After a seriously hectic week full of navigating rhetorical scuffles between co-workers who ought to know better, stints at playing the boss, and fighting with reporting queries at work, and needy pets who don’t understand why their favorite person (i.e. my lovely spouse) aren’t around (she’s doing a substitute teaching stint for a couple of weeks and the dog just don’t [sic] understand) and kids plowing through groceries faster than I can buy them (seriously, it seems like 7000 calories a day or something) at home, and of course, the earthquake on the other side of town the other day, I’m heading out this afternoon for a gig playing Marscon with the Humdingers.

For reasons, mostly to do with shifting culture under new management, I wasn’t there last year, either as a guest or attendee. The drama inherent in that shift kicked up a big shitstorm back in Feb/Mar of 2023; you can look here or elsewhere for details if you’re unfamiliar. I was kind of bummed, because this event had been my home for years, and then it simply wasn’t (I even wrote a song about how I felt, but haven’t pushed it hard – it was more about therapy than anything else). The management has somewhat shifted again, but it looks like the new culture has largely stuck, at least according to what the overall programming looks like. That said, there are some good friends on the bill with us, so I’m looking forward, at least, to spending time with them and making music, even if the audience isn’t as compatible, which is always welcome. We’ll see how it goes…

In any case, here’s where I’ll be definitely performing/participating:

• Friday, 5pm, main programming room: Blibbering Humdingers concert
• Friday, 10pm, salon L: Jam Session, Open Mic, Filking
• Sunday, 1pm, main programming room: Blibbering Humdingers concert

Apart from those scheduled events, I’ll likely be found attending one of the several other musical events, and I kind of want to try to get a seat at the table for one of the sessions for the Votes For Women board game on the gaming schedule, which sounds like a really neat concept – a board game about the ratification of the 19ᵗʰ Amendment (I don’t think, given the aforementioned cultural shift, this will be a problem)….or, it could end up I just sit in the hotel bar with a drink in my hand people-watching.

After the con, I’ve got a couple of days off, thanks to MLK Day and a scheduled mental health day, given a very-recently rescheduled doc appointment which resisted timecard updates, so I kept the leave, especially given the other stuff going down on Monday, which I’m going to keep my distance from, for, again, reasons. The plan is to rest a bit, and hopefully keep working on my contributions to the new Humdingers record we’re aiming to have ready in time to release at ConVivial this year.

And if that all gets too frustrating, there’s always the Richmond Metro Zoo’s Poppy Cam.

And that’s that. Promo and bitching over. Here are a few tunes:

1. “Foolin’ It Up” – Ace Monroe
2. “Back on My Feet Again” – The Babys
3. “Battle of Evermore (live)” – The Lovemongers
4. “My Girl (Gone, Gone, Gone)” –
5. “Bad Things” – Jace Everett
6. “Hypnotic” – Zella Day
7. “The Feminine Urge” – The Last Dinner Party
8. “Weeds or Wildflowers” – Parsonfield
9. “Snowshoes” – Caamp
10. “Heartless”- Nathaniel Rateliff & The Nightsweats
11. “Loading Zone” – Kurt Vile
12. “The Balcony” – Fruit Bats
13. “Polar Onion” – Allah-Las
14. “Blood Red Sentimental Blues” – Cotton Jones