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.
