We arrived early for the Gillian Welch concert at Capital One Hall in Tyson’s Corner Sunday night, with me worried about how parking would work and the digital tickets. After only minor glitches (by my standards) we were in this gorgeous lobby with plenty of time to spare.
Our seats were pretty good — Side Orchestra, Row L. The audience was a nice mix of ages, albeit 100% white. And the concert was excellent. I’ll try to find a nice song to share with you later in the week. Gillian and her musical partner Dave Rawlings are both in their mid-50’s. I stupidly didn’t think to familiarize myself with their music, esp the new album Woodlands (or the Yiddish version, Voodlands), and only knew one of her songs Look At Miss Ohio, which I shared on Owl Chatter awhile ago. I hoped they would perform it, but their music is very accessible and we loved it all. Their two regular sets ended without a performance of Miss Ohio, but the audience got them back out for two encores and they finally sang Miss Ohio for one of them — beautifully. It was just the two of them on guitar all night with a backup bass player. Dave’s guitar was excellent and Gillian’s voice perfect. Great concert. I would have enjoyed more banter from them, but that’s a very small nit to pick.
As you may recall, our assignment for Sunday morning was to drive about 20 minutes (Alexandria is big) to the Aslin Brewery to get a four-pack or two of their highly rated ales. I sampled one, bought it, drove back to our hotel, discovered I left my credit card at the Brewery, drove back to get it and then drove back to the hotel again. Seniors at play. Arggggh.
A highlight both mornings was good strong coffee and excellent breakfasts at St. Elmo’s Cafe, where we lingered comfortably, doing puzzles and gazing at the locals.
As I mentioned yesterday, this was the Del Ray section of Alexandria. I tried to get a shot of this “Greetings From Del Ray” artwork, but some fat guy kept blocking me.
We left on the early side Monday because it was rainy, and meandered our way home the long way, through York, PA. I read about a neat lunch place we wanted to try called Gather 256, and it was great. In the middle of nowhere, a community center type of coffee place with sandwiches. We each had a cappucino, and ordered the roasted veggie panini and the Cubano, but couldn’t even start the veggie — they were so big. Very friendly folks too — will certainly try to get back there. Look how nice.
Here’s a bumper sticker I liked from New Orleans via Del Ray: No Black, No White: Just the Blues.
Okay — as I always say after a trip — Back to our miserable lives. (I said that to our very friendly limo driver on the way to the airport in Dublin for our flight home and he loved it and said he’s going to use it on customers.)
Do you have a spelling bugaboo? Many of us do — a word or words you just can’t spell no matter how many times you write it over the years. One of mine was niece — for decades I just couldn’t get the “ie” part down. Anyway, Monday’s puzzle sent Rex off on a hilarious (IMO) spelling rant. It wasn’t any word in the puzzle so much as the name of the constructor. Here’s what he wrote.
“OK, first of all, this constructor’s name is like a double-dog-dare challenge. Is it the two-L “Elliot” or the two-T “Elliott” or the combo of both or is it just one “L” one “T,” two “L”s one “T” … if I didn’t have a computer to remember it for me, I’d be misspelling it all day long, forever and ever. And then add in the last name of “Caroll,” which has Exactly The Same Spelling Issues. One or two “R”s? One or two “L”s. Both? Neither? Nightmare. Surprised the constructor can even spell their own name. Clare Carroll has been writing for me (on the last Tuesday of every month) for years now, and I’m still like “… is it Claire with an ‘I’? Without? Two “R”s? Two “L”s? Both? Neither?” Anyway, congrats on the debut, two-L’s one-T one-R two-Ls Elliot Caroll. Man, I just realized that this name also has the two first names / two last names issue. Carol Eliot. Elliot Caroll. It’s the slipperiest name imaginable. And so innocuous-looking. Also gender ambiguous! Most of the El(l)iot(t)s I know are men, but today’s constructor is a woman. I’m really in awe of this name. It would be so much easier to just call her “Al,” but where’s the challenge in that? In semi-conclusion, Elliot Caroll is a lovely name, even if I am doomed to never spell it correctly on the first try.”
Rex’s reference to “Call me Al” was apt because that was the theme of EC’s puzzle. The theme revealer was the Paul Simon tune, YOU CAN CALL ME AL, and the three theme answers had first words that you could shorten to AL: ALBERT BROOKS, ALABAMA SLAMMER, and ALUMINUM FOIL. I bet most of you old timers are familiar with this video. I still love it and am sharing it here for the benefit of you young’uns.
I think Rex only started this last year, but it was so popular, it’s becoming a regular December tradition. His readers send him holiday themed photos of their pets and he shares them. I sent in Zoey with her cat Emily last year. It was neat. Here’s one from this year: It’s Cleo, and as Rex put it — good luck finding her.
I have lambasted the New Yorker cartoons for being the opposite of funny in these pages in the past. I was about to do so again several issues ago for a collection of cartoons so lame I wondered if there was some campaign being waged to destroy humor. I didn’t do so for the reason I usually don’t do whatever I don’t do — too f*cking lazy. But then, it today’s issue, I saw this cartoon by Avi Steinberg. Hope you like it as much as we do.
“They’re going to try using you to get to me.”
See you tomorrow!
The Wellington Files 