So Jason and I trekked to Grinnell, Iowa, this weekend to see John Vanderslice again on this tour. Have you ever been to Iowa? I really hadn't before, and now I realize I've missed nothing. We did get a kick out of the regional gas stations, Kum And Go though. We actually contemplated buying one of their tee shirts which had the slogan "Kum And Go: We Go All Out", but we didn't know where we could wear it without giving people the wrong impression.

We arrived late on Friday night at Grinnell's Country Inn, and awoke the next morning to a lovely view of a farmer spraying a heroic dose of pesticides all over the field behind the hotel. It was about this time I noticed huge welts popping out on my arms and neck, which were made larger and more painful after bathing. This discomfort was further compounded by the fact that the water left a greasy residue that couldn't be rinsed off. It was pretty darn nappy, I must say.

Before the show on Saturday, we ventured out to see what the town was like. The campus was nice - very compact and orderly. And that was about it. There wasn't really much to be seen. I kind of felt bad for these kids...I could definitely relate after living (and dying) in Maryville for years. We spent a good amount of time wandering the campus looking for the show - finally some student took pity on us and led the way. The show ended up being in a downstairs lounge in a building I thought might have been The Union. Upon first glance I was nonplussed. It was super small, with ratty couches, no stage to speak of, etc., but it turned out to be way cooler than initially thought. There was actually a real coffee shop off of the lounge, you could smoke in there, and evidently Grinnell is a wet campus, because all these kids were casually walking in with 40's and bottles of JB. What kind of college experience is this? Not one I had, I say. And let me state for the record, the indie bug has bit something fierce around there. Gotta love that banana Republic "just rolled out of my IKEA bed" look...

The first two bands were local college bands. Oh dear. Dear, dear, dear. I think they heard John was playing last week, and decided to start a band for the hell of it. I know I'm old and snobbish and short on patience, but I don't know if I would have politely suffered through anything like that were John Vanderslice not the light at the end of the tunnel. I noticed he wisely left and went back to the hotel for both sets. And then it was time.

Jason and I were right up front. We were standing behind the "I'm Not Impressed By Anything" couple (who didn't move a tic the whole night), so I made sure I danced all in their space and sang like a banshee into their ears the whole time. I was totally being one of those fans...cheering and clapping and screaming out song titles the whole time, while balancing a cigarette and a camera. Evidently my persistence paid off; after whining about "Me and My 424" the whole set, John finally pointed at me and told me in a stern voice that they were going to play it in a minute. Good thing, too. It was the highlight of the show. Although most of the crowd was so young I could have been their babysitter from birth, they were die hard...singing and dancing (very unlike the Lawrence crowd) in a very supportive manner. It was super fun - I think the audience can make all the difference. And there was this girl - oh man. She had on this shirt that said "If your name is John Vanderslice I will have sex with you tonight". She cornered him after the show. He was so mortified. I heard snipets of a lecture he was giving her that went something like "you don't have to do this...just buy a record...". He spent the rest of the night running away from her, so she started on the rest of the band who seemed a bit repulsed about an 18 year old girl inviting them back to her dorm room. While they are rock stars...they aren't that kind of rock stars. She probably just went back to her room, got drunk, and bonded with her vibrator.

We waited patiently while all the kids swamped John. Being that he's of a gracious upbringing, he talked with everyone who wanted to (and even those who didn't). When our turn came around, he was so excited that we'd driven from Lawrence, I thought he was going to offer to pay for our rental car. He was signing things for us right and left, pumping our hands madly, hopping around like a kid with ADHD and thanking us profusely. I think that if I'd told him how much we really love him around this house he might have had an aneurysm. It's nice that he's like that. I hate that whole jaded indie scene.

So that's about it. It was a lot of fun. Now I just have to see him in his hometown to be complete. Pictures from the show will appear on here when I get around to using the rest of roll of the film.

Song of the day: "Coming and Going on Easy Terms" - John Vanderslice (or should it be "Kumming And Going on Easy Terms"?).

