This quarter's scans revealed tiny (2-3 mm) growth of a still small (<9 mm) nodule in the lung, and a not-super-happy lymph node nearby.

We know that the cancer's still active, but the question is how does the biological cost of treating it stack up against the damage it's doing. In this case it's not yet worth treating, and so barring any significant change in my subjective experience, we'll see again in three months how much progress it's made. Keep your fingers crossed!

This summer's concert calendar is already filling up. Before that, our regional Science Fiction convention, Norwescon, is next weekend, and I'll be paneling there. Tuesday of the following week is Sleater-Kinney at The Showbox, one of Seattle's most storied clubs. We couldn't catch their set at Bumbershoot last year and are looking forward to seeing what we missed. (Or heard streetside as we headed toward the bus, as the case may be.)

There's nothing else on the concert calendar until May, when we see IDLES at the Paramount Theater. It'll be wild seeing them the same place we've seen Nick Cave, Wilco, and others; the first time we caught them, it was at the hundred-or-so-person Sunset Tavern in our neighborhood, back in 2017 or so. The second time we saw them, in 2019, I was already suffering undiagnosed cancer pain, but for that night I felt like a million bucks.

We don't have tickets for Billy Joel on May 24th. We're thinking they'll get cheaper, which is good because the kids want to see him too. (Maybe it's because I've described him as "the music of my people," the Long Island/Westchester Jewish/Italian kids. But they also like some of his other songs too.)

Kamasi Washington comes in on May 31st, and two weeks later we see local heroes Black Nite Crash at the Sunset Tavern, along with two other bands I've not even heard of. (Royal Blunder and The Zack Static Sect.) A week later, we're with the kids at ZooTunes for Car Seat Headrest (who we've seen before at the Showbox and the Paramount Theater).

July brings The Church and Afghan Whigs at the Showbox on the 5th, Daddy-Daughter time at Slash's S.E.R.P.E.N.T. festival--I have to say, the one released track from his upcoming album of blues standards is pretty good--the Washington Renaissance Fair (not technically a music event, though I'll be disappointed if there are no troubadors).

We don't yet have tickets for Robert Plant and Allison Krauss on July 17th--I couldn't figure out any presale codes, and they go on sale Monday--but the kids figure he's a must-see. (I've seen him three times already, twice with his Sensational Space Shifters and once with Krauss, but a fourth go-round sounds like fun. The first time I saw him, Judah was with us, maybe six months old.)

On August 9th, we have tickets for all four of us to the Outlaw Festival, with Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan, John Mellencamp, and Billy Strings. I've never seen Willie or Mellencamp live, and I don't think we'll have many other chances. Judah for one is adamant that he's not missing Dylan, even though I told him that the one time Laura & I saw him was underwhelming.

Not quite a week later, another Zoo Tunes show with the kids: Built to Spill and Yo La Tengo, neither of whom I've seen live before. We don't yet have tickets for Jeff Lynne's ELO at the end of the month, but we do have tickets for both nights of Metallica at Lumen Field with the kids. Judah was learning the bass part for "For Whom the Bell Tolls" at 7 this morning, so you know he's excited.

We've got Bumbershoot tickets that same weekend. Weirdly Metallica is taking a night off between their dates here, so we'll see as much as we can on the 31st. I don't know who we'll miss on September 1st to see them, but there's stuff all day, with the specifics still TBA anyway, so there's some chance that these plans will change. (Maybe we'll not do Bumbershoot at all on the 1st? It's possible.)

Finally, Neil Young hasn't announced any Seattle dates, but he's up in BC, and Hannah is dying to see him, so we'll see. Maybe he'll come to town here.

Whew! We're still skipping as many shows as we're seeing, or more... but also we'll be seeing the kids do School of Rock performances, at least three of those...