I started this post in the middle of March. It’s now the middle of May. There is so much that I want to say but I don’t know where to start. I’ve been to two shows. They felt oddly normal (other than all the talk, both the performers and the attendees, about vaccinations and masks and pandemics, etc.) but at the same time, it felt like a celebration, a rejoicing…

How can it be both? Not sure, but I was feeling a lot of feelings and I was realizing that I’m not sure how to be appropriately social anymore. A year of not really interacting with people has left me with some social anxiety, something I never really felt before. And now I’m sitting on a plane and I’m having a lot of feelings….

So to avoid those, I’m going to focus on how good it was to be at live music with friends again. I got to H-U-G people!!! Responsibly, of course – vax in place + 14 days!

I saw my friend, Betsy, for the first time since possibly 2019. Here we are realizing that we were both vaccinated / safe and could hug!

I saw three amazing women perform, alone and together, and after that I got to see John Craigie. Everything about the show was spectacular. The three women (Hanna Haas, Anna Moss and Aviva Le Fey) each did a short set – 3 songs – and then they came together to harmonize on a closing song before we were treated to John.

*UPDATE: I am no longer on a plane. I am back in SF after spending two weeks on the East Coast visiting family and friends. I also attended my third backyard show (this show was a Beauty!!) and Betsy was in attendance again!

The evening was beautiful, a little chilly, and I had the front table on the back patio of The Fox Den with my pod, Pat and Rod. It was so good.

John also brought The Sam Chase up to sing their duet and brought the women back to close with ‘I Am California’ where Anna Moss performed a clarinet solo. You can see this clip on our I / G account; it’s good. I’d check it out if I were you!

So, I thought I’d have no problem developing that blog post about the John Craigie night with his Super Friends and yet, it was suddenly April 30th and I was going to my second show at The Fox Den. This one was Steve Poltz. Steve is ALWAYS a good time and this show was no different. Reuters was there doing a piece on KC Turner’s back yard / driveway events that he’s been organizing this past year+. KC has been getting a lot of well-deserved publicity for this.

I had hoped to get this blog post published during my travel day, but instead I worked on the plane and once I got to NYC, all thoughts of writing a blog post evaporated. And so, two more weeks passed.

I returned to SF on Friday night. I had a lot of feelings on my travel day on Friday and I suspect this year will involve a few more days like this. Getting used to change again and getting used to controlling the expressions on your [my] face because your [my] mask won’t hide them anymore.

Saturday afternoon, I headed to Beauty!! to celebrate her 7th anniversary with a little performance by John Doe. Yes, *the* John Doe! From X! I have seen John Doe perform many times, but this was truly special to see him in Jill’s backyard, engaging with all 20 of us, both during the performance and afterwards. The music was fantastic. The weather was San Francisco, which included fog that felt like a little rain and then some blue sky and a spot of sun here and there. No one was complaining! The backyard was whimsical. The people were all of my friends! We were all vaccinated (except for the two youthful attendees). There was a potluck after John and KC left to get their next show in Lafayette. The food was delicious, especially including Esther and Drake’s cheesy bread bites! The whole day was simply the best! Better than all the rest!

And so, I’ve started 3 different blog posts since my last post about Della Mae and the shut down (almost 15 months ago). This post was one of the three. One was deleted and one (about Justin Townes Earle and his death) remains in draft format, perhaps it will be written, but perhaps not. I have a lot of feelings around that man and his music, and I could say a lot, but I’m not sure that anyone but me would want to read it.