Steely Dane and the Slow Irish Session

 

Today I wore my old sundress to Mass in the gym, because afterwards Travalon and I walked to Atwood Fest just a few blocks away, and it was a comfortable outfit to wear for our adventure. We wanted to see Steely Dane, a local Steely Dan tribute band, and we got there early enough to set up our chairs in a shady spot under a tree. Nobody else had bothered, since it was overcast, but as more people came, some others recognized the wisdom of our choice and followed suit. The band was too loud, so I found a tissue in my pocket, ripped it in half, and shoved one half in each ear. That worked just as well as real earplugs, which I hadn't thought to bring. Steely Dane did a lot of deep tracks, including one I had never heard before. As the concert went on, the sun came out, so then a bunch of people rushed over to our shady oasis, including an old colleague. So good to see her! The last couple of songs were bigger hits, of course. I had thought they would play for an hour, like Panchromatic Steel had, but they played for an hour and a half, so I was quite hungry when the concert got over at 1:30. We had some lunch from a Jamaican food stand, then we headed home.

I had just found out that morning that there would be a surprise birthday party for someone that afternoon, but it was in a town an hour away, so by the time we got home, it would have been a bit late to head there. Also, we were really tired and napped a bit. Then Travalon dropped me off at Muso for the Slow Irish Session that used to be at a coffeehouse. The place doesn't have dedicated parking, and all the street parking was taken because of Atwood Fest, so maybe that's why there were less people than usual. They had some crackers and cheese for us, and there wasn't all the ambient coffee brewing noise in the background, so I felt a little more exposed with less people there. Still, I kept up pretty well. They projected the music on a screen, so I cheated a bit and read it, but I did still try to play some of it by ear. Some of the tunes have become very familiar, so I don't need the music. My Irish teacher came with her concertina, but she just listened to us. Maybe since we weren't really beginners, we were going too fast for her. Also, she doesn't read music.

Travalon was waiting for me when I came out the door. He said it had just rained really hard, and indeed we did see a rainbow.

This is the second day in a row that there was water everywhere, even just a few blocks from our house, but at our place everything was completely dry. Looks like I'll have to water my outside plants tomorrow.

I forgot to mention that Travalon didn't mind missing the Terrace last night, because Wolverhampton was supposed to play in Florida at the same time. The game was delayed an hour because of rain, but finally they did play, and his Wolves beat West Ham. His goal is to someday see them play in person.

Famous Hat