From our porch…
To the porch at Wolf Trap.
And then to the show.
De La Soul opened…old school style.
We had to put our hands in the air.
Testing
You go.
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.
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Science! Psuedo-science! Nature! Art! Nonsense!
October 7, 2026
concert, film, photography concert, de la soul, erykah badu, live music, video, wolf trap Leave a comment
August 4, 2026
concert, music digital wellness, eli, jen and harold, josh, new york (song), st vincent, wolf trap Leave a comment
After a picnic dinner of delicious sushi on the patio (how civilized can you get?), we headed in for an opening act so memorable that we have no idea who it was.
St. Vincent, on the other hand, was excellent. Always trying to push the tempo regardless of the national symphony conductor.
We had a posse.
An excellent wolf trap iteration.
August 3, 2025
concert, dance, music, photography dc, filene center, iron man, live music, ozzy, trombone shorty, Virginia, wolf trap Leave a comment
Trombone Shorty puts on a damn good show, packed with energy, dancing and pizzazz.  The Filene Center is a great place to catch his act. But by all means skip the opening acts. (Seriously, Dumpstaphunk was a disorganized mess, and JJ Grey was in need of a trailer park bar. We were looking at each other like “what the fuck.”)
Then this happened and the place magically transformed.
No show this day was complete without a tribute to ozzy.
The show ended with an ovation at 10:58.
August 2, 2025
film, music, photography band, concert, dc, Game to Lose, i'm with her, live music, Only Daughter, opening act, Virginia, Wild and Clear and Blue, wolf trap Leave a comment
Opening for Iron and Wine, I’m With Her pretty much outshone the headline act. Such excellent musicianship. In our view, they deserve an entry of their own. So here you go.
As per usual, we started the evening with a picnic.
This time we sat way up front.
July 28, 2024
concert, dance, photography beck, cocktail, concert, dark and stormy, gringo gordo, live music, lonesome tears, morning, national symphony, romey, sea changes, tropicalia, we live again, where it's at, wolf trap Leave a comment
The thing is, we were too lazy to conjure up tickets on the day of release. Or maybe too busy. But anyway, there were none left for a while. Then a few popped up for too much money on the Ticketmaster resale site. And we were off to the races.
Boy are we glad we went. It was a great show. It all started with empanadas from Gringo Gordo at sunset and some properly-made dark and stormies.


We had never been on time for a wolf trap gates opening line before. Dang. Fortunately we had seats in the seventh row.
The orchestra started in, and into the sonic ocean walked Beck. Yeah, the National Symphony (who had performed maybe one run through) was very good indeed.




Lonesome Tears was the first song (track 4 on Sea Changes…from which Beck plucked many a great song to play with the National Symphony).
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And then it was time for some salsa. I guess Beck was in Rio for the Chalmers wedding too, though he must have attended in disguise.
Honestly, Tropicalia was one of the weakest pieces on the program (and it wasn’t bad). The orchestra was having a hard time moving the four against the three of the bass player (and the conductor beating only a downbeat was not helping). Oh well.
In the end, Beck got the audience to clap the beat.
Tropicalia



We Live Again
Morning






Known for his romantic “dreariness” part of the time, there is also the most pit Beck.

The audience got to their feet for Where It’s At.
.
Oh yeah!
Then the orchestra filed out and Beck screwed around on stage for a bit. Some slide guitar was improvised.
Romey was rewarded with Devil’s Haircut.
By that time, we were all singing. (Sadly, we missed recording Loser.) And then it was final bows.


A magical evening.
June 21, 2024
art, concert, music concert, live music, picnic, video, wilco, wolf trap Leave a comment
Wilco puts on a great show, and the Thursday night show at Wolf Trap was no exception. Almost. The venue has great sound but does sap energy. By the end of the show the band had everyone up on their feet dancing (finally).
Here are some pictures and videos from the show. We’ll start with my very favorite Wilco song, Impossible Germany…extended jam version.

I Am Trying to Break Your Heart

Extended Wilco Jam…

I’m Always In Love

Jesus, Etc.

Heavy Metal Drummer
—
A Shot in the Arm
About the only thing that needs work here is the Wolf Trap ticketing system…which just sucks. It forced us to sit separately from our super fun Wilco friends. Alas.
But at least we had a great picnic before the show.


August 27, 2023
concert, music aimee mann, concert, donnie, geri, live music, regina spektor, video, wolf trap 1 Comment
I mean, Aimee Mann was really good. But Regina Spektor is in a completely different league.

Still, Aimee Mann played some greats.


Like “Save Me”
But Regina was better and she played some favorites too.

Like “Fidelity”

And “Samson”

But above all, this magical “Becoming All Alone”
We had a great evening with Donnie and Geri, sneaking bourbon mint fizz cocktails into Wolf Trap.