I was already looking forward to the concert to celebrate the 40th anniversary of The Band’s Last Waltz on Saturday the 4th, but then they added Garth Hudson (one of two living members). The biggest pain was the location, the new MGM National Harbor (where parking was horrendous). But I’m a fast walker and I still arrived for the opening song. On vocals was Jamey Johnson, Michael McDonald and Warren Haynes, with John Medeski on keys and Don Was on bass. Special guests included another player from the original album (Bob Margolin) as well as a couple Neville Brothers. Great long show – I’ve been to a lot of concerts but that show featured the first tuba solo I’ve seen. Earlier that day I introduced Nina to Lada Gaga, so I became a backup dancer. No costumes yet, but she’s a demanding choreographer. That was in preparation for the Super Bowl the following day. I made wings and we attended a party at one of Jill’s friends in Reston, stayed until the 3rd quarter (so I didn’t get to see that comeback until later).
Monday and Tuesday were teacher workdays and Jill stayed home with Nina, bringing her to my work Tuesday afternoon as we started our new schedule of me taking her to dance class while Jill took a health class. Jill flew to Newark for the day for work on Saturday the 11th, then she took Nina to a birthday party at Sport Bounce on Sunday and later we saw Beth Patterson at The Old Brogue.
Wednesday the 15th I was a chaperone on Nina’s class field trip to Tae Kwon Do in South Lakes. We wore pads and the kids got to hit and kick at us, then everyone broke a board. I’ve seen Queensrÿche twice, but it wasn’t until that night’s Geoff Tate show at Jammin’ Java that I finally saw “Silent Lucidity” live. Great revue of their whole catalog.
That week I finally hit 2003 on my current project of digitization of my concert videos. This was notable for being the first proto Quitter UK show (wasn’t true 1st show because Chuck was on vacation) and finally I have a recording of the song “emmet swimming” and of course “The Mailman Song” with lots of other great covers.
Nina had Valentine’s Day at school on Friday the 17th, and then another birthday party to attend on Saturday where Nina swam for 2 hours, then ate 4 slices of Domino’s – finally eating pizza other than Flippin’ Pizza (we walk over for dinner once a week when Jill works late). She also had a slice of cake and came home with a tummy ache.
Thursday the 23rd I noticed this calendar for Merriweather Post Pavilion from the summer of 1973 and wished for a time machine. After a crazy warm couple of days, we took a family walk over to Terraset on Saturday when it was in the 70s, then I took Nina for yet another birthday party at a Reston gym, this time during a thunderstorm (in February).
