One highlight of this week’s adventures in mid-Atlantic suburban pandemic life is captured above. Thanks to a friend (check out her tunes; they’re great!) who had an extra, I scored a ticket to the Punch Brothers show in town on Wednesday night. Honestly, I’m still apprehensive about events involving lots of people, though this venue is still the only place I’ve been that’s required me to flash my vax card to enter, and I remained masked throughout except when sipping a delicious local-ish brew. I also never really bother to mix it up on the main floor, preferring a perch near the south railing toward the rear of the theater that gives me a good view of the stage and fewer people around.

The show was, of course, amazing. I’ve been a fan of Chris Thile for years going back to Nickel Creek, loved the dear, departed Live From Here, and of course, simply dig live music in all it’s forms. If you’re not familiar, Punch Brothers’ music is, I guess, “progressive bluegrass,” incorporating elements of pop, classical, folk, and pretty much whatever else they feel like. It’s very cool, and these guys are absolute masters of their instruments. They manage to pull some amazing dynamics out of voice and five acoustic instruments arrayed around a single microphone, and it’s impressive and beautiful, and maybe creates some feelings of inadequacy in this particular journeyman performer.

Anyway, it was a nice evening out in the middle of the week.

Otherwise, the week was pretty typical; lots of work meetings (both wildly productive and soul crushing, sometimes simultaneously), almost sixty miles of biking over a couple of nice days, and some fiddling with the music production software to wrap up FAWM. I also got my car serviced and inspected and a few other odds and ends, but, yeah, nothing especially…um…special.

The weekend coming up is looking quiet – there’s talk of checking out the new brewery/winery/meadery opening up down the street, but otherwise, probably just the usual.

As for tunes this week, kind of all over the map, as you can see, from torch singers to 90s alternative to genre actors to punk, and what might be the best recording of “Crimson and Clover” I’ve ever heard there at #8 – definitely check that one out:

1. “Two Little Men In A Flying Saucer” – Ella Fitzgerald
2. “Party Anthem” – Sloppy Jane
3. Penpals” – Sloan
4. “Thing of Beauty” – Hothouse Flowers
5. “Save It For Later” – The Beat
6. “G.S.K.” – Squid
7. “Bobby – The Pool Sessions” – Wolf Alice
8. “Crimson and Clover” – A.G. Cook
9. “Here and Now”- Letters to Cleo
10. “Need You Around” – Smoking Popes
11. “I Do The Rock” – Tim Curry
12. “Howling At The Moon (Sha-La-La)” – Ramones