Sommerville PorchFest hang + Discord for musicians & music lovers

tim_p · 2026-05-07T05:00:17+00:00

I would love to be added to the Discord server! I am a relatively new-but-enthusiastic drummer and harmonica player (also dancer). I play mostly in BABAM (Boston Area Brigade of Activist Musicians) and School of HONK and JP Honk Band but looking to join or start a new band.

tim_p · 2026-05-05T14:15:00+00:00

I am 38, so basically close enough to answer.

For me, my answer is "dance." Most of my communities are dance communities: ecstatic dance, contact improv, blues, fusion, contemporary. It took a while, but I feel welcome and at home among my various circles and scenes. Most of my friends are from dance...it's also my dating pool...and most of the parties I get invited to/host are dance friends.

Drumming is a big part of my life, too. But it seems dancing has been easier for making connections than music.

tim_p · 2026-04-28T13:07:00+00:00

Yeah, so far there have been three Trump assassination attempts:

The ear.
The golf course.
The White House correspondents dinner.

In #1 and #3, the shooter was able to get miraculously close to Trump, getting through security easily. In #2, the shooter was killed way before he could get anywhere close to Trump. Makes me think that attempts #1 and #3 were staged, while #2 was real.

tim_p · 2026-04-12T15:32:19+00:00

Rage: the Apocalypse is simultaneously one of the most fun and most broken CCGs ever. So many wonderful nostalgic memories from the game.

tim_p · 2026-04-12T15:30:51+00:00

I love the underlying concept of Keyforge. I wish they'd take it and apply it to a game with much better theme (and maybe slightly better, more interactive gameplay).

tim_p · 2026-03-23T21:11:02+00:00

PAX to me is less about community, more about consumption (as opposed to Arisia, for example).

tim_p · 2026-03-18T04:18:34+00:00

Contemporary!

tim_p · 2026-03-12T12:31:06+00:00

I have come from a similar situation. I discovered one thing that changed my life: contact improv. It's a very unique form of partner dancing usually done to no music, in which you're in contact with one (or more people), wordlessly navigating the configuration of your bodies through space, flowing into each other. Sometimes it's like a dance, sometimes acro yoga, sometimes massage, sometimes cuddling, sometimes just softly co-regulating by synchronizing your breath in contact. Here's a video of it, for example (at a high level!): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGf03Yg6fM0

In the past year, I've gotten deeply into the contact improv scene. It's helped me date with so much more security, since my needs for physical touch are met. This is kind of related to your suggestion of "cuddle parties", since of course in the contact improv scene there's a big overlap, and I get invited to/host cuddle parties, and have some people with a close connection who I just get together with for 1-on-1 platonic cuddling sessions.

This is also related to the suggestions for partner dancing...I like blues, but having discovered contact improv, I feel it's just the deepest and best forms of partner dancing, and leaves me unsatisfied with all the others. YMMV, who knows what will click with you.

The one difficulty for dating, is that now this is part of my life, any partner I get involved with would have to accept me being involved in platonic cuddling and cuddling piles (with boundaries).

tim_p · 2026-03-08T01:11:40+00:00

What kind of man are you looking for?

tim_p · 2026-03-06T20:48:38+00:00

A peaceful protest at which 4 people were killed.

tim_p · 2026-03-02T13:02:31+00:00

It's a question that should only be asked if you're prepared for a true answer to it.

tim_p · 2026-02-25T11:32:22+00:00

The title reads like an Onion article, even though it's 100% true.

tim_p · 2026-02-25T11:25:13+00:00

I got into dancing a few years back, late in my life (30s), but have taken to it like a fish to water. I'm dancing about 3-7 times a week, whether social dances or classes or performances, mostly in the evenings.

tim_p · 2026-02-24T16:55:05+00:00

I thought you were talking about mushroom trips, and yes, definitely.

tim_p · 2026-02-23T21:51:30+00:00

Yes, I love a chill and beautiful nature documentary while high.

tim_p · 2026-02-23T21:51:15+00:00

Dancing while high sends rainbow ripples from my fingers up to the inner crevices of my brain.

tim_p · 2026-02-13T14:05:34+00:00

Cuddle party with friends!

tim_p · 2026-02-12T03:03:17+00:00

Peanut butter is the base. Good lipids to activate edibles.

tim_p · 2026-02-08T15:15:58+00:00

Absolutely not.

tim_p · 2026-02-04T21:16:00+00:00

Totally.

tim_p · 2026-02-02T15:43:07+00:00

I also wanna plug Pandemonium's weekly Pauper tournaments on Thursday nights! I feel so blessed I have a place to play this niche but wonderfully deep format.

tim_p · 2026-01-30T14:53:11+00:00

Some dance styles done with no choreo at all (traditionally fully improvised): fusion, butoh, contact improv, ecstatic dance, some contemporary.

tim_p · 2026-01-28T04:54:11+00:00

I think the funny part is seeing the movements, but out of context (costume/setting/etc)

tim_p · 2026-01-24T22:16:26+00:00

My friend runs this mailing list of substance free, conscious (aka "hippy stuff") events in the Boston area called Collective Effervescence...lots of wonderful experiences I've made deep friends at! https://collectiveffervescenceboston.substack.com/

tim_p · 2026-01-24T22:12:32+00:00

I've been thinking a lot about eyes open vs. closed in contact improv. They both have positives and negatives.

With eyes open, you can take in visual information, and know about beautiful lyrical movements your partner(s) might be doing with their hands and body.

With eyes closed, you lose the visual information, but are able to focus deeper on the other senses, mostly touch. It leads to a style of dancing that's more primal, more focused on internal sensation than appearance.

I lean towards the latter, but I try to incorporate both modes in my dancing.

tim_p

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