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Josh Ritter on a low stage in a cathedral. A huge pillar rises beside the stage and the stone walls are lit with blue and purple light. Warmer golden color lights up the large window behind the stage. Josh is smiling and singing, with his eyes closed and chin raised. To his right is a grand piano, where Sam Kassirer sits, head down, playing.

Seven years since the last time, I saw Josh Ritter in concert last night. He played from a small stage in a cathedral, flanked by wood and stone and stained glass, giant pillars, and Sam Kassirer at a grand piano. It was a joyful show that made me feel like part of a community in this city where we now live.

Every heart is a package, tied up in knots someone else tied.

Six years ago I saw Darlingside at the Music Instrument Museum. In the time since, many of their songs have become lifelong favorites, and last night I saw them again at this cozy neighborhood venue, captivated once again.1

Three men on a stage singing and playing guitars and mandolin.

Musicians near the back entrance of an auditorium, standing and preparing instruments

They played a couple of songs un-amplified from places in the audience. It was a fun and particularly human few minutes, part of a special and memorable night.

  1. And not just because of Don’s youthful vigor.2 ↩︎

  2. A little IYKYK humor from the show. ↩︎

Listening to this Josh Ritter album after dinner tonight as the sky gets darker. Released for just a few days in Dec of 2020, it’s a wonderful album of live performances of so many favorites. Wish I could tell you where to pick it up. Friends’ll have to come over and listen to it some summer night.

The album cover for Josh Ritter’s HELL YEAH!, in a music player app interface with a play button beneath it. It is subtitled ‘Live 2017-2019’ and features a black and white photo of Josh and the band on a sofa, smiling and laughing.

The back cover of HELL YEAH! The track listing is superimposed on a busy wall covered in graffiti. It looks like a dressing room wall, maybe.

Media diet this week. I’ve been reading:

  • I finished The Tainted Cup, and thought it was fun and interesting. I’ll definitely read more in the series.
  • Listening to Circe. It’s excellent and the audiobook reading is perfect.
  • Started reading Metal from Heaven

And some TV:

  • Season 2 of Severance is here. I re-watched Season 1 a couple of weeks ago and was struck by how tight it was, how specific and articulated its vision and its characters are. The first episode of Season 2 hit all the notes I would have wanted: It surprised me and promises so much.
  • We finished the final season of Loudermilk. It walks a fine line between jokey and sincere, and I think ends as a really moving story about found family and addiction, while managing to frequently be really, really funny.
  • American Primeval is very violent depiction of a violent era in the American West, and centers on the Mountain Meadows Massacre. It’s well done; I don’t know if I’d recommend it.

And some music I’ve liked:

Family are out for an after dinner walk, so I’m listening to some music, sitting on the living room rug in the speakers’ sweet spot, with the volume at Slightly Unreasonable.

My little Shiny app to visualize my last.fm data continues to tick along. This graphic shows the top artists of my year not in my top all-time played list. My favorite new album of 2024 is at the top of this list: Nick Cave’s WILD GOD is a tremendous, moving record.

If you’re still scrobbling, you can see your own data at deardestiny.shinyapps.io/tuner.

A graphic list of my ‘new top artists’ in 2024. The background is bright yellow, and the list starts with Nick Cave’s new album WILD GOD. Also on the list are TV on the Radio, Jackie West, The Cure and feeble little horse. The list includes small thumbnails of each album cover.

I didn’t know that Lucinda Williams had a couple of rollicking cover albums, of The Beatles and Tom Petty. Man, I’m a cryer for Wildflowers.

Lucinda Williams poses like Tom Petty on his album cover for Full Moon Fever. She stands with a guitar over her shoulder, leaning forward like daring you to listen. Maybe a little smug? The photo of her is is monochrome and is shaded pink, yellow and green from top to bottom.

Making a big pot of soup and listening to John Prine on a Sunday night, things are alright.

I miss John Prine, though.