Celebrity sighting! Well, kinda. I saw The Reverend Horton Heat at Recycled Sounds last weekend. He was hogging the new arrivals bin. I think he and his entourage picked up on the fact that I recognized him (I cleverly told Jason while holding an LP over our faces), and from that point on they kept looking at us expectantly as if we were going to rush him for an autograph or something. I saw him ten years ago. He was ok. I'm not really into that whole rockabilly thing.

I also went to see an exhibit of John Lennon's drawings and hand written lyrics this weekend. Most of them were for sale, and I really wished I had a wad of cash to blow. I've never really been into collecting things, but you have to admit having the lyrics to "Nowhere Man" penned by the man himself would be pretty damn cool. Anyone who has about $700 to donate to this cause can email me.

Song of the day: "Angry White Boy Polka" - Weird Al.

Recent Observations - 99% Accuracy 100% of The Time!

* Have you noticed that no employees at Lens Crafters wear glasses? Is that not strange?

* The world was is quite a bit of disarray this weekend - Red Square was burning, any country you can name that starts with the letter "I" was riddled with suicide bombings, Libya was accusing other countries of having leaked nuclear information, etc. What was on CNN? A report (that I saw 3 times in one hour) about some robot race in California that none of the robots won. Oh, and another report countering the health benefits of soy (I guess although it will help with menopausal hot flashes, it will also increase your propensity for breast cancer). Remember when CNN would have exhaustive coverage of any international SNAFU? Granted, it got a little overwhelming, but at least the viewers were up to speed with information.

* The French swear they've almost captured Osama bin Laden several times. "But I am le tired!"

* I love John Vanderslice so much I have to see him one more time on tour. The last show before San Fran is in Grinnel, Iowa in April. I will be making the pilgrimage. Oh, happy day!

* This one may apply to Lee's Summit High School graduates only, but do you ever really stop to think about how crazy your high school experience was? I spend a lot of time posturing about how when I was a kid we were never as crazy as kids are today (I have sisters in high school - you would not believe some of the stuff that goes on these days), but when I actually stop and think about it, it was pretty bad. Twisted, even.



* Tabla Rasa will be performing at Saturday's march in Kansas City. All former Bearcats in the area should go and support those nice young men.

* Do you need a quick pick-me-up, but your favorite addiction isn't readily available? Try listening to "Float On" by Modest Mouse. That song cheers me up even after I've watched "The 700 Club".

Song of the day: "Joyless, Joyless" - Minus Story

Oh, John Vanderslice was great. Okkervil River played too long and they were weird to boot. Minus Story, a Larry Town band, was surprisingly talented. The crowd was small and relatively well behaved. Now would be a good time to review Observations of Indie Rock Shows, a handy reference guide provided by yours truly.

One point: John Vanderslice is so polite. I was there for sound check (you think I'd miss a chance to see him in the raw?), and he thanked the sound engineers profusely. That's rare. He's very gracious and thoughtful. I'm sure he has his moments, but all in all, a fine gentleman. And he brings The Rock. Oh yeah. It was definitely worth staying up until 2 am.

Song of the day: "Pale Horse" - John Vanderslice.

"Nature is a language...can't you read?"

Today it is rainy and cold...The Smith's Listening Weather as I like to call it. Radiohead, Sigur Ros and The Cure also fit nicely. So queue your CD player, put on a cardigan, smoke a cigarette and look wistfully out the window thinking of days gone by. Scribble furtively in a journal if you want to take it that far. Quote James Joyce. Be pretentious. It's Wednesday, after all...

Song of the day: "Half a Person" - The Smiths.

I saw Mel Gibson's "The Passion of Christ" this weekend. I was hesitant to see it; "Jesus of Nazareth" and the like usually put me into hysterical sobbing jags which are difficult to recover from. I'm not an overtly religious person, but it's moving none the less. Not really the case with this one. I found it arrogant, the accuracy (according to The Gospels) was questionable, and unnecessarily violent. I realize the crucifixion is a gory subject, but the way it was presented was unbelievable. Christ may have been divine, but his body was earthly, and the unending flogging and such that transposed in this interpretation is medically impossible to survive. If the goal was to win over souls, it's not going to happen. The movie dropped you right into Gesthemane, with little background or explanation from that point forward. Were you not familiar with the biblical accounts, you'd have no idea what was happening. Gibson took large dramatic license with many of the events portrayed, and the resurrection was rather like any death scene from the "Star Wars" saga mixed with "Terminator". So yeah, not impressed.