So, three primary contests in. three or four percent of the delagates committed. Over 50 contests left to go.

The media has essentially already called it for Sanders.

Y’know, I like Bernie Sanders. I voted for him in the primary four years ago. He’s got some wonderful ideas, which his advocacy for last time around have really shaped the discourse in the current Democratic nomination contest. That said, he’s also almost 80 years old, had a heart attack six months ago, embraces the “Democratic Socialist” label, which I don’t have a problem with, but piles of Boomers and others with limited understanding of what terms for economic systems mean associate with the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and or the National Socialist German Workers Party (not entirely wrongly, in the sense that neither of these groups were particularly socialist in classical terms), rather than the economic systems of a lot of modern countries in Europe (and particularly in Scandinavia) that don’t rely solely on the magic of “markets” to ensure the public good. That Bernie doesn’t do himself any favors by defining his brand of Democratic Socialism in a particularly clear way or relating it to the American experience rather than talking about Denmark on the debate stage is going to pay the oppositive of dividends in a national election against the current incumbent.

But, with three-ish wins in the first three contests, he’s got some momentum. If the pundits’ current narrative comes to pass, I’ll happily vote for and work for the Senator from Vermont. However, for the reasons above, as well as the general toxicity of many of his supporters (the so-called “Bernie Bros”) online, I’ve got some concerns with his candidacy.

While I don’t really dislike any of the leading Democratic* candidates, if you look to the sidebar on the left, you know who I prefer.

At this point, I’m putting my enthusiasm, time, and spare change behind Senator Elizabeth Warren, because I think she makes a lot of sense. Her campaign’s had a couple of missteps (as have all of them to some degree), though I appreciate her experience, her story, and her choices of policy advocacy over the years. For her entire career, she’s been focused on economic justice through her concentration on bankrupcy law, which has given her great perspective on economic inequality, and has led her to her current philosophy of remedying such, going back to her work on the CFPB, her work in the Senate as a strong advocate for economic justice, and her many, many plans for implementing such from the White House should she get there.

The image of herself that she’s projected from the campaign trail has shifted a bit, from “unity” candidate to “fighter for the middle class”, though for anyone paying attention, it’s all been consistently her – her overarching goal (both as private citizen and as an elected official) has always been to root out corruption in government, finance, and industry, work to reduce the disparities between rich and poor, and make sure that everyone pays their fair share toward the public good. She’s looking out for everybody’s interest, whether she’s above the fray or leaving “blood and teeth on the floor” when fighting for consumer finance reform.

I’m honestly kind of frustrated that in the current campaign, she’d managed to get tagged primarily as the M4A person (and has been subject to scrutiny on her proposals to a degree that Sanders hasn’t), and momentarily lost focus, and been counted out by the media. that said, as of today, she’s tied for third in the pledged delegate count (tied with Biden), with only 80 of 3979 total pledged delegates awarded.

It’s still anybody’s game here, folks.

Given Warren’s fiery performance in the Nevada debate last week, she’s seeing a bit more of a bump in support, and I’m hoping this week heading into South Carolina, she’ll continue in that vein, which ideally should increase that momentum, especially if he continues her dominance in Tuesday’s debate. We shall see.

As for what I expect out of this week’s debate in South Carolina? It’s clear that Sanders, finally, has a target painted on him, and that he’ll, ideally, finally be subjected to the scrutiny that everyone else who’s been labeled frontrunner in the past has seen. Warren and Sanders are, in the end, ideological allies in a lot of ways, though she’s more about working within the system than he is (although for all his talk of revolution, he’s mostly played by the old boy legislative rules in his time in government), and her previous attempts to differentiate from him have faltered. That said, if she lands a few hits, and the rest of the pack (particularly Biden and Buttiegieg) land a few more, I feel that she might find herself finally making that “unity” message land – if Bernie loses support (his floor is somewhere around 20%), she’s likely to pick up some of it. Likewise, if the centrists falter (and certainly, at least a few of them will, and soon), she’s an obvious destination for them as well- she’s long been most people’s second choice according to polls.

I think she’s the best choice, honestly. I admire her greatly, and I think she’d do an amazing job. Finally, remember her eviscerating Bloomberg last week? It’s not hard to imagine the current president in the mayor’s position in late summer. That’s something I want to see.

