Nerf Herder

According to the Chicago Tribune, beards are what's "Hot in 2008."

That's right world.  I take lead, you follow.

Featured Flava

Mike Doughty - The Book of Love

A Magnetic Fields song that Doughty plays only at live shows.

Not Like You Noticed

With the combination of the holidays, a business trip and overall laziness my blogging has been nonexistant.  Let's do a quick summary shall we?

• Went to California for work for a development training "camp" for 9-days.
  
• Went to the suburbs for holiday stuff where I re-chipped my front tooth.
  
• Got said tooth fixed and found out I probably need a root canal.  Awesome.
  
• Blue corn pancakes are fascinating, but I still prefer the good ol' normal kind.
  
• Wilco and Charlie are coming to Chicago for 5 days in February.  Tickets are needed.
  
• Went to the Star Wars exhibit at the museum Friday and it was awesome.  Took some good pictures.
  
• Got a big Christmas tree that has shed pine needles all over the place.
  
• I drink tea all the time these days.

That was the past month in a nutshell.

Doughty Video

A scene from the Mike Doughty Question Jar Show.  Mike answers a couple of questions from the Question Jar and then plays "Ossining."  Video recorded by yours truly.

But She Sho' Like The Bone

Leaving the Red Line some grilled cheese eatin' - phish listenin' - patchouli smellin' - tie dyin' hippie gave me a pamphlet on animal cruelty.  It contained photos and information on animal farms and stressed the importance of the vegan way of life.  Just past the building I saw someone reading this pamphlet while eating a Big Mac.

Visual Irony

Doughtyed

Went to the Mike Doughty show tonight at Schubas.  The simple (comforting even) set up of Mike on acoustic guitar and Scrap on chello was fantastic.  On this tour they've brought along a "question jar" to each show where people are allowed to write down and put questions into said question jar.  I threw a couple in there and they actually answered one of them.  I asked, "On Grey Ghost what do you picture the person listening to on the 'boombox nodding out?"  Mike quickly answered "Highway Stars" by Deep Purple.  Upon coming home and looking up the song right away I'm suspecting that his answer was fubar, nonetheless awesome.

One person asked how much money he made.  He was very hesitant to say, but eventually told us how much he made last year.  Even later he said not to go home and blog about it, so this is me not blogging the actual amount.  It's the least I can do for him putting on a great show.

The photo is of me with my promotional poster in front of Doughty's rental car.  I also have a video of a couple questions being answered followed by "Ossining."

Return of the Boy Bander

While at Borders the other day purusing the music section I noticed a long line of people quickly forming throughout the store.  From where I could see there wasn't anything that obviously showed what the line was for.  I asked one guy working there about it and he said that Lance Bass was in the store doing a book signing for his new book.  I said, "Lance Bass? Hah. That's funny."  The employee replied with a simple "Yeah" that contained a hint of embarassment and disgust in his voice.

On my way out they had arrows made on the floor with duct tape to show everyone where the exit was.  One had "exit" written on it with black marker, another had "Bye Bye Bye."  Clever.

Cuntry Music

I was purusing the music selection at Borders when I came across the latest Toby Keith album.  I sure do hope this guy doesn't expect people to respect him as a musician when he names his album, "Big Dog Daddy."  Man, he sucks.

Monkey Trap?

I saw a homeless guy walking around with a thin piece of rope wrapped around a banana.  Your guess is as good as mine.

Some cool visitors are coming into town this weekend.  Word.

Never Hear It On The Radio

Everyone seems to have a quirk about them that nobody, not even they themselves can explain.  Jill told me about a thing she has with her calf, and my other friend Shannon can only walk on the left side of people.  It got me to thinking what my quirks were.  I approach life in a very logical, much less emotional or spiritual manner, so my strange quirks are limited.  I did think of one however.  In regards to popular music, my initial reaction is to hate, and immediately pass it off as crap.  I don't trust the general public's taste in music (see Fergie) so I can only assume what they like, I hate.  I almost need to be told by a trusted source (music snob friends or cool radio stations) that a song is good.  There's a good possibility I have an insecurity with picking out "good" music.