That was fun! I was talking to Jennifer on the phone yesterday and asked her if she wanted to come to the show in Richmond with me. She asked what the music sounded like and I said look it up, she did, and she said ok. It took a while to drive there and I got a feel for what it must be like to work in DC and live in Occoquan. It was not a good feeling.

Jennifer is psyched about her upcoming trip. She was going to go to Jordan after a summer project in Chad, but the Chad trip was cancelled since the university has a policy of respecting State Department travel advisories. So now she is just visiting a Jordanian pal, who has been emailing her with helpful tips, like "bring a mask because everyone smokes here" and "maybe an oxygen tank" and "also a parachute because the Jordanian passengers are going to get increasingly annoying as your nonsmoking flight continues." Turns out there's a music thing happening on the Wadi Rum the day after she arrives; she says she "hates techno" but it seems like if she's there when it's happening she should give it a whirl. I'd have to agree. I told her to think of the Waybacks show as a warmup for Jordan, since there would be smoking and since she "hates bluegrass".

The Waybacks are not exactly bluegrass, but still. It was an awfully good show that ended with a Cumberland Blues encore that pretty much left everyone with a sense of pure awareness and a merging with ultimate reality, a transcendence of time and space, a feeling of sacredness or awe, and deeply felt positive mood like joy, peace and love. It was lovely, I am telling you. Then we toddled on homeward. Lots of fun.