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* – I am not a huge fan of Bloomberg; as Warren said, it’s just substituting one arrogant NYC billionaire** for another, and we really don’t need that. Also, a nyet, spaseeba to Tulsi Gabbard, but she was never in the running anyway.

** – There are serious doubts about whether the current president is actually a billionaire or not, of course.

That title up there kind of says it all about where the hell the mid-Atlantic is right now. As I write this, it hasn’t hit us yet, but I expect we’ll get something; not much, of course (at least to my grew-up-in-the-northeast perspective), but two inches is enough to shut this metropolitan area down.

I’m not hugely concerned on the whole; I don’t really have anywhere to be this weekend anyway. Worst I’ll have to live with is the boy-child (well, not really ‘boy’ or ‘child’ anymore, having reached the age of majority) agitating for further driving lessons, which, if it does get bad, I’ll be hesitant about, as he doesn’t have that much experience yet.

The week’s been…yeah.

Took a nice trip out to Williamsburg on Saturday to crash the CLRG Feis vendor room for hardshoes for the youngest, as it’s easier to buy these things when you have the Irish lady there to size them rather than mail order and guess (also, one of the vendors stocked a bunch of neat UK/Ireland snacks). I also booked a gig while out in the ‘burg, at Retro Daddio in May. So, cool.

Otherwise, the same complaints about work from last time still apply, perhaps moreso. Had a pretty good open mic on Wednesday night, more sparsely attended than I would have liked for our ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY, but we had enough performers to more than fill the time, and more importantly for the management, they were drinking. Also significantly, I played a couple of new tunes (“Just Feel Alive” and “Friday Night, 1988”) that I wrote in the last two weeks as part of FAWM, which were well received, particularly “FN’88”, which I’m really pretty proud of as it takes shape.

Speaking of FAWM, I’m at 13 of 14 as I write this (14 if you count my “collaboration” with Mikey, as my title inspired his own instance of an entirely different “FN’88”), and I’ll probably have that last one out by the weekend, and then the rest of it will be extra icing. I’ve got a couple of good ones this time around; I think I’m starting to get the hang of this songwriting business.

Like I said, nothing huge on the agenda this weekend besides the usual laundry/bills/shopping, other than tentative plans to track down a new food truck in the RVA, Thai Won On, because we roll like that, and new vegetarian options are always welcome.

Weather permitting, of course.

Anyway, tunes. interesting mix this week, with a serious earworm at #4, and a back half that’s pretty rockin’ in an alternative sort of way. I’ll take it:

1. “Get Out of Denver (live, Detroit ’75) – Bob Seger
2. “Rooming House On Venice Beach” – Jonathan Richman
3. “Shine” – Sammy Miller and the Congregation
4. “Blackout” Frank Turner
5. “Walls – Circus” – Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
6. “Jesus was Way Cool” – King Missle
7. “In A Big Country” – moe.
8. “The Spirit of Radio” – Rush
9. “September Gurls” – Big Star
10. “My Slumbering Heart” – Rilo Kiley
11. “Teenage F.B.I.” – Guided By Voices
12. “Demon Rock” – Letters to Cleo
13. “Grab It” – Dinosaur Jr.
14. “Good Time Charlie” – Priests

This week, I tell ya. It’s bad enough that I haven’t see the sun since Saturday, and then only from the car. Ridiculous number of phone calls with bureaucrats convinced their particular “prestigious” geographic location gives them license to skirt policy and procedures (fuck them, btw). People needing things and being annoyingly persistent about it in spite of receiving a completely satisfactory answer. An 11 hour workday on Wednesday because of those aforementioned phone calls. I didn’t quite see the election results from New Hampshire I wanted to. And, the second of my offspring now holds a learner’s permit; which is just as stressful as it is worth celebrating.

It’s all worked to seriously damage my mental health; I had a bit of a crash mid-week, to the point where I couldn’t even be bothered to eat or drink my feelings, which is my usual crutch when I can’t do something more productive like put 20 strenuous trail miles behind me on the bike because it’s been raining all week and the trails are all mud eight inches deep where the river hasn’t swallowed them up.

