Hang Time

Who uses it: Ball players
What it means: In football and baseball, the amount of time a ball is in the air before it reaches its destination; in basketball, the amount of time a player is in the air during a jump shot.
How you can use it: To describe a period of time before you fall back to earth.

It's not that I think anyone who reads this blog won't know what "hang time" is; it's just a concept I really like, and it came up last night.

Joseph and I pretended to be club kids and walked around the corner (I'm in D.C.) to The Black Cat, where The Notwist and themselves were playing together as 13 & God.

We'd had a couple of beers; we were far from the oldest people there; and the opening band, Boy in Static, was terrific, moody electronic rock with a kind of percussion machine I'd never seen before.

Joseph smiled at me and said, "It's hang time," and it was. For about three hours, we just stood and moved to the music, forgetting about all the turmoil in our own lives and the world at large. It's the power of live music, and I don't see enough of it.

I did stop in Richmond yesterday to meet Baby Meg, who is even better-looking than her photos suggest. Scott took a picture to commemorate the event; if he sends it to me, I'll post it here.