SHARING THE SHOWS
This post is dedicated to Joseph Lionel Wynne, who passed away on September 10, 2012.
I’ve been waiting for the day String Cheese Incident would come to DC, or at least DC-adjacent on a night when I could actually make it. The show they played in Charlottesville last year was the day before a school event I had to make, so that would have been tough. But, having gotten tenure this year, Richmond on a Sunday night was doable, and I could always give an online lesson to students this year (I’m grateful at a place that’s flexible about that, within reason). When I got the news between my gay old time spent scoring exams in Tampa, I figured, let’s make a weekend out of it. So I took an Amtrak to Newport News, where I slept on Maggie’s couch. I spent the afternoon hiking with Maggie on the Noland Trail, an old favorite of mine. After a power nap on her couch, we made it to More Than Greek to meet up with Pete for our pre-show meal. I enjoyed some pita and hummus, and I ordered lamb for the first time in, well, I don’t know when. Virginia Credit Union Live has a mellow vibe, and it’s easy to get into and out of. I learned this back in 2019 when I saw Dark Star Orchestra with Maggie, Johnny Mac, Gary, Mark, Drew, Shannon, and Sandy. The pit and the seats were relatively empty, so we sat and chatted for a bit with our observations of the sparsely populated area. The band started at 7:30 as the venue filled up. As Pete put it, every SCI show feels like their best one. Even with Phish and Widespread Panic, some shows are better than others. But it always feels like SCI is on their game; they’re just so intensely passionate. And tonight was no exception. Favorites for me included “Got What He Wanted,” “Joyful Sound,” “Let’s Go Outside” (which mashed up with The Who’s “Eminence Front”), “Song in my Head,” and their debut of “Ain’t I Been Good to You” off their new album, Lend Me a Hand. Oftentimes, the people I see make the show. In addition to hanging out with Maggie (my old Hampton Roads life) and Pete (my new DC life), it was nice to see some familiar faces I hadn’t seen in a minute: Ashley, Lydia, Tom. And a cool one, Matt, who I see at DC shows. And as Maggie and I rode home, we had our usual deep philosophical question about human nature and relationships. I crashed out on Maggie’s couch a bit past midnight, and was up at 5:30 to catch an early train. As I alternate between typing on my laptop, staring out the window at the farmland of Suffolk, Virginia, and shutting my eyes, all with the 12/29/17 SCI show in my headphones, I wonder what I was thinking when I decided to do String Cheese and Greta Van Fleet back-to-back nights. But I’ll go into the reasoning in the next blog. In the meantime, I’m signing off to give my brain a nice lull. It needs it.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
April 2024
Categories |