I mostly slept. And cursed. A lot.

I am, however, making ridiculous progress with February Album Writing Month with eleven songs to at least the lyrical stage nailed by February 13. Four more to go and I “win”, but I’m going to keep plugging. This year’s content, apart from a pair of comedic ones so far, is dark, since, honestly, the whole thing’s sync’d up with a pretty dark period for me. Lots of songs working through my depression, seasonal affective disorder, and frustration with many aspects of life. Might as well channel those feelings into art.

to wit:

“I wish that I were free
to head out without a plan
drop the gear, pick a direction,
then just drive…”

“A lifetime working to course correct
I lament I’ll never be perfect…”

I want to feel passion
though that inertia of inaction…

…I know depression lies
but it can really be persuasive
sometimes

I’d pray for some relief
if that was a thing I did
but I see the universe is eternally indifferent

Hope you enjoyed that trip through my subconscious. Next record’s gonna be downright stygian and grim.

Not entirely sure what’s gonna go on this weekend; it is, however, a long one, so I get an extra day not chained to the desk. IN the meantime, here are tunes spotify thought I’d enjoy discovering this week. I honestly haven’t heard of any of them (save one), and they’re all appreciatively dark, except for that one, from the quietest and most introverted Monkee:

1. “Mama Nantucket” – Michael Nesmith
2. “I’ll Never Sing Your Name” – Fruition
3. “Georgia” – Calhoun
4. “The Rock and the Hill” – Allison Moorer
5. “Driveway to Driveway” – Superchunk
6. “Afterglow” – Arthur & Yu
7. “Lonely Game” – Steelism
8. “Are You My Love?” – Kelley Stoltz
9. “Lily Pad on Your Doorstep” – Don’t Stop or We’ll Die
10. “No Matter What” – Lou Bartow
11. “Love Is The Law” – The Suburbs
12. “Georgia Dust” – Sunseeker
13. “Common People” – William Shatner
14. “Bittersweet” – Hoodoo Gurus
15. “Never Anyone But You” – The Clientele

You could say it was an eventful week for the nation. As I write this, Iowa has finally all but gotten it’s results from Monday’s caucuses out, and honestly, I was kind of surprised to see Mayor Pete come out on top, though the top three (Pete, along with Bernie and Liz) appear pretty close, so the end result will be neck-and-neck-and-neck in terms of delegate tally. The “big” story was Biden tanking, though for folks paying attention to the story on the ground, it wasn’t as much a surprise as it’s being portrayed. The typical rhythm of the campaign heading into New Hampshire next week has been thrown off, however, so no one’s really sure how this is going to play out, which should make it interesting.

Tuesday was the State of the Union, which was kind of a weird, made-for-tv farce campaign rally rather than a constituationally mandated report, and the President was denied the typical pomp-and-circumstance boost by Nancy Pelosi stealing the spotlight by ripping up her copy of the speech after he finished.

Wednesday was the wrap-up of the Impeachment business. the outcome was pre-ordained, given the make-up of the Senate and the partisan bootlicking that’s typical of Washington today, not to say that the result was the right one by any means, but it’s over now. Again, however, the President was denied his total bipartisan victory thanks to Sentator Romney, who bucked the party and the White House’s “heads on pikes” threats and voted to convict on one of the Articles, which I’m sure will rankle the current occupant something fierce.

Oh yeah, Sunday night there was a sportsball game or something*. Apparently people were scandalized by a kinda sexy, empowering and political floor show.

For me, I spent a lot of the week at the office begging for money because the budget people can’t read contracts properly, and a good bit of time in the saddle of my bike riding along the trail, since the first part of the week was so gorgeous. It felt good, though my old man muscles aren’t necessarily thanking me just yet.

I also had a pretty good first week of February Album Writing Month, knocking out seven tunes in the first six days (at least as I write this), which puts me ahead of the game, and one short of halfway to the goal. And at least half of those are pretty good. It’s a good exercise in creativity, in any case, and I’m feeling pretty good about my output.

I am not going to speculate on the weekend, because honestly I don’t know. So there.

Anyway…tunes. Spotify’s “Discover Weekly,” as usual, throws me some neat alternative from the 80s and 90s, most of which I missed the first time around, but have really come around to digging.