Well, now. I think I would have paid some good money to see this one.

"No passion for Easter Bunny at church show"

The Associated Press
Updated: 9:37 a.m. ET April 08, 2004

GLASSPORT, Pa. - First, the Passion of the Christ. Now, the torment of the Easter Bunny?

It may not have been as gruesome as Mel Gibson’s movie, but many parents and children got upset when a church trying to teach about Jesus’ crucifixion performed an Easter show with actors whipping the Easter bunny and breaking eggs.

People who attended Saturday’s show at Glassport’s memorial stadium quoted performers as saying, “There is no Easter bunny,” and described the show as being a demonstration of how Jesus was crucified.

Melissa Salzmann, who brought her 4-year-old son J.T., said the program was inappropriate for young children. “He was crying and asking me why the bunny was being whipped,” Salzmann said.

Patty Bickerton, the youth minister at Glassport Assembly of God, said the performance wasn’t meant to be offensive. Bickerton portrayed the Easter rabbit and said she tried to act with a tone of irreverence.

“The program was for all ages, not just the kids. We wanted to convey that Easter is not just about the Easter bunny, it is about Jesus Christ,” Bickerton said.

Performers broke eggs meant for an Easter egg hunt and also portrayed a drunken man and a self-mutilating woman, said Jennifer Norelli-Burke, another parent who saw the show in Glassport, a community about 10 miles southeast of Pittsburgh.

“It was very disturbing,” Norelli-Burke said. “I could not believe what I saw. It wasn’t anything I was expecting.”

Song of the day: "Bring the Noise" - Public Enemy and Anthrax.

Now here's a tip: Pop Culture Trivial Pursuit is a lot of fun. As with all Trivial Pursuit games, it can get quite competitive. Thirty minutes into a game people are calling each other "loser" and such. Good times, kids...good times.

I'm back at work. No one seems to understand that I've been gone for a week. This would be the reason why I can't tell anyone what's been going on. If I am asked another question that pertains to said week, I'm just going to start screaming. It's not a hard concept. Everyone knew I was gone. There was a mass email sent out to the entire corporation. I didn't take phone calls or pages. I didn't show up to any meetings or any of my regularly scheduled shifts. We had to draft underage workers from Bangladesh to fill shifts. Even with all of this, people still don't get it. Why am I surprised?

Song of the day: "Army of Me" - Bjork.

I'm on vacation this week. This is the first vacation I've had since I started this job in July. Oh, it's great. What am I doing on this break? Traveling somewhere? No. Having my quarterly clothes shopping spree? No. Writing The Great American Novel? No. I'm doing...

N O T H I N G.

So far I've managed to rent some movies, clean the house, eat chocolate cake, make some mix CD's, listen to a copious amount of Primus and sleep a lot. The pager is off, the door is locked, and I haven't had to fill out a single report or adhere to a schedule of any kind. It's been divine. At the rate I'm going I may have some energy to celebrate this weekend before the fun is all over.

Song of the day: "Today Was a Good Day" - Ice Cube.

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.

This week our Internet Explorer crapped out on us. After much weeping and gnashing of teeth, we realized we didn't need to chuck our computer over a cliff - we could just use the MSN web browser. And then the sucking began. I guess it's better than nothing, or better than getting a new CPU, or better than trying to locate the Internet Explorer program disk (which is probably in a landfill in Maryville, Missouri, unfortunately), but it's pretty lame. There are very few practical features, and I'm sick of looking at that damn butterfly all the time. Please join me in a rousing rendition of John Vanderslice's "Bill Gates Must Die".

British Sea Power will be at The Bottleneck next week. I have to work. I am not happy about this. However, John Vanderslice will be there on the 8th, and I am taking two days off from work to properly enjoy the show. John and I will rock like there's no upcoming election that will determine the state of the free world.

Speaking of elections, this whole gay marriage thing is really heating up, eh? I've never given California much credit; these are the people who brought you Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and Blink 182, but this is rather an important leap into civilized society.

