Since I had just seen her perform at Lincoln Theatre in May, and everyone at the station knows I鈥檓 an Aimee Mann geek, I was asked if I wanted to go. I may have thought about it for 10 seconds, but then decided it would probably be best to enlist our entertainment reporter, Jason Fraley, to tag along.

Fraley is an actual reporter, so it sounded like a good plan. I could share my memories from following Mann鈥檚 career since she fronted the ’80s band 鈥楾il Tuesday, which topped the charts with straight through her 11 solo albums, her project with Ted Leo performing as The Both, her Oscar-nominated music for the film “Magnolia” (1999) and her most recent album “Mental Illness.”

I know, “Mental Illness”听sounds like an insane name for an album, but Mann — known for writing poignant, sad songs — decided to put away her electric guitar and write the slowest, most depressing album ever, almost as a tongue-in-cheek poke at her critics. The album is an acoustic masterpiece, highlighting her incredible songwriting skills and is worth a purchase, in my own humble opinion.

As the night drew closer, we were notified that we probably would not get an advanced interview with Mann before the show. It happens. Artists have busy schedules. So, Fraley decided to attend a film screening instead and I decided to attend the show solo for yet another Mann concert. I could live with that; however, it should鈥檝e been my first clue that my night was about to spiral out of control.

I got to Rams Head early, not wanting to miss opening act Jonathan Coulton, who’s a funny singer-songwriter in his own right, with a new album, “Solid State,” out on Mann’s record label, SuperEgo. I was given my seat at a stage-side table, which was occupied by three people. I felt awkward crashing their table, as they were eating, drinking wine and having a good time. I apologized and introduced myself, only to learn I鈥檇 be sitting with Mann’s brother and two of his friends, both TV news anchors.

We laughed about 草莓传媒 being denied an interview with Mann, but they were great people and joked around until Coulton took the stage. I commented to one of the women that I鈥檇 seen Coulton perform last month with such comical songs as “Shop Vac,” “Pictures of Cats” and “Your Tattoo.” If you鈥檝e never seen him, you need to; he鈥檚 got some funny, relatable songs that will leave you laughing.

Of course, by the time Coulton took the stage, the air conditioning at Rams Head hadn鈥檛 fully kicked in, so it was a little toasty. Coulton was understandably sweating under the stage lights and joking about it. He asked for a towel to mop the sweat off his face and, since I was sitting right next to the stage, I grabbed a bunch of napkins, walked on stage and handed them to him, to the delight of the audience. 鈥淪ounds like you need these,鈥� I joked, casually interrupting his bit. He laughed, wiped his brow and commented what a great audience we were to help him out with such high-quality napkins.

Finally, Mann took the stage and performed an amazing set of mostly acoustic songs from her deep catalog of music, while Coulton made another appearance to help out on a few songs. Note to the audience: Don鈥檛 clap when Mann talks about the first two lines of her song听“Good for Me.” Turns out, Coulton wrote those lines, so I clapped to show my appreciation for a well-written opening line, only for Mann to stop playing and comically chastise me for clapping for something she didn鈥檛 write.

We all laughed as she started the song over again, but the lyrics — 鈥淲hat a waste of a smoke machine, took the taste of the dopamine and left me high and dry鈥� — are certainly applause worthy, along with all the other songs on the “Mental Illness” album, including my personal favorite,

Her brother then leaned over and asked if I wanted to meet Mann after the show. Who wouldn鈥檛 want to meet someone they鈥檝e followed for over thirty years?!? Just then, a strange thought popped into my head: ‘What if she鈥檚 not nice? What if all my years of listening to her music and thinking she鈥檚 amazing comes crashing down right here tonight?’ Could I handle that? I guess I was about to find out.

We soon walked backstage to a very small dressing room, where the four of us introduced ourselves to Aimee and Jonathan. I sat on Aimee鈥檚 suitcase, as she hugged her brother and we spent the next hour talking about normal things: family, the Netflix documentary “The Keepers,”听and life. It was so natural. I didn鈥檛 ask her about her music or any of the things I thought I鈥檇 ask her about, because she was so, well, normal! Here I was, getting a rare glimpse behind the curtain and I wasn鈥檛 disappointed.

For someone who’s performed in rock bands her whole life, she鈥檚 surprisingly not pretentious. She鈥檚 down to earth, sweet, funny and charming; someone who would fit right into my crazy family at a big holiday dinner — not that such an occurrence will ever happen, but a pleasant surprise nonetheless.

I took a picture with Aimee before leaving for the night (see the photo above), then I said goodbye to her brother and his friends. As I walked back to my car outside Rams Head, I thought about how this night had turned into something I had never expected it would become, but wow, what a crazy night.

Mann is playing next on Friday at in Alexandria, Virginia. I highly recommend that you check her out live in concert. If you can鈥檛 make it, check out her albums. As singer-songwriters go, they don鈥檛 get much better than Aimee, and, as I learned last night, she鈥檚 an awesome person, too.