1. “Battle of Who Could Care Less” – Ben Folds Five
2. “White Punks on Dope” – The Tubes
3. “4th of July” – X
4. “Dylan Thomas” – Better Oblivion Community Center
5. “Drivin’ on 9” – The Breeders
6. “Happy Hour” – Ted Hawkins
7. “Oblivious” – Aztec Camera
8. “Go Where You Wanna Go” – Echo In the Canyon Jade Castrinos, Jakob Dylan
9. “Salt Lake City” – Dwarves
10. “Escape Is At Hand For The Travellin’ Man” – The Tragically Hip
11. “This Time It’s Different” – Heart Bones
12. “Obscurity Knocks” – Trashcan Sinatras
13. “It’s A Hit” – Rilo Kiley

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* – I don’t mean to denigrate the Superb Owl in any particular way; in theory, I’m still a fan of football: the sport. The National Football League, however, with it’s overblown “‘Murica! by way of Michael Bay” garbage the last decade that totally misses the substance of the things that are truly admirable about this imperfect experiment, I really can’t be bothered to watch. Let’s just say I’d take a knee, but y’all go ahead and enjoy.

Given the tightness of the polling and sheer number of candidates, in the top tier or otherwise, anybody who claims any authority in knowing how the Iowa Caucuses tonight are going to shake out is full of it, unless they tell you they have no idea.

That doesn’t mean they won’t, or that we don’t have our preferences.

I actually kind of like the way things have shaken out, especially in the wake of the big Des Moines Register poll not getting released, due to, of all things, font size issues (seriously). As things stand, there hasn’t been a huge poll, certainly not with the cache of the Register (considered the gold standard, really), in most of a week. As such, there’s actually some small measure of mystery or anticipation about the results; I think that mystery is going to encourage people to come out, because there’s no media narrative based on the last big poll saying candidate x is running away with it, so everybody feels like they have a shot, so people won’t stay home.

And really, until people start huddling in corner in school gym and church rec halls in a few hours, everyone does, as there’s not been a single damned vote cast.

As for my predictions, I would love to see a strong Warren showing, because Liz is my candidate, and in spite of her being down in recent polls, she’s got a hell of a ground game in Iowa, and has for a long time now, and I kind of think that matters. She may not win the evening, but exceeding expectations is important and will give momentum.

And who comes in first, in the scheme of things, is only important in terms of momentum – with four tightly packed top-tier candidates, I expect that final delegate counts are going to be pretty evenly distributed amongst Sanders, Biden, Warren, and Buttigeig, and a real possibility for Klobuchar to make a dent as well. I don’t see any of them dropping out this week; the top tier will remain in the game through New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina, at which point, we’ll know a lot more.

But right now? It’s anybody’s game.

As I tap this out, I can say that it’s been a really uneventful week, following a pre-determined pattern.

Wake. Paperwork. Scan Headlines. Reheat leftovers. Read. Pass out. Repeat.

Part of this is because I’m still not feeling great; likely lingering con crud, but who knows, given what the kids bring home, and what I might have run into this weekend on Ted’s birthday march. I’m 99% confident it’s not coronavirus, because I’ve only had IPAs this week. Ba Dum Tish.

Still, the energy level’s been low, and depression’s creeping in, probably because the sun hasn’t really shown itself around here since Monday. I got some decent hikes along the river in earlier in the week, but by Wednesday, it was too damned cold. On some level, I think I expected this, as Sunday night I made a huge pot of red beans and rice that I’ve been working through as lunch (and occasionally dinner) all week. It’s been delicious, though kind of boring. However, it makes for easy, healthy calories to keep the body filling out forms to earn my wage while I’m in this funk.

While all this is going on, my subconsciousness is working overtime chewing on and rehashing existential concepts and attitudes – getting all philosophical and shit, sometimes annoyingly so. Not complaining; I think I might have come to some clarity on some things, but I can’t entirely trust that the brain is operating at peak efficiency or optimisticity. We shall see.

The weekend’s looking pretty quiet – I think I’m going to go support one of my open mic’ers, killer songwriter Keely Burn, play acoustic Sunday at The Castle’, but otherwise, nothing specific on the agenda. I’m likely to start thinking about FAWM, as that project ideally starts on Saturday.

