Suspicious Cheese Lords/Best Night Ever

I met friends down at the National Gallery Sunday night to take in a free concert. The Suspicious Cheese Lords are a male choral group of 20 or so, specializing in polyphony and music from the Middle Ages. (The odd name derives from Suscipe Quæso Domine, a song title in Latin.) I missed the group last xmas, but we saw them the year before at the Franciscan Monastery here in DC. The sculpture garden of the National Gallery is not as good a place to see or hear music as the ornate, intimate space of the Monastery -- although the indoor trees were nice -- but it is a nice venue.

For whatever reason, I really like polyphony. Maybe it's the huge sound of a huge interval, written for monks with centuries worth of nothing better to do. But it's great. (Another positive association is to the singing we heard on the Tuscan part of our honeymoon at the abbey of Sant'Antimo.)

The music was great, but I had a free night and time was wastin'. We left at intermission and went to a dirty Irish bar, where I had a beer-and-a-shot and some cheese fries.

From high culture to low, hanging out with friends who appreciate the same things. That was a Very Good Night. My thanks to the Monkey Mama for staying home and making it possible. (She got to spend a quiet night to herself after putting the Monkey down, which is not so bad either.)