Dear Kim--

It may be too late to use this strategy for this particular event, but I try to spend all my social-musical time in the company of musicians who are better than I am. There's no shortage of them, and when it comes to having an occasional famous or intimidating one in the bunch, well, it's just somebody else I can learn something from. In my music circle, EVERYBODY who plays is better than I am at something, and I try to learn whatever that is.

My $0.02; your mileage may vary

V