This works for me.

Anyway, some tunes. As indicated by this post’s title, I’m identifying quite a lot with #5 on this list, but there’s some neat pop/punk/alternative/ska/etc going on here, and I’m kinda digging it:

1. “Give It to the Soft Boys” – The Soft Boys
2. “Battle Scar” – Max Webster
3. “Sunless Saturday” – Fishbone
4. I’se the B’y” – Great Big Sea
5. “Birth, School, Work, Death” – The Godfathers
6. “Universal Heart-Beat” – Juliana Hatfield
7. “Apollo 9” – Adam Ant
8. “Here for the Beer” – The Sloppy Boys
9. “Story of My Life” – Social Distortion
10. “Everything” – The Dollyrots
11. “Working In A Coal Mine” – DEVO
12. “Son of A Gun” – The Vaselines
13. “Somebody to Shove” – Soul Asylum

Con crud is kind of a thing. But I’ll persevere, thanks to rest, sinus meds, and Nyquil. As I said, Marscon was awesome, and the dissonance of coming back into the normal world after living in con world for a couple of days is always challenging, especially when you’re having trouble breathing through your nose. But, that’s life.

I’d recap the week, but honestly, it hasn’t been all that exciting. Work, cook dinner, sleep. Oh yeah, move a couch (friends are moving and had an extra one they weren’t using, so they passed it to us to replace our ailing old Ikea model), and hit the Gamestop for cheap XBox 360 games, since my son managed to get one cheap second-hand.

That’s really about it; I’ve been keeping tabs on the Impeachment trial (if not seriously locking in to live coverage), and watched “All The President’s Men” Wednesday night, because it felt appropriate. I honestly don’t know what’s going to come of it; I hold out hope that a few will break party lockstep and allow additional witnesses; getting John Bolton on the stand might actually move the needle, though I’m not seriously expecting partisanship to be overcome by any sense of right and wrong when it all comes down to it; thanks to McConnell, it’s going to end up in an acquittal. My best hope at this point is that all this goes on long enough that the President has to give the State of the Union on February 4th while still actively on trial. That’ll at least be interesting.

I don’t really have anything lined up for the weekend; weather looks decent for Saturday; I might try to get a bike ride in on the Capital Trail; it’s been a while since I’ve been in the saddle, and the trail looked really inviting as I drove alongside it on Route 5 last weekend.

As for tunes, Spotify wants me to discover a bunch of modern indie this week, before taking a turn toward original Al, with dips into the 80s. Not a bad listen, really:

1. “Vampire Alberta Blues” – John K. Samson
2. “Judy Staring at the Sun” – Catherine Wheel, Tanya Donnelly
3. “Illegal” – Tim Heidecker
4. “Car Wheels on a Gravel Road” – Lucinda Williams
5. “Ninety Bucks” – Craig Finn
6. “Happiness Is All The Rage” – Promise Ring
7. “I Only Want the Sky” – Michael Leviton
8. “California Man” – Cheap Trick
9. “The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota” – “Weird” Al Yankovic
10. “Life During Wartime” – Talking Heads
11. “National Shite Day” – Half Man Half Biscuit
12. “The Death of Pop” -The Rub

The following exerpt from this article at Poltico on Thursday once more describes a common theme I’ve seen pop up in primary coverage a lot, and in particular in the last week:

…Stephens gushed about a different candidate: Elizabeth Warren. The Army veteran cited her health care plan and said he “like(s) a lot of the things Warren is saying.” He also praised Bernie Sanders’ policies.

But then Stephens added that the country “would never vote for a woman and a liberal that’s been branded a socialist.” So he’s planning to vote for Biden.

That theme, of course, is the very common refrain from voters that they personally think the idea of a woman as President is wonderful, it’s just that the rest of the country isn’t, so they’re going to to strategically vote for another old white centrist guy. Ipsos/Daily Beast’s poll from June 2019 bears this out, and is often cited in conjunction with this idea; in that poll, when asked about a female president, 74% of Democrats say they were comfortable with a woman in the White House, but only 33% said they thought their neighbors would be. Another poll from October shows similar responses.

