SHARING THE SHOWS
For all the shows I’ve been to, I don’t recall ever seeing music on the Fourth. And with recent political moves by SCOTUS (Roe v. Wade, affirmative action, loan forgiveness), I haven’t been feeling patriotic in the least. But I’m only hurting myself by staying in. So when Pete informed me of free music, the answer was an obvious, resounding yes. He’d told me about Danger Bird, a Neil Young tribute based in the DMV. And it was free. Typically, I’d have no problem going to this show solo. But, now that I’ve been tenured after 13 years of being a nomad, I’ve decided it’s time to “dig in” to what this area has to offer. And that includes the diverse array of people, with which can come plenty of opportunities for meaningful connections, more so than that of Hampton Roads. As a person who identifies as Childfree by Choice, I face stigma from a world that’s largely centered toward family and procreation. And one of the nice things about the DMV is that no matter who you are, you can find people like you. I recently became an organizer for this group (shout-out to my good friend, Lori, founder of this group and organizer extraordinaire for giving me that opportunity), and I recently went “event-happy,” designing a bunch of them including this one. I mean, seeing music and meeting good childfree folks? Why the hell not? The event ended up consisting of two of us, Steph and myself. After a day of lazing around the apartment, I took the Metro to the Waterfront, where I was greeted by Steph. We had good conversation on the way down (writing, books, la lengua de español), and after a brief walk on the waterfront, we made our way inside. To put it mildly, Danger Bird was fucking amazing. The singer sounds exactly like Neil Young, in his singing AND speaking voices. Songs included classics like “Heart of Gold,” “Old Man,” “Southern Man,” “Like a Hurricane,” “Walk On,” “Mr. Soul,” “Alabama,” “Rocking in the Free World,” and a bunch of others I hadn’t heard. Steph, who isn’t familiar with Neil Young’s repertoire, had heard one I hadn’t, and I spaced on writing the lyrics in my notepad. Side note: she recommended Frank Ocean and Childish Gambino. Despite my proclivity for jam bands, I always love hearing new artists in other genres, and I dug the mystical hip-hop vibe from Childish Gambino. So thank you, Steph! The song that really brought back memories of “Downtown,” off his 1995 Mirror Ball album. This was the first Neil Young album I ever owned, largely due to me falling for “Peace and Love” when I heard it on Q104.3, the classic rock station I had my car radio permanently tuned to when I was seventeen. The second set ended at 8:30; at that point, Steph and I were hankering for some fireworks. Of course, most of the Waterfront was densely populated, but Steph’s sharp thinking got us to a quieter spot at the end of the pier, where we had the best view in the city (at least from my vantage point). Steph and I continued our conversation, and we talked about our life and work goals (which include writing). The dialectic continued as we navigated through the crowd going back to the Metro, which was the most packed I’d ever seen it. A plus: a free ride! Another reason to support public transportation. The Metro was packed wall-to-wall, which brought back memories of me riding the New York City subway during rush hour. When I transferred at Gallery Place, the workers were yelling for people to move toward the far end of the platform if going on the train. It was that chaotic.
When I got home at 10:30, I plopped down on the couch and nodded off as Chester took his spot on my stomach. I was back up at around midnight, at which point Chester jumped off and followed me to the bed. Hell of a Fourth, and it’s even better when meeting cool folks like Steph. More to come!
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May 2024
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