2018: The Year of Music

I am embracing the emptiness and stillness these days. To ease the pain of losing him, I have turned to music countless times. Most recently, I have listened to The Killers “Be Still” (You can listen to it here) over and over, soaking up Brandon Flowers' voice and meditating on the words. "Be Still" is not a popular Killers song from their Battle Born album, but the lyrics carry a lot of meaning for me these days, much more than they would have when life was easier and lighter to carry around in my heart and soul.

The very first concert Chip took me to was The Killers, and they played several songs from their Battle Born album. He knew they were one of my top 5 favorite bands ever. I hadn’t seen live music in years (and years and years) after having 5 children and being part of a 2-parent household in which both parents owned their own small businesses (buying concert tickets was rarely in the budget from 1996-2010).

Chip and I saw The Killers that first time together in late-summer on a perfectly warm evening. We casually wandered to the front of the general admission area and got as close as possible. I danced and sang from the beginning of the first song (Mr. Brightside), right on through Ms. Atomic Bomb (when confetti fell from above all over us...how we laughed and felt so happy in that moment! I remember it like it was yesterday) and up through the final notes of the last song of the encore (When You Were Young). Afterwards, he told me he really enjoyed watching me have such a great time. A friendship was forged that night because of our unabashed, mutual love of music and dancing. I was so grateful to him for taking me to see The Killers.

Years later (and 2 cancer diagnoses later), I christened 2018 “The Year of Music,” a year in which I wanted to attend a live concert each month. I started us off for the year with tickets I gave Chip for Christmas 2017 to see a Talking Heads tribute band at a small venue on the DC waterfront (The Talking Heads were one of his top favorite bands). The Year of Music was a success, despite Chip’s chemo treatments early in the year.

The 2018 list of live music events:

January 6 - Psycho Killers at Union Stage (DC)

January 10 - The Killers at The Anthem (DC)

February 15 - The Marcus King Band at The Anthem

March - A band at the 9:30 Club (DC) that I can’t remember. We saw them with our French exchange student, Florian, who was staying with us for a month

April 5 - The Motet at 9:30 Club

April 16 - Pink at The Capital One Area (DC)

May 31/June 1 - Various artists performing live music on Sixth Street in Austin, TX, when we were there for Cat’s high school graduation

July 11 - Tedeschi Trucks Band at Wolf Trap (Vienna, VA) with friends Scott and Robyn Honiberg

July 15 - Halsey ay Wolf Trap with Paula Powell and 2 of her daughters (Chip skipped this one)

July 22 - Sweet Yonder at Jammin’ Java (Vienna, VA) with Scott Honiberg (Robyn skipped this one). It was a Shepherd's Center of Oakton/Vienna Benefit Concert.

August 18 - Hot August Music Festival (Cockeysville, MD) with Bill Gilchrist. This year at Hot August, an all-day music festival, we saw the following bands play: The Revivalists (Headliners!), Karl Benson’s Tiny Universe, Marcus King Band, Psycho Killers, Whisky Shivers, Dirty Grass Players

August 28 - New Order at The Anthem

September 28 - The Crazy Chesters (Chip’s band) at Breakers Sky Lounge (Herndon, VA)

October 2 - Slash featuring Miles Kennedy and the Conspirators at The Fillmore Silver Spring (MD)

October 13 - Umphree’s McGee / Southern Avenue at The MECU Pavilion (Baltimore, MD)

November 17 - The British Are Coming, a British Rock tribute band at my brother Ed’s 50th birthday party at The House of Blues in Dallas, TX

November 25 - Solo, acoustic show: Chip playing “Long-Haired Country Boy” by Charlie Daniels in our kitchen

December 15 - Chip’s Band The Crazy Chesters at Breakers Sky Lounge (Herndon)

From the night of that first live show seeing The Killers up through our last live show that we saw together (The Revivalists at The Anthem, February 29, 2020), we felt connected by music...his, mine and ours…and the connection was deep. I’m eternally grateful to Chip for that first concert, for the countless others we saw together throughout the years, and for the untold times I got to see him play music live on stage and in the quiet of our home. I am grateful for the entirety of 2018, from our first concert of the year on January 6 right up through the music played at our wedding on December 29. Simply, it was a year that we shared so much music and dance together as well as with friends and family. What a blessing 2018 was.