SHARING THE SHOWS
So tonight was the second show of the school year and the first official show of the Spring 2020 semester (which I count once classes go into session). I started teaching my Blogging course, and one of the reasons I assigned my students, “The Anatomy of a Blog Post,” suggested using subheaders as a way to organize a blog, so I’m going to follow its advice for this post. Keep Your Day Job, Don’t Give It Away I’m typically in a great mood on Fridays, and today was no exception. The Blogging course is structured as a hybrid; we’re scheduled to meet twice a week, on Tuesdays and Thursdays. On Tuesdays, we have a formal lesson. For the Thursday session, I meet with students on an individual basis, but I’m flexible as to when students can come. I met with two, and they got to see this blog. I love when my work integrates with my life, especially with respect to concerts. My lesson to my freshman composition went as follows; this was taken directly from my posting to the Facebook group: So in my composition class yesterday, we were reading Bella DePaulo's "Everything You Know About Single People Is Wrong" article contrasted with some piece from that Brad Wilcox guy about how married people do better yada yada and we looked at rhetorical appeals. Essentially, I guided the class toward the fallacy in Brad's article (one guy did better when he got married, but that's not the case for all people?), while looking at Bella's use of logos in that it makes sense that singles have more friends because they "spread their love" (my exact words), whereas marrieds focus it on one other person. And that's when "Craig Got Real." Any day I can spread that gospel is a good day. It may not win me any popularity contests, but it makes me feel good that I’m doing society a service. And I’m getting paid to do it. Truckin’ to the Show & Good Lovin’ to Cuisine I got out at 4, went home, and took a powernap, despite Chester’s pleadings for me to play. He did surrender, eventually, and I spent part of the nap with Chester using my stomach and chest as a seat. Maggie picked me up at 5:30, and we talked spirituality until we got to the venue. We arrived at 6:30, about a half hour before the venue opened. So we hung out in the vestibule and saw a widespread panic gradually amass, as people were griping, “Why can’t they just open?” “I’m starving!” “I need a beer!” I was looking forward to trying the cuisine at this spot, which used to be a restaurant called the Jewish Mother. Eventually, we got in, and as we had to pay extra to get a table at a restaurant, we were relegated to eating outside. Thanks to a coupon free appetizer given to me by the owner, Maggie and I split some quesadillas with brisket. I then chowed down on a Reuben sandwich, the perfect carboload for the show. We ran into Scott, and his fiance’, Beth, on our way back into the venue, and then saw John, whom we caught up with. Special Guest: A Harken to the Pyramids
Maggie and I agreed that this was the best Special Guest we had seen: a belly dancer named Elmira doing tricks to the sounds of Egyptian music. She lit some prongs on fire, and Maggie and I agreed: “that’s hot.” I then laughed inwardly at my own joke for ten minutes. She also twirled what looked like glowsticks that display what appeared to be hieroglyphics. I have no idea; all I know is it was a unique way to start a show. Mark agreed, and we talked about our various spiritualities: him not cursing out irate motorists on his motorcycle, me not getting in fights with singlists and matrimaniacs on social media (though I still have some work to do in this area). John K That guy did all kinds of stuff on his guitar; used a distortion petal to make it sound like a piano, played folk, soloed a la Jerry. “Dire Wolf” (which Maggie pointed out to be Drew’s song, thinking of the shirt he got in the lot before the Dead & Co show in Bristow in 2017). I almost teared up during “Lazy River Road,” and Mark sent me a text during “Doin’ that Rag” with its annotations from the official Grateful Dead site. John also played “We Can Run But We Can’t Hide,” along with a bunch of other songs I hadn’t heard before. After he exited the stage, Mark showed me his Phish socks (“You Enjoy My Socks”), which he hid from this Dead crowd because apparently, many Deadheads will look at you askance if you go into a Dead-related show wearing Phish gear. Of course, this idea was debunked by the guy wearing a Phish hat, essentially as a “fuck you” to any Deadhead who ranks on Phish. My friend, my friend, don’t take a life (Phishheads will get that joke). At some point, Gary joined us. Last Fair Deal in Virginia Try singing this subheader to how it’s crooned in “Loser”; your life will never be the same again. They opened up with “Deal,” and went into “Unbroken Chain, followed by “Black Throated Wind.” This version of “Tennessee Jed” was the most rockin’ I had ever heard from a cover band, as was “The Music Never Stopped.” At that point, Gary stated, “About time for John K to step in.” John’s ears must have been burning, because that’s exactly what he did. The 90s immediately followed the 60s (“Hard to Handle” à “The Last Time”), and a “Help on the Way à Slipknot” sequence skipped “Franklin’s Tower” and went to “Shakedown.” During “Help,” Maggie’s lower back went out, so she had to step outside. The tightness of the venue was a contributing factor, I’m sure, as my back started feeling slight twinges of pain. Since my injury on Black Friday, I’ve been stretching in the morning, taking hot baths in the evenings, and getting massages once a month). I checked on her during “Shakedown,” and at that point, the set came to a close. We decided to bounce so she could rest. We ran into Wes on the way out; always a good presence. It’s a Long, Long, Long, Long Way to Go Home After grabbing some post-show munchies at the Wawa on Virginia Beach Boulevard, we headed home. We missed the exit for the 264/64 interchange, and ended up going through downtown Norfolk to get home. Seeing as how I conked out almost immediately upon hitting my bed, I was GRATEFUL to get home when I did, even though I wouldn’t have wished Maggie’s injury on her. I’m glad she’s better today.
1 Comment
Rick Folsom
1/26/2020 04:55:23 pm
Just so you know, the Jerry, (Kyle Folsom) is a huge Phish fan. As is Woody, one of the drummers.
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