Rock and Roll Fantasy

The Washington D.C. area is a great place to live if you like to see live music. Within the metro area (Maryland, D.C., and Virginia) there are venues of all shapes and sizes, and as a result, there is a place for bands of any genre and any degree of popularity.

There are innumerable bars that have live music during the week. There are small venues like the 9:30 club, The Black Cat, and The Birchmere that hold only a couple of hundred people. There are mid-size places like the Patriot Center or DAR Constitution Hall that hold a few thousand. We have outdoor venues like Wolf Trap and Merriweather Post Pavilion. And of course, we have arenas like Verizon Center and stadiums like RFK that the mega-selling bands like Pearl Jam and Hannah Montana can pack with tens of thousands.

Then there are the artsy places like Strathmore and Millennium Stage at The Kennedy Center which roll all kinds of symphonies and jazz bands through but once in a while have something more pop/popular (i.e., The Beach Boys, Dec. 8 @ Strathmore).

A few weeks ago, on a Friday evening, Rebecca and I took Maya and Jonah for a picnic in the Sculpture Garden outside the National Museum of Art to see a jazz band that was playing there. This is a recurring summer event, Friday evening jazz performances in the Sculpture Garden, and we had a good time so I think we will do it again in the future.

Jazz isn’t really my thing but I appreciate good musicians and the band was great. Though, I think in this case the best moment was when the band started the Bill Withers’ song “Use Me” then encouraged folks to grab their instruments from their cars for a free-for-all winding jam that never lost the bass groove that makes you want to get up and dance in the first place. It was one of those moments where you couldn’t find a face that wasn’t smiling a big, broad, happy grin. Plus, the kids were transfixed by the musicians. They really enjoyed watching the performance.

Looking through the upcoming concert listings is enough to make one’s mouth water – Ray Davies (Dec. 8 @ 9:30 club); Oasis/Ryan Adams (Dec. 20 @ Patriot Center); B.B. King/Buddy Guy (Feb. 20 @ DAR); Tina Turner (Nov. 22@ Verizon Center); Loretta Lynn (Dec. 5 @ 9:30 club); Thievery Corporation (Jan 27/28 @ 9:30 Club); and it goes on and on with lots more bands that I’ve heard of and lots and lots more that I haven’t.

On the one hand, I feel like I am missing an opportunity by not seeing these bands now while I can still see and hear and dance. It reminds me of the David Budbill poem “While We’ve Still Got Feet.” On the other hand, some might question my priorities if I saw every band that stoked my interest.

Fortunately for me, I have a really great wife who indulges me (maybe?) more than she should and I’ve been able to see some really great live music in the last month, with some more on tap in December.

It started with three Black Crowes shows at the 9:30 Club in October. The Black Crowes are a band that I’ve liked since their first record came out in 1989 or 1990. I saw them play The Ritz in New York City around that time (a story in itself – we ended up in the emergency room) and most of my friends from that time always tell me that they think of me whenever they hear a Black Crowes song on the radio. I’m like their number one fan.

So, when I saw that The Black Crowes were performing for three nights in D.C, it was hard for me to pick just one show. I had to go to all three.

The Black Crowes are the type of band that you can see on consecutive nights because they change the set list all the time. They are kind of like the Grateful Dead in that regard – you never know what songs they’ll play at any show. Over the course of the three shows I saw, they only repeated three songs. But they also didn’t play a couple of songs that I wanted to hear so I’m going to have to see them the next time they come through town.

I say that the Crowes are the type of band that you can see on consecutive nights, but in practice, some folks doubted that my body could handle it. These are the folks that know how I can get at times.

But, truly, I never had any doubt that I would be okay. On opening night, Thursday, I went by myself so it was no problem, I was home and in bed by 1 a.m. On Friday night (the second show) I went with my friend Ty and we stayed up pretty late after the show. I only slept until 9 a.m. on Saturday so my ass was dragging on that afternoon. I think I actually took a nap on Saturday which is something I very, very rarely do. But by the time I got to the show on Saturday night around 9 p.m., I was ready. I ended up having to take a cab home that night because the Metro only runs until 3 a.m. on weekends.

I did have a revelation that I recall while watching the Crowes – Luther Dickinson will be to guitar players what Babe Ruth is to baseball players – a household name. Mark my words. He’s that good.

Last night (Wednesday) Rebecca and I went to see Michael Franti and Spearhead, a rock/hip-hop/reggae/funk band with poetic lyrics that trend politic and a really, really good-looking front man (the aforementioned Michael Franti). Well, I don’t think he’s that good-looking, but I do like his music and lyrics.

Rebecca really thinks he’s sexy and has Mr. Franti on the ubiquitous list that we all keep of the five people we’d most like to be stranded with on a deserted island. So, she was extra excited that as we walked up to the venue, Michael Franti was in the street kicking around a soccer ball with a bunch of folks. We had to stand there in the freezing cold and watch him finish the game so that I could take this picture.

After the picture Rebecca and Michael disappeared into the bus for a while, but Rebecca made it out in time to see the show from more or less the front row (the 9:30 Club is general admission so as far as you can elbow your way forward is where you stand for the show).

Overall, I thought the show was pretty good. There was a lot of jumping and sweating. I’d never seen Spearhead before (Rebecca has been two other times) so I was happy to finally be able to do that. We listen to them a lot at home because Maya and Jonah really like them too. Before we left for the show Maya asked Rebecca to take a picture of Michael Franti for her (mission accomplished!). Jonah is a fan too. We have a great video of him dancing to the song “Hey World” that I am going to upload to YouTube. Check it out.

