Jealous that two friends have locked themselves into my room for dinner, I decide to take a walk, making a note to myself to remember who exactly these people are when I wake. A few minutes later I discover the workshop where that dream was made. It is a round-the-clock affair that involves several of my closest male friends who get together to improvise vocal music. Someone has brought The Collected Works of Sandy Jencks: Ragtime Composer and the feeling is that we should play through it on a bank of four back-to-back upright pianos. But before that I lead the guys in a rousing 14-hand version of "I Got Rhythm," playing the melody with my forefingers two octaves apart. Blanking on the bridge, I slot in the B section from the Flintsones theme song and no one is the wiser.