Not enough hours in the day

It's nearly midnight and I need to get at least a couple more hours of stuff done tonight, but it's just not gonna happen.

Last night M & I went to go see Carbon Leaf at the 9:30 Club. I've lived in D.C. for 12 years and I've been more in the last, oh - 15 months, than I have in the previous decade. Anyway, CL played an acoustic show and it was really excellent. They started off with 5 or 6 unreleased songs that they've written in the last handful of months; my favorites were "Unknown Bride" and "Native America." After that they switched over to tracks from their latest release, "Indian Summer." They played most of my favorite songs - the only one they missed was "When I'm Alone" but it's all good.

Barry - lead singer - is apparently starting to pick up on guitar, which he played for the first several songs. He was noticably more relaxed when he switched off to just vocals. Jordan (bass player) was incredible, as was Carter (electric/acoustic guitar). Loved him. He had a couple of riffs that were just incredible.

However, this wouldn't be a complete recap without noting the idiot in the white shirt who, during the 2nd half of the show would just stand up and start clapping (not on the beat, mind you) and trying to get the crowd into it. Now, I can see how getting the crowd into the show is one thing, but this idiot was standing up and taking bows after each song the band performed. Nice job, dude. M chimes in on Carbon Leaf, too.

Ye olde Xmas trip packing list is nearly done. I'll fine tune it at work tomorrow, but I have to do laundry tomorrow night and do as much packing as I can. That 6:00 a.m. cab pickup on Thursday a.m. is gonna SUCK!