In the end, the data illustrates a common concern among Democrats: beating Trump is the primary goal above all else, and many seem to be worried that a woman wouldn’t do as well in the general as a man would, so we should gear our primary voting toward the safe choice. Once again, the spectre of electability rears it’s head.

I say that idea is bullshit.

It’s the primary season; we’re still two weeks away from anybody officially caucusing or voting for a candidate, and the race is, at least in the top tier, wide open. The primary isn’t the time to second-guess what everyone else thinks; throw your support behind the candidate you most favor: if you like Warren or Sanders’ policies the best, go ahead and vote for them in your primary. Even if they don’t become the candidate, your expression of support will, if nothing else, drive the narrative and help shape the party platform and the policies pursued by the eventual nominee, even if it ends up being a centrist like Joe Biden. The primary is not the time for sacrificing your deeply held principles on the altar of electibility; we’ve got the general election for that, and by supporting the candidate that inspires you, it’s more likely the eventual nominee, whoever that is, will hew closer to the positions your candidate espoused.

Look back four years, and compare the Democratic baseline position on universal health care or publically-funded college. Back in 2016, Sanders advocated strongly for those positions, and in the end, Clinton worked some of them into her platform when she was nominated. In 2020’s primary contest, even the most conservative candidates in the race support some form of public funding for health care (that’s what the “public option” or “Medicare for all who want it” is) and public funding for career training, college, and even student loan forgiveness, even if those candidates don’t push it to the extent or degree you prefer. The needle moved left, and that’s because people showed their support for those ideas on the primary ballot.

That old saw attributed to Bill Clinton back in 2003 goes “Democrats fall in love, Republicans fall in line.” There may be some truth in this truism, but I’d argue (as Peter Hamby did in May in Vanity Fair) that every time that Democrats have been successful in recent history (Carter, Clinton himself, Obama), it’s because the Democrats chose the inspiring candidate, not the safe one. Just ask John Kerry, Al Gore, or Hillary Clinton how their elections turned out.

There will be plenty of time for pragmatism in the general. The primary is the time to vote with our hearts; to eschew compromising one’s ideals. By giving up our ideals in the primary, we’re guaranteeing that we’ll be holding our nose in the general when we “vote blue, no matter who.”

I know I’d rather vote my principles and take a chance that in the general, I’ll not have to feign enthusiasm in the voting booth.

Marscon is, without question, always a great time for me. It’s a chance to see friends, make music, and try to shake off the stresses of mundane life for the weekend. This year was no different, though moreso than in other years, it was definitely a working vacation, with me playing seven(!) shows, in several different capacities: as myself, as part of The Blibbering Humdingers, and sitting in with Dimensional Riffs, and working to establish my “brand” so to speak as a solo artist and move some merchandise.

All in all, I think I played well, especially for my inaugural solo show at my “home” convention (Thanks Butch, for giving me a shot!), which, in spite of being scheduled for 10am on Saturday, brought out a pretty big crowd of fans, supporters, and curious con attendees. People seemed into it, laughed at the right places, and sang along with stuff I wasn’t sure they actually knew.

My place in this community is an interesting one, having started as strictly a fan, moving from observing from the fringes of the filk circles to playing along, to joining up with an established group, to sitting in with all kinds of other talented folks (and becoming known as “The Guy in EVERY Band™) to sharing my own music in informal settings, to finally getting solo gigs and being presented as an artist in my own right at the con-closing Round Robin performance. I am, honestly, homegrown Marscon “talent”. The community has watched me make this progression, and have backed me all the way, which is tremendously appreciated. I am truly honored to have come up through and been part of this community of artists and fans.

I was delighted to spend my weekend receiving unsolicited comments and praise from both my fellow performers (all of whom I admire greatly) and from fans, who really seemed to dig my stuff. Marscon fans bought up my entire back stock of World’s Okayest…” CDs. It was, okay, a small print run, though I am truly honored and humbled that people liked my stuff enough to take it home with them.

It goes without saying that I really enjoyed spending time with my friends, old and new, both in socializing over drinks, and for more experienced musicians sharing their perspective, constructive criticism, and advice (thanks, especially, Valentine Wolfe, Mikey Mason, and Jonah Knight for your input).