We're finally hooking up with good friends Brian and Steven tonight - for the first time in almost a year. Much celebrating and eating of Italian food will ensue. A good time will be had by all.

Song of the day: "The World In My Eyes" - The Cure (covering Depeche Mode)

Here are some points I've been meaning to make recently:

* Have you heard "Basketball Jones" by Cheech and Chong? Yeah. That's what Jack "Crap Stripes" White sounds like.

* Reservations for dinner on Valentine's Day are always a good idea. I will remember this for future celebrating.

* Being a responsible adult with a house has it's downfalls. Like when you open all the windows to air out the bleach smell after you clean like a banshee, and somehow the wind blows out the pilot light and you have no hot water. No hot water = no showers. Oh, the humanity.

* "Frozen fog" is a new meteorological term. What does that mean? Like if you walk outside you'll be frozen in one position due to the fog enveloping your entire body? I'm not buying it.

* Man, Sepultura kicked some major ass back in the day. You should start listening to them again.

* You see, I have a fetish for bad, bad music. So, in the interest of public disclosure, I have these Mp3's on my computer:

- "Prince Ali" from Aladdin

- "Stigmata Martyr" - Bauhaus

- a lot of Bon Jovi

- "One Night In Bangkok" - Chess

- "Disco Duck" - Rick Dees

- "Gimme That Nut" - Eazy E

- "In the Ghetto" - Elvis Presley

- "The Final Countdown" - Europe

- "Old Man River" - Frank Sinatra

- "Army of Me" - Helmet

- "Big Pimpin' (unplugged, even)" - Jay Z

- "Turbo Lover" - Judas Priest

- "Pass the Dutchie" - Musical Youth

- "She's Like the Wind" - Patrick Swayze (I did not download that, seriously.)

- "Faded" - Soul Decision

- "Orbital B-Bop" - Q-Feel

- "Winds of Change" - The Scorpions

- "Bang a Gong" - T Rex

- "Love Song" - Tesla

- "Courtesy of the Red White and Blue" - Toby Keith

- "If You Could Only See" - Tonic

- "Africa" - Toto

- "Right Now" - Van Halen

- "Too Cold" - Vanilla Ice and Korn

- "Miami" - Will Smith

* It's the fucking weekend. Amen to that.

Song of the day: "Gimme Danger" - The Stooges

Go see "Monster". It's really good.

Song of the day: "Warrior" - Public Image Limited.

Oh hell yes. More recent observations.

* Forecasted winter storms and the panic that ensues have replaced Cold War Fear in the Midwest. Honestly people, it's snow and ice - not something that will destroy life as we know it. (Unless you're a homeless person.)

* So everyone has their panties in a wad over this Super Bowl Janet Jackson breast exposure. Was no one offended by the American flag poncho Kid Rock had on? Let's discuss priorities, shall we?

* I went to my sister's senior night drill team performance last weekend. It was at the half time of a basketball game. Before hand, we walk in and see the Junior ROTC saluting the American flag while saying "Sieg Hiel". Were I not so shocked, I would have enjoyed the parallel between ROTC and the Hitler Youth.

* Here's a fun experiment: Just randomly say "Steve Perry" (Journey) to people of the 70's/80's generation and compile a percentage of how many explode into spontaneous laughter. It will happen more than you think. (Props to Kristy Berry and The Loop for this one.)

* It occurred to me today that when listening to music from my formative years, I don't really get that excited about Pearl Jam. I listened to them with much passion back in the day, but now they seem rather watered down and pedestrian.

* "Tiny Vessels" by Death Cab For Cutie is hands down the saddest song I have ever heard. Just thinking about it, embarrassingly enough, chokes me up. This is rather awkward when I'm in meetings, at gas stations, etc. It's the kind of song that you hope all your ex's hear and then realize you would have written it about them if Ben Gibbard hadn't beat you to it.

* John Kerry is in the lead. Hm.

Song of the day: "Out of the Races..." - The Rapture. God, I love that band. Unnaturally so.

