i'm not actually responding to flax's post about his (warranted) excitement at the release of a new ben folds album, because i can appreciate the excitement.

but i'd like to reflect, instead, how lucky i am to be a fan of the greatest songwriter in the history of the world, and how lucky i was to be around for the final six years of guided by voices, the greatest rock band this fine world has produced.

flax writes - again, it's warranted - that "21 new songs in four years is nothing to sniff at."

and i think this is admirable, and mostly accurate.

and then i'd like to point out 1999, my first full year as a gbv/pollard fan:
january: kid marine - 15 songs
may: lexo and the leapers ep - 6 songs
may: nightwalker ep - 9 songs
july: teenage f.b.i singles (various european issuings) - three b-sides
august: do the collapse - 15 songs
november: speak kindly of your volunteer fire department - 15 pure classics

now, i'll admit that this crop was generally fairly week - although speak kindly is one of the top four or five full lengths in the discography - but it's notable that this amount of songs was out.

and, of course, during 1999 i believe i saw the band at least four times - austin in march, chicago in august, st. louis in november, chicago in december. and while the geekiness factor is in full effec, the fact is that they managed to hit chicago twice in four months.

other stretches:
1996: under the bushes under the stars - 22 songs
not in my airforce - 22 songs
official ironman rally song single - three more b-sides
sunfish holy breakfast "ep" - 11 songs
1997: mag earwhig! - 21 songs
bulldog skin ep - 2 b-sides
i am a tree ep - 3 b-sides
tonics and twisted chasers "fan club only" (but not really) release - 22 songs

and i'm sure there are more i've forgotten...the tigerbomb ep, perhaps plantations of pale pink.

certainly, my love for the guy was perhaps over the top, but, god, he sure was great.

as for ben folds, reinhold is my favorite...i've got whatever, and i downloaded then deleted (i use about a three-month waiting period - buy or delete) rockin' the suburbs.

my computer just fired on without a problem. i'm bringing it on the road with me, although i'll also be bringing a phillips screwdriver, and my contact information for dell tech support.

i'll also be bringing 24 season two.

the best part? i'm anal about receipts...i've got two months' worth to finally input into my file. i'm a pud-and-a-half.

- - - - - - - -
ate dinner with my parents, and the intern, and the grandparents, and the visiting broadcaster (one of my top 20 people in the world) and his number two guy tonight. almost 3 hours at the restaurant, and all generally interesting.

the highlight? calling around to find a place. the port's odd...they'll pack the new place until there's a newer place.

we called local texas-themed steakhouse chain number one: busy signal, several times. finally we got through. wait for a party of eight? four hours!

then we called local texas themed steakhouse chain two: no busy signal. wait? about 20 minutes.

ha!

as an aside: does anybody actually wait four hours for dinner? no.