Yesterday morning, education secretary Arne Duncan was reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar to a bunch of preschoolers.

Yesterday evening, he was rocking it out with Neko Case. He shrugged off the business-like suit and tie—and we hope, words like “dramatically better” and “incent"—in favor of jeans and a night on the town at the 9:30 club in D.C.

In fact, he even got to introduce country soul singer Case, as many blogs are reporting.

The link between Duncan and Case is Tim Tuten, an ex-Chicago Public Schools communications official, and Chicago music venue owner, who is coming to D.C. to work for Duncan.

According to folks inside the club, Duncan got a lot of cheers, and talked up teaching as a career. Case did her part, giving props to Duncan and encouraging the audience (mostly 20- and 30-somethings) to consider teaching and tutoring.

What we wouldn’t give for a photo.

UPDATE: Photos courtesy Ed.gov Blog.

UPDATE 2: Check out Duncan’s 9:30 Club appearance in the video below. And he does use one of his favorite words—"dramatically.”