As I posted on social media last evening:

So, that’s Ravencon 13.5 in the books. Having performed with Dimensional Riffs, Metricula and her Friends with Benefits (including the Misbehavin’ Maidens and Podcasting’s Rich Sigfrit), sitting in with Dirty Metal Lefty (who’s awesome – check her out!), and even myself just a little bit, I guess the emerging legend is true….I am in *every* band.

And ya know what? After the day/week/month/year (♫I’ll be there for yo-ou!♫) I’ve had, I really needed it.
Thanks to all your great performers and creators who helped make my weekend better (those I performed with, and those I didn’t – Angela Pritchett, for example – she’s also awesome). You’re awesome, excellent, and I really appreciate you; I need y’all to know that.

Ravencon 13.5, the smaller, off-cycle version of the usual April endeavor (only back in Richmond, which was one nice thing) that came out of the wreckage of Ravenconcert, a cool idea, that never ended up happening because reasons, is over and done. It…existed, and mostly functioned. There were definitely some problems, as many of us expected, but as most of us kept saying, we made our own fun.

The ‘Riffs shows were…okay. I thought the energy on Friday night was right, even if the proficiency wasn’t, and pretty much the opposite happened on Saturday. Certain members of the group disagree with that assessment, but I was sober; I trust my opinion. There was some behind-the-scenes drama as tends to happen with these kids, but those that turned up enjoyed the shows, which is what really matters in the end. I like making music fans happy.

As indicated above, I also backed up my buddy Metricula for her set on Friday night on bass as part of the “Friends with Benefits”, which was a blast, getting to play her stuff, including the first live performance of our cover of Intershellar’s “Dreamland” that we recorded for Streamer Song Swap earlier this year, and the debut of “Polticians Make Shit G-Y-Ns”, featuring the amazing Misbehavin’ Maidens. I really hope the “Friends with Benefits” becomes a regular thing; it’s great fun, and again, the audience really enjoyed it. Also, the whole thing *might* be streamed online someplace, if you’re into that.

I also ended up sitting in with local singer-songwriter Dirty Metal Lefty on Sunday morning, who does some really great, personal tunes and has a great style. Seriously, check her out; she seemed to appreciate the riffs I was laying down on top of her compositions, and since we’re if-not-exactly-neighbors-but-still-in-the-RVA, I’m hoping we’ll get to play together again sometime soon.

And yeah, I got to hang with my friends the Maidens again, as well as some of my usual con buddies as indicated above, as well as several who weren’t. Also, like I said to great length in previous posts in this space, last week was pretty much hell on wheels, and while the con itself lived up to the Trash Fire™ expectations, we made it fun for ourselves, which is all you can do.

While it occasionally felt like work, I always left feeling better having made some music; I was worried it wasn’t going to work out that way this time. And, for a great many people, I became a story for the con, as I’m apparently in all the bands.

I’ll take it, especially since I found dreaded “possible government shutdown planning under way” emails in my inbox at the office this morning. No serious indication it’s actually going to happen, but it is just a couple of days from the end of the FY, and there’s no budget or CR, and most of the government is laser-focused on Kavanagh and his wandering hands (and other things) at the moment, so who knows.

I’m gonna coast on the positive vibes I carried out of the weekend; should last at least until mid-day.