So yeah, it was a great time, as always, and also uniquely special, as my creative output was embraced by the Marscon community. I truly love and appreciate you all, which has, over the past decade or so, become such a huge part of my life.

Other observations:

♦- You should definitely try and get hold of Jonah Knight’s latest project, Songs of the Faithless, which turned out really great, and not just because I played a part in making it. There are a ton of great performers on this one, presenting some excellent music and songwriting.

♦- One of the things I found particularly amusing this weekend was the bonding between my lovely spouse, and the spouses of some of the other performers this weekend; I’m glad you all found each other, and I look forward to seeing those t-shirts you were talking about!

♦- If I’m going to bring local craft beer to share, I probably need to bring a bit more than I did.

♦- Three words: Queen of Nebraska.

♦- It’s not every day you see two men deep in conversation, mansplaining to one another, and it’s certainly not every day you get to participate in improvising David Attenborough-style narration in response to it!

I’m sure there’s a bunch more I could talk about, but there always is. Thanks once again, Marscon for being what you are.

I’ll be entirely honest, since last friday, it’s been a hell of a lot of week, for a number of reasons which I won’t burden you all with, but I’ve been kind of on edge and in a low-grade threat posture all week; it’s been tough to relax and let go. Taking Friday off to stretch the already long weekend out another day (and give me time to pack for paragraph #2) is going to be enthusiastically welcomed.

I am definitely looking forward to this weekend, as it’s Marscon, a welcome escape from the “real” world where I get to indulge some nerdy passions, spend time with good friends, and pretend to be a rock star for a couple of days, which is generally pretty good for my self-esteem.

As you’ve probably already seen from the pinned post, I’m going to be pretty busy, playing something like half-a-dozen sets as myself and as part of various ensembles, as well as sitting in on a couple of panels, and maybe finding some time to eat, sleep, and have somebody buy me a drink (hint hint). It’s going to be a working weekend to be sure, though I’m trying to build in some time for relaxation (Saturday afternoon/evening looks promising at this point, but we’ll see). I’m also hoping to sell out my initial print run of CDs (which feels likely, as this event is the largest concentration of “fans” of my stuff you’re likely to see) and make this weekend a profitable one as well.

This week was also Open Mic week, which was quite successful after a few months of steady, but smaller crowds. We had a lot of great performers and few divas, and we ended up running a bit past regular ending time (as long as people keep drinking, Karl’s happy to keep the place open). This was a relief, since a good friend was running a competing open mic across town (don’t worry, there’s plenty of room for all of us!), and I was worried about splitting the audience. Also, my set was actually pretty great, which felt good, because I purposely built it from the tunes that I’ve been struggling with nailing in my rehearsals this week. This bodes well for the weekend.

I’ve also, of course, been watching the news, what with the impeachment articles being sent over to the Senate (along with the potentially damning new evidence that’s come to light), this past week’s debate, which had a lot of nice substance (which is being ignored in favor of largely overblown drama), as well as the really cool news that my adopted home of Virginia has become the 38th (and last necessary) State to ratify the Equal Right Amendment, which is long past due, and I’m confident will beat the various legal challenges about timing (which are interesting to look at in themselves from a history/govenment nerd perspective) and become the 28th Amendment to the US Constitution.

Anyway, that’s probably more than enough promo and small talk; let’s get this wrapped with some tunes spit out of the Spotify. Surprisingly Canadian this time out, but sure, why not:

1. “Love Is All Around” – Joan Jett & The Blackhearts
2. “And if Venice is Sinking” – Spirit of the West
3. “Dead Skunk” – Loudon Wainwright III
4. “Nobody Smokes Anymore” – Robert Ellis
5. “Rock N Roll Girl” – Paul Collins, The Beat
6. “Rush” – Big Audio Dynamite
7. “Having an Average Weekend” – Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet
8. “Hannah Jane” – Hootie & Tghe Blowfish
9. “Bedbugs and Ballyhoo” – Echo & The Bunnymen
10. “Sing to Death” – Prima Donna
11. “Nothin’ Feels Right But Doing Wrong” – Sarah Shook & the Disarmers
12. “Chancellor” Gord Downie
13. “West Coast Town” – Chris Shiflett