves, Sanford merchants.)

I thought I’d just “nip in real quick,” and ended up staying ‘til the lights went out.

Thing was, Deborah’s got an amazing voice (her Spanish songs actually got two bodies on the floor in an impressive show of footmanship) which, along with Paul’s moody guitar and her acoustic guitar, made for an intriguingly warm, inviting vibe.

Together, they sound like the kind of atmosphere you’d expect on Anderson Island: a little bit homey, a little bit wistful, a little bit wild, a little bit natural, and a whole lotta’ lovely.  Apropos, since they both met on the island, and now call that their place to “recharge.”

While Deborah’s voice arrested me, it was the overall feeling in the middle floor that kept me there; the evening was a sort of “we survived the fire” celebration combined with the Night on the Town, combined with a celebration of Cindy Sorrell’s graduation from The Evergreen State College (Sorrell runs Sorella’s, with all sorts of North African cultural grooviness).

There was laughter and there were open doors all around (occasionally, the Middle Floor Merchants are a sparsely populated lot, but not this night).

I had some purchasing and future-purchase-planning fun, and  the wee one went home delighted with her “Avenging Unicorn” from Mondo Bizarro â€" at first, I hesitated buying my 5 year old a play set containing an impaling mythical creature, but seeing the mime on the end of the unicorn’s skewer, I had to give in, strictly because my laughter obscured my judgment.

And so it was, that this morning the sweet, innocent child was singing her own music.  Asked about the evening, and her high points in it, wee one said she liked seeing Miss Gretchen and Mr Bennett and calling them both “grandpa”.  She added that she also loved the music, especially “the lady singing,” saying, “when I grow up, I want to have a voice like her.”

Hopefully, the kid’ll write some new music by then, as this morning’s “Ode to having your guts poked out of you by a Unicorn” might be a little hard for the masses to take. â€" Jessica Corey-Butler