草莓传媒 Traffic & Weather Operations Director Jim Battagliese is also the author of听听

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WASHINGTON 鈥� Earlier this week, 草莓传媒 Traffic Reporter Bob Marbourg and I were in the 草莓传媒 Traffic Center talking about the blizzard and the effects on the area and one story pointed out just how impatient and dangerous local drivers can be.

I told Bob my experience driving to the station. Someone behind me wanted to turn right onto Rt. 7 and became impatient, with the right turn lane blocked with a mountain of snow. They proceeded to lean on their horn and then went around me and the car in front of me, to make a right turn on red. Of course, as I watched this illegal maneuver unfold in front of me, the light turned green, the car in front of me started to go straight through the intersection and narrowly missed the Honda that didn鈥檛 want to wait for the light to turn green.

Don鈥檛 be this kind of traffic jerk.

Earlier this week, Bob and I both agreed that the . Bob said it on the air during his next traffic report, in the hopes that officials were listening. The problems we could see were many and weren鈥檛 just limited to the District or local roads. On the interstates, lanes would disappear or merge areas were blind because of giant mounds of snow.

We noticed people driving at highway speed on the Capital Beltway or Interstate 66 when their lane would disappear because of the snow and they couldn鈥檛 stop or merge, so they would hit the snow mound and roll over.

That wasn鈥檛 the worst of what we were going to see.

The worst of it came later in the week, when officials didn鈥檛 heed our warning and sent people back to work.

By Wednesday, it was the local roads that were hit hard because the snow removal process wasn鈥檛 fully completed. Neighborhoods were plowed enough for people to venture out to the stores and some decided it was OK to get to work and that created gridlock situations around the area and the angry phone calls started coming in to 草莓传媒鈥檚 Traffic Center.

Motorists expected that they would be able to drive normally on the roads, despite our warnings that the roads were not yet ready for a rush hour. Right and left turn lanes hadn鈥檛 been plowed. Two-lane roads were suddenly squeezed down to a lane or a lane and a half, snarling traffic for miles and, in the process, affecting other nearby roads.

As more people headed out on the roads, what we were afraid would happen, happened.

It was 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, and we were still in the midst of a full blown rush hour. By 1 p.m., it had finally started to ease. Evening rush hour wouldn鈥檛 be any better.

During the entire day Wednesday, we dealt with angry phone calls, asking why we weren鈥檛 talking about their road. We tried to explain it鈥檚 not just your road 鈥� it鈥檚 every road.

This was no longer the normal traffic report about delays on the highways and a few accidents 鈥� there were hourslong backups on Reston Parkway, Norbeck Road, Georgia Avenue, Canal Road, Massachusetts Avenue, River Road, Rt. 123, East-West Highway, Branch Avenue 鈥� and the list went on and on. It didn鈥檛 matter where you were.

Despite the warnings, people were out on the roads and surprised that they couldn鈥檛 go anywhere and didn鈥檛 know why.

There was a snow-removal crew working on the Beltway鈥檚 Outer Loop, near Tyson鈥檚, blocking the left side of the highway, which backed up traffic into Maryland, onto Southbound I-270 to Germantown, which was barely moving. In Montgomery County, a snow removal crew was working on Rt. 29, just inside the Beltway, which tied up Southbound Rt. 29 toward Burtonsville, prompting one caller to scream, 鈥渢hey shouldn鈥檛 be allowed to do this!鈥�

We just had one of the worst blizzards to hit the D.C. area in almost 100 years, yet people couldn鈥檛 understand why life couldn鈥檛 simply snap back to normal.

The 草莓传媒 Traffic Center got reports of some of the worst outbursts of human behavior. Even Bob called someone a 鈥渟elf-entitled jackass鈥� for driving up the shoulder of the Beltway and almost hitting a highway worker trying to clear an accident.

There was anger at the road crews, anger at city or county officials and anger at fellow motorists 鈥� some of it justified, most of it not. I鈥檝e seen people on snow-covered streets playing games of chicken with other motorists because they feel they should have the right of way over the other person.

We just had 2- 3 feet of snow dumped on a region that has a problem when a thunderstorm rolls through. We all need to take a step back and realize that the area needs time to rebound from the Blizzard of 2016.

If you鈥檙e out on the road Thursday, instead of being that person stubbornly playing chicken with another person because you feel you鈥檙e entitled, take a deep breath and when you make eye contact with that other driver, smile and wave instead of flipping them off. Don鈥檛 block the box or be rude to other drivers. Remember, we鈥檙e all trying to get to work or home to see our families.

Maybe, with a little patience and kindness, we can show the rest of the country that D.C. really can function; it鈥檚 just Capitol Hill that鈥檚 dysfunctional 鈥� not the people who call this area home.

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