The clothing and architecture were a bit more conservative and the weather a bit colder when we headed to The Bluestone to see the Old 97's (left). This was my first time at the venue, a renovated Baptist church that bills itself as a cathedral to country music (right). Unfortunately, I didn't get to take in the show from the closed balcony, but it wasn't bad being steps away from multiple bars either.
The next concert was a repeat in two ways. First, it wasn't my first time seeing We Were Promised Jetpacks this year (left). And second, it wasn't my first show at Scully's Music Diner this year (right). This time, however, I did enjoy that the balcony was open and relatively empty, so we hung out there before we headed down to get closer to the action. In fact, we stood right in front of lead singer Adam Thompson's wife, who is from the Columbus area.
I have seen other shows at the 9:30 Club in DC (top left), but whether I have seen Violent Femmes before remains in dispute. For sure, I went this year with a group of college friends (top right), one of which swears I went with her to see them at MemAud when were both students at Ohio University. I swear I blew off our concert date due to a bout of drinking, even though she had waited in line alone, overnight to get us tickets. I can't imagine how I would have been able to forget a performance that involves a Weber-grill drum (bottom left) and a superhuman-sized saxophone (bottom right). Back then, they probably weren't so performatively quirky, and I certainly didn't know their music as well. This time, much to my surprise, I knew 80 percent of the songs they played word for word. And I sang them -- loudly.
The trip to DC was centered on the concert, but another OU alumna friend who hosted me made sure to show me a good time in general. She took me for a delicious breakfast at Zinnia, which is emerging as a local favorite after Mrs. K's Tollhouse went downhill (top left). I needed the fuel because I took a 7-mile loop hike through Rock Creek Park (top right). I took a slight detour from the Bridge Loop Trail route to see the Capitol Stones, literally a pile of materials that were removed and abandoned surreptitiously during a Capitol renovation in 1958. Being within the park, people soon discovered and, of course, climbed on them. Due to the danger of scaling the makeshift monument, they are now fenced in and guarded by a bat box (bottom left). It wasn't the right time of night to see any bats, but I did spy some deer, appropriately enough, by the park's nature center (bottom right).
The one fall concert I had really been looking forward to was pre-empted by a trip to North Carolina. It's a bit of a long story. Originally, I was supposed to see They Might Be Giants at the aforementioned 9:30 Club in 2020, but COVID postponed the concert multiple times. The second reschedule date was during a planned trip to Mexico, so I bought tickets -- for a much higher price, I must say -- to a show in Pittsburgh during spring 2022. I gave my original tickets to my DC-based OU host, but that June 2022 gig was cancelled last minute because John Flansburgh got in a car accident. In the meantime, the Pittsburgh show was postponed till fall 2022, smack dab on the date of Scott's niece's wedding.
Luckily, the trip for the nuptials was so nice that I stopped worrying about why the universe seemed so set against me seeing TMBG. We relaxed alongside Lake Norman (left) before taking a hike at Latta Nature Preserve on Mountain Island Lake (right). Besides some mist right before the vows, the weather was wonderful, I had fun with friends and family, and I danced the night away, albeit at a reception instead of a concert. And in the end, my own patient love and devotion was rewarded: TMBG announced more tour dates, including a stop in Columbus, for which I have purchased tickets -- for less than I paid for the original ones. Take that, 2020.
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