SHARING THE SHOWS
Why is it that all the meetings seem to pile up at the end of the school year, right when my battery is at about 6%? Three committee meetings in two days; welcome to the world of tenure. I had also given my “How to be Single and Happy” presentation the night before and enjoyed a nice post-talk meal with my friends and fellow pro-single tribespeople Kristen and JJ afterwards (here’s a link to JJ’s YouTube channel). I hadn’t slept much the night before the presentation, and was still catching up on sleep all day Friday. Nonetheless, I was committed to this show for a while. Due to the adulting that comes with homebuying, I won’t be planning on traveling this summer for any Phish shows, so Runaway Gin would be my Phish phix. I had seen them at the Broadberry, located two hours south in Richmond, seven years earlier with Mark/Brodysseus and Drew/Brometheus, and enjoyed their act. I’d been out of town every time they hit the DC area, but now that I’d be in town, this would be my April show. I sipped on a Cherry Coke Zero during the Metro ride down and made it there at about 8:10 to a half-full venue and empty stage. Was this group attempting to follow Phish’s tradition of starting forty-five minutes late? Guys, you’re not Phish; you don’t have that draw! Nonetheless, 8:20 isn’t a bad start time, not quite the waiting time of Phish, or even worse, Madonna. They opened with “Chalkdust Torture,” a fitting tune for my meeting streak. As I type this, I do know this committee service has some type of long-term benefit, so I persist, hence why I need shows. Following this was “Sample in a Jar,” and the jam with that was the show’s highlight for me. I’ve never even heard the real Fab Four do that. After “The Wedge,” the singer welcomed us and said, “Feel free to request.” We got the usual “Play some Skynyrd” and someone demanded “The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round.” If Drew had been there, I would’ve yelled, “Waiting for the Bus!” We did get “Horn,” “Squirming Coil,” and “Runaway Jim.” During the opening of it, another dude and I were trying to guess what song they were going to. He went with “Piper,” me “Sigma Oasis” and “Antelope.” 0 for 3 between the two of us, although I know my “Antelope” teases when I hear them. During the setbreak, I talked to a long-haired dude named John from Gaithersburg who sipped his water by the bar. When he’s not at shows, he’s a statistician for the Federal Government who studies wage increases (see? We have jobs! Take that, haters!). We talked about how wage growth does not match cost-of-living increases by a long shot, especially not for DC employees, but I do enjoy my work fervently, and the benefits are great (such as the fact that DC gives me an amount equal to 7% of my annual salary every year to my 401K). Set 2 kicked off with “Tweezer,” followed by “David Bowie” and “Divided Sky” in a Junta twofer, “Contact” (which always makes me think of that night my car got towed from Mark’s complex post-SCI,” and “Tweezer Reprise.” “You Enjoy Myself” and “Harry Hood” closed the show. Overall, I enjoyed the show, but the group do well to learn some new songs. Phish has updated their repertoire extensively since 1994, folks! But hey, I appreciate your tunes nonetheless. Some random notes: 1)The bathroom always offers some interesting anecdotes. One dude filmed the guy at the urinal next to him peeing. Hey, no judgments on my end. 2)Someone left a quartet of C batteries on a sink countertop. Judgment on my end. Put your garbage in a garbage can, people! Don’t just leave it by the sink! For context, click here. That said, perhaps someone was trying to make an artistic or political statement, so, oh well…Here’s the pic below. 1)The bassist’s Purple Rain shirt was neat, a tribute to Phish’s frequent renditions of that Prince tune in their 90s shows.
2)I loved that “Chilly Water” tease from the bassist, right before “YEM.” They should have played it! WSMFP! As the night went on and the music play, my dancing became way more physical, and I engaged in fist-bumps, high-fives, and hugs with random folks. Strangers stopping strangers indeed…that’s how it oughta be, even if they’re drunk and/or high. Once I got home, I laid my feet up on the couch and flipped to an episode of Loudermilk, that dramedy starring Ron Livingston as a curmudgeonly leader of a support group for alcoholics and addicts. The plan was to watch an ep and go to bed. But I was so wiped from dancing, not to mention life, that it took every ounce of my will just to migrate toward the bed. I’ve been cycling back on the shows, and once again, I’m finding they’re way more fun when I space them out. I’ve been seeing a wider variety of them too (VNV Nation last week, Nicholas Payton the week before, Silversun Pickups in May, James Taylor in September). But it was nice to go back to my roots. Here’s hoping the real Phish returns to DC someday. This fall, perhaps? And if people come in from out of town, assuming all goes well with the home, I’ll have a second bedroom in which they can sleep. Fingers crossed!
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April 2024
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