Erin K. Maher
@erinkmaher
Academic copyeditor, line editor, and indexer in the arts and humanities. She/her/Dr. It's pronounced "mar."
This is how I was reminded that it's the anniversary of the Trump assassination attempt - my Instagram post for this show says "I spent my evening seeing Aoife O'Donovan and Hawktail instead of doomscrolling. ❤️ (Okay, I doomscrolled before and after.)"
When I saw that Concert Archives keeps track of streaks, I was like "oh no, don't encourage me." 🤣 My next back-to-back situation will be pretty tiring (a concert in DE on 9/18 and then a festival in NJ on 9/19), but I'm taking trains to the festival, so at least I don't have to be super alert...
Re: "things going a little bit wrong (e.g., misreading their own set lists)," I think about "I did the... I did the thing again" every time I make an on-brand mistake. (Bonny Light Horseman, Union Transfer in Philadelphia, 6/20/24, from my spot at a front corner of the balcony)
waaahhhh :( (I technically *really* did not have time to go, between work deadlines and other concerts & stuff, but I was gonna! I haven't been to a show at Longwood in a couple years and I miss it!)
Does anyone else get these notifications every time it's extra humid out, or does the app... know what I look like? Either way, I don't need the advice, because I don't even own a straightener. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I moved recently, so there's not much right now! Here's part of the bulletin board next to my main desk and the beginnings of a band poster collection with the little standing desk I just got for my living room. (Descriptions and some context in the alt text.)
Both of the @romancingthevote.com hater talks lured me in, and the wording of this confirmation email is going to be bouncing around in my head for a while. 🤣
I'm fully losing my shit @ "Dozens are bopping to uplifting jazz as uncertainty infuses the celebration."
update: oh hell yeah I'm gonna pop over to Ardmore for just Molly's half of the late show and have a great time for one (1) hour
Yeah, no, I can't be outside when it's 103 degrees out, and definitely not 103 degrees + this much recreationally-illegal-in-Pennsylvania pot smoke + only caring about one half of the double bill. 🙃 So I'm down to eight, and #6 isn't for another couple weeks. It's fine, I need to catch up on work!!
Before ChatGPT, I had a handful of music appreciation students every semester who would plagiarize by running Wikipedia or whatever through word-replacer tools. I had a whole PowerPoint slide about it on the first day, but people still did it.
2026 lawn chair concert #4: Sunny War at Eagleview Town Center in Exton. I saw her last year under trying circumstances (4 PM act at a festival, around the time I googled "heat exhaustion symptoms??"), so getting another chance was great, even if suburban-sprawl ~town centers~ unnerve me.
I found mine when I was moving recently, and I stuck it on my bulletin board in my new work-from-home corner.
2026 lawn chair concert #3: Hurray for the Riff Raff at Concerts Under the Stars in King of Prussia. Great show, perfect weather (except there were a TON of gnats on stage); I write to you from the free parking area where I'm waiting for enough people to leave that I don't have to be aggressive.
I started my morning with the new Fruit Bats album, having finished this week's "Before THE LANDFILL" to-do list late last night. Here's a little special-interest infodump, which you are free to scroll past.
those aren't good feelings..... you have to listen to the verses............... sometimes songs that are bops are sad......... album comes out on Friday and I'm already like PEOPLE CAN'T READ about it
2026 lawn chair concert #2: Lizzie No at Levitt Pavilion SteelStacks in Bethlehem, in the rain (but post-downpour). It's too far for me to go to more than one of these a year, but I love the mildly weird experience of watching a band with what used to be Bethlehem Steel looming in the background.