The show that I am looking forward to now is Ray Davies. Ray Davies is the main guy in The Kinks. If you’ve read any of my previous blogs, I probably mentioned that I like The Kinks. To give you some idea of how much, I offer this quote that I made to Rebecca some time ago. “Rebecca, if you ever leave me, at least I’ll still have The Kinks.”

Since I’m probably never going to get to see The Kinks play together (the other band members, including Dave Davies, don’t get along with Ray) I consider Ray Davies as my substitute. This is okay seeing as he wrote most of their stuff. I’m just not sure how much of it he’s going to play since he does have solo records out in the last few years that he might like to play more, now. Thinking about it, I regret that he’s not playing two consecutive nights – more chances for him to play all the songs that I want to hear.

The Rise and Fall of the Family Bed

When Maya was born, Rebecca and I invested in a king size bed rather than a crib so that Maya could sleep with us. Rebecca and I had read many articles about the benefits of co-sleeping – how it promotes bonding, the fact that it is safer than crib/cot sleeping, and, of course, the all important potential for more sleep.

Because Maya was breastfeeding, and I would never be able to deliver on her midnight cries for feeding, co-sleeping is a more convenient arrangement for mommy. Whenever Maya stirred, Rebecca could boob her so that none of us ever really left Z-town, and we all satisfied our FDA required sleep quotient.

For the first few nights of her life, Maya slept between us in this specially designed box made of hard edges to prevent me or Rebecca from rolling onto her in our sleep. Of course, the idea that we would roll onto her in our sleep was completely ridiculous as all Rebecca and I wanted to do during sleeping hours was look over the edge of the box at our golden child. Eventually, though, Rebecca and I decided we did need to sleep rather than gawk over the edges of the box. So, we got rid of the box and Maya continued blissfully between us to no ill effect. And in fact, I loved having Maya next to us all night – would not have done it any other way.

In anticipation of adding Jonah to the mix, we purchased Maya a bed, set up a room for her, and talked about how much fun it is for big girls to sleep in their own beds in their own rooms. Maya didn’t really go for that idea, especially when she saw Jonah enjoying the co-sleeping arrangement that had been solely hers for so long. So, rather than fighting about it (and really, we liked having her close to us) we built a raised bed frame next to our bed and put a crib mattress on it to create something even bigger than the California King. We called this part of the bed “the nest” and for the most part, that’s where Maya slept. Jonah of course, continued to sleep between me and Rebecca, but mostly nuzzled next to Rebecca.

And that’s how sleeping life went on in our home until, sometime before May 14, 2008, Rebecca and I got sick of only being able to snuggle with our feet because one or other of our kids was between us. Since we knew that our apartment rental in Quito was going to have three bedrooms, we devised an elaborate plan to have the kids sleep in their own beds while in Ecuador. Rebecca even went so far as to set up a room for Jonah in Alexandria before we left so that our transition back home would not include having to reintroduce the family bed just to pull it out from under them again.

I am sure this jinxed everything. I’ve previously detailed the painful reality of our Ecuador sleeping arrangements in a blog post on “Adventures of the Cuy”. It’s too difficult a memory to rehash here so please don’t ask me to do so. If you haven’t read that post, or if you revel in your fellow man’s misery and want to read it again, here is the link.

After the abject failure of our Ecuador sleeping plan, Rebecca and I dug in and insisted that our children would sleep in their own beds when we got back to Alexandria. Of course, it took a few days of cajoling and screaming to convince Maya and Jonah that sleeping in their own beds was the right thing to do, but finally, they submitted. And of course, the first few days of the new arrangement were marked by Jonah getting out of bed a dozen times or so to run into our room smiling because it was such a silly game, four or five trips to the bathroom each, repeated calls of Mommy, Mommy, and much hair loss and dejection on mine and Rebecca’s part (well, the hair loss was mostly mine. And I’m not sure it was related to the sleeping puzzle).

But finally, both Maya and Jonah got used to the idea. And now, with slightly devious parental tricks (“help you stay in bed” vitamins for Jonah, and promises to Maya that we will come back in “five minutes”) and only three or four trips to the bathroom between them, both Maya and Jonah are tucked into their own beds and fall asleep there.

Rebecca and I are still required to remain on the same floor while Maya and Jonah fall asleep. But this is a vast improvement on the status quo. We stay in our bedroom and can actually read a book, talk, surf the internet or otherwise ignore each other, or (gasp!) snuggle; whatever our hearts desire.

The arrangement has been working out so well, this reclamation of our room and of our bed, that Rebecca and I have basically been shutting off the downstairs when the kids go to bed and spending the rest of the night in our room. It has really been making the liquor on our bar last a lot longer than is usual. And lest we forget how nice it was to have the kids in our bed to snuggle with during the co-sleeping years, not a night goes by without Maya or Jonah (or both) waking up, walking the long hallway to the big bedroom and finding their old spot between Rebecca and me.

My Wife, Proud to be an American Dork

So, it's crazy Thursday and Rebecca and I are doing our crazy Thursday thing; I'm in front of the sink up to my elbows in soap suds and she's in front of the computer. She says, very sincerely and with emotion in her eyes, "What a great picture." So, I go over expecting a picture of Maya and Jonah looking particularly cute, or a picture of me looking studly, as usual, or a sunset or something, but what do I see on the screen? A picture of Rebecca standing next to a cardboard cut-out of Barack Obama!

Proud to be an American

What an exciting day!!

The President himself took time out of his busy transition schedule to stop by and thank Rebecca personally for all the work she did on his election and turning Virginia blue!