April Copley

ALT The stage at the Mann Center in Philadelphia. Multiple musicians are performing in front of a weird gray cave-like structure in the background. Several spotlights are shining straight down, creating periwinkle-colored cones of light. This is one of the few photos I was able to take without someone's large head obstructing my view. Being short sucks, y'all.

ALT The stage at the Met Philadelphia. There’s a large, sparkly chandelier that looks like a fancy silver sea urchin, and the stage is full of empty seats ready for the musicians to take their places.

ALT The stage at Union Transfer in Philadelphia. There are seven musicians: two on guitar, one on keys, one on sax, a drummer, a bassist, and the lead singer. The lights are a deep blue color. Your girl is getting too old for these general admission/standing only club venues, but YOLO.

ALT The Lounge at World Cafe Live in Philadelphia. Shara Nova is using a corded phone as a prop during a musical interlude.

ALT The marquee at The Anthem in Washington, DC. Sign reads: WEEZER TONIGHT SEPT 14 SOLD OUT. The cool thing about the logo is that it just reads “ANTHEM” with the letters t, h, and e underlined. As a full-stack software engineer who struggles with clever design elements, I can appreciate this sort of thing.

ALT PJ Harvey and multiple musicians on stage at the Met Philadelphia. The spotlight is creating a pretty cool starburst pattern. I'm too exhausted to provide a fun, detailed description today.

ALT St. Vincent performing on stage at The Met Philadelphia. She's front and center in front of arch-shaped set pieces, singing and playing a white electric guitar. On the left is a dude playing a red electric guitar, and on the right there's a woman playing bass. Behind them are a drummer on the right and a keyboardist on the left. The lights are orange, yellow, and green, and there are video screens displaying the musicians. Currently the Eagles are playing sportsball just down the road, and the dude seated next to me is watching the game on his phone. They ended up winning against the Packers, btw. Go Birds or something.

ALT This is the Orange Blossom Open at Clearwater Ice Arena in the summer of 2016. A figure skater is wearing a dark blue dress with rhinestones in a weird pose on an ice rink. She had just completed a compulsory figure skating routine, and her knees were somehow wobbly yet stiff at the same time. The spins aggravated a recent injury, one that would never heal and ultimately put her figure skating "career" on ice indefinitely. But she smiled and posed for the judges before leaving the ice to ruminate on her performance. It's not a flattering photo, but it's important as it signifies growth as a performer working through stage fright. There is a reason why I'm reflecting on this today, and exactly three of you might know why.