and I'm back.

I'll go from most recent to least recent.

this has been my busiest week of offseason work ever. eight assemblies with qca youth over the past four days, with 280 miles driven. by far the most well-behaved group of children i've witnessed attend washington elementary in muscatine, iowa --- they wouldn't even yell when prompted. stunning.
mostly for gurs' benefit, i'll also post a picture of a recent assembly, a photo taken at cardinal elementary in maquoketa, iowa. [view it here. dig the way rookie and i work the crowd.]

to sunday. watched the super bowl at the boss' house, a very pleasant experience. rather than pay tribute to his alma mater, northwestern university, during abc's [bitchin'] starting lineup segment, oakland middle linebacker napoleon harris paid tribute to his hometown of dixmoor, illinois, listing his college as "dixmoor university." uproar in evanston, to the point where the daily northwestern has written an article about it, published [egregious headline-editing error and all] here.

friday and saturday brought back-to-back guided by voices shows, always an experience. after pre-show boozing with jim, a-c, mike, gurs, the boy and a host of others, we proceeded to metro. the show was bad by gbv standards, possibly because the new songs don't have great live energy. the crowd seemed to be in hibernation, as gurs, a-c, myself and some guy stylishly dressed in a tight black shirt were the only people that seemed to be truly into it. the band neglected to play shocker in gloomtown.
the boy said he'd go to another gbv show with me. i'm hopeful that they'd be better that time.

saturday marked an appearance at nevin's live in evanston, sponsored by northwestern a&o. nemo and i managed to sell our two extras at break-even prices [i would later find out that the show was $10 for the public, $5 if purchased by students], and we proceeded inside. a better show on saturday, for sure. the band was tight until the alcohol kicked in. alcohol is of course a standard part of the gbv experience, but it got in the way on saturday. bob pollard forgot more words than usual, and between-song banter, while sometimes funny, slowed momentum tremendously.

i should note that it is amazing how much material mr. pollard has recorded. i counted at least 18 separate releases that songs were culled from on saturday. sadly, nemo was either (a) not feeling well, as he said or (b)not digging the show, so he left early, thereby missing highlights cut-out witch, don't stop now, and game of pricks. opener swearing at motorists ruled.

this site will be mostly unupdated this weekend, as i head to minneapolis to work at TwinsFest. should be fun, but i'm not looking forward to returning home from a weekend of work sunday at 11, only to go back to work monday at 9.

in chicago, and looking to experience an avant-garde film/theater/musical experience? northwestern med school's production of lube is for you.