ilyĀIMY.com

SO – it’s going to be obvious right from the get-go that I’m trying something new with the Journal – something potentially disastrous! But honestly, there’s just no way the current ilyAIMY.com, with it’s gigabytes of pictures and floundering WordPress install, can keep going. The load times are perhaps pleasantly nostalgic for those of us who remember dial-up, but it’s been embarrassingly unusable to a modern user for far too long.

And so I’m trying something new. Right off the bat, it doesn’t have the gallery options that WordPress has, but Blogger is free, and as far as I can tell, Google seems to plan on leaving it as-is for the long haul. In my hope to find a “permanent” home for this stuff on the web, a home that’s not beholden to either punitive fees or a horrifying corporation (yeah, yeah, I know google’s no saint, but it’s not Meta!), this seems to be the best bet I’ve got. I’m not TOO deep into this, but hopefully Susan will give her blessing, my mom will be able to read it, people who come to the open mics will be able to find my photos and it’ll be able to EXIST without me worrying too much about it. 

The fact that it’s “just” a blog now…. well, I’ll try to get over it. (sheesh, I remember when I’d be annoyed by people calling the Journal a “Blog” because it was SO MUCH MORE… but… here we are.

(see what I mean, NOT a really visually compelling site! God DAMN I miss a full-width video!)

ANYWHO – January 13th I invited my old friend Mosno Al-Moseeki to be my featured artist and I feel like it was my favourite night in a LONG time. Especially having been sick the week in advance and this being the first feature of 2026, somehow it all felt fated and IMPORTANT and I Loved having him. There’s something about Mosno’s beautiful CHILL that radiates through a room and makes me feel … better.

A LOT better.

We do this every Tuesday. I start at 7pm. Signup in person prior to when I start! List’s randomized as we go. 7112 Willow Avenue in Takoma Park, MD. 

Tonight w

1) rob

2) Claire

3) Dave DuGoff

4) James

5) Phil

6) Bobby

7) Mosno

8) sid

9) &Maddie

10) Dave Weaver

11) DC

12) Jim Barry

13) DPD

14) CLIFTON

15) Dan M

16) Juels Bland

It’s always nice to have a featured artist who can play with others. The man can jam.

Right off the bat, our new-to-us artist makes use of Mosno’s djembe talents.

Claire had a wonderful grunge sensibility that really tickled my little Gen-X heart.

David Potts-Dupre (centre) has been singing along with Dave DuGoff (left) and it’s been showing a whole other side to Dave (centre)’s voice. Plus it gets him allll warmed up for his set later in the evening.