I am here to annouce that I will still be listening to Jet and The Darkness, no matter how much I get made fun of.

Also, I am finally coming to terms with The Dismemberment Plan breaking up.

Finally, I received my "Cellar Door" (John Vanderslice) tee shirt in the mail yesterday. I will sleep in it every night and dream of John...

Songs I can't live without today:

"Get Down Moses" - Joe Strummer and The Mescaleros

"A Small Victory" - Faith No More

"Bleed American" - Jimmy Eat World

"Up Over the Sea" - John Vanderslice

The theme song from "Fraggle Rock"

"Volunteers" - Jefferson Airplane

"Love Rollercoaster" - Ohio Players

"Teenage Heart Attack" - Soledad Brothers

"Burning Down the House" - Talking Heads

"Sister Savior" - The Rapture

"Time of the Season" - The Zombies

"Gin and Juice" - Phish

Today is the 31st anniversary of Roe vs. Wade. I'm sure everyone can probably recite verbatim the lecture I normally give, so I'll spare you this time. Please check out this link for direction on supporting this important right for women. Also, if you would like a precise analysis of the Federal Government's participation in the limitation of these rights, please read this.

Song of the day: "Siren" - Tori Amos.

Today I caught "Furry Happy Monsters Being Glad" on Sesame Street. It ruled.

My continuing obsession with John Vanderslice has been furthered by the kind folks at Love Garden. I was there yesterday bumming around, and asked about the release date for the new Vanderslice album (which is the 20th, by the way), and was rewarded with a promo copy to borrow until the real deal comes out.

(Incidentally, the album title is "Cellar Door", a Donnie Darko reference. Way to go John!)

I am so cool.

And yes, the work is incredible. Preorder it on Barsuk now.

Song of the day: "Up Above the Sea" - John Vanderslice.

Barry Manilow is one of my secret obsessions. I can't get over what a horrible artist he is - I mean, he didn't even write "I Write the Songs". And "Weekend in New England" is the gayest song I have ever heard. Seriously.

Anyway, my sister Whitney also shares this dirty little secret, and for Christmas I got her a Barry Manilow live DVD. We watched it...and oh - what a performer...my favorite parts are when he's singing away, and he'll "spontaneously" get up from the piano and grab the mic and break it down. Amazingly, the piano part still keeps going. He's that talented.

I'm not sure why I'm disclosing all of this. It's just so bad it's good, you know?

Song of the day: "Mandy"- Barry Manilow.

And now it's time for everyone's favorite segment - Recent Observations!

* I was watching some kind of Trinity Broadcasting Network retrospective last night where I found out some very important things:
- Evidently God loves all 800 billion (?) people in China.
- This country disgraced God and our "Founding Fathers" by taking prayer out of school in 1962.
- The Supreme Court is full of godless heathen hypocrites.
- Token African Americans are very important for ratings.
- People in "war torn" Turkey (?) value satellite dishes over food.
- "Love gifts" ensure salvation.
- There's some guy named Jesus that gets misquoted a lot.

* Midwest weather is so weird. It's going to be 65 today, and then it's predicted to snow on Sunday.

* The right click button on our mouse is now defunct. You'd be surprised how much of a hindrance that is.

* Everyone is scrambling to either prove or discredit the viability of Howard Dean as THE Democratic candidate. I fail to see why anyone is bothering - this election was decided the day our country was attacked.

* I have been forced to start using facial moisturizer twice daily based on a shocking discovery of forehead wrinkles the other day. Oh, what a drag it is getting old.

* Willie Nelson has come out with an anti-war song. Better late than never, I suppose.

* According to some gossip I heard last night, our country is pulling all aid and military "guidance" out of Afghanistan, and returning control over to The Taliban or a similar group. I guess the war on terror is going about as well as the war on drugs.

* Midnight Oil was a great band. The fact that the majority of their work was created in the 1980's is all that more inspiring.

Song of the day: "US Forces" - Midnight Oil.