It's all around you

Nine days in California went by far too quickly. For the most part they were a blur of activity. I did far too many things to do them justice in a single entry, in fact. I'll break this up, then, into two parts. This one is Saturday through Friday; the next one will be the following Saturday. We had a very busy Saturday. Uyen does detailed and reader-friendly show accounts way better than I could ever hope to, so I don't need to worry about the chronicling aspect. That frees me up, then, to ramble at my leisure.

The night I arrived, 4/26, was Jon Brion's last official show at Largo on Fairfax. I joined Paul, Evonne, U, and Heidi - the latter of whom had seen Jon the night before as well. A special show had been announced for the following Friday, which would be the true final JB date, but Saturday was the last show done in Jon's usual manner. I was thrilled as always to hear "Knock Yourself Out" - probably my favorite Jon song. "This is Where I Belong" seemed to have particular significance that night, too. In fact, everything took on a special significance. My last Largo salad! The last time I'd see Mike tease U by calling her over to her table from across the room! The last time the music would be turned up in small increments to almost painfully high levels before the show began! Come to think of it, they could do that at the Coronet too.

Sunday it was back to San Francisco with Uyen, and then Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks on Sunday night. Seeing Malkmus and the Jicks at the Fillmore was an unexpected treat. I guess I technically saw them open for Radiohead once, but that experience was marred by distraction and late arrival, so I barely remember it. I found them thoroughly entertaining this time. Stephen seemed relaxed and engaging, the songs were excellent, and it was nice to see Janet Weiss on drums. I can also understand why Live Nation wanted to brand the Fillmore and deploy it in multiple markets, but having now visited the original I just hate them for it all the more.

Then, work. Palo Alto is very pretty - what I saw of it, anyway. I still swoon a little when I see lots of palm trees, no matter how many times I visit California. I was originally supposed to fly home on Thursday morning. The last-minute confirmation of Jon Brion's final final show on Fairfax for Friday, however, wouldn't stop gnawing at the back of my mind. Far from satisfying me, being back in the Largo world just made me more eager to go again while I still could. I was already in California, after all! Luckily the planning worked out, I took an extra work shift, and found myself at Largo once more for its final weekend on Fairfax with Uyen, Paul, and Evonne.

This is the part where I talk about the show, but there's no way I can do it justice. Mike's variation of his usual speech before the doors opened was an indication of things to come: "No cameras, no cell phones, no crying." Two of those rules would be broken before the night was through. And from the time the first person hit the stage, we could tell it would be a hell of a night. Bobb Bruno, in full costume, played a Jon montage. Dave "Gruber" Allen related the hundred-year history of Largo on Fairfax, involving Jon's great uncle Jelly Roll Brion, and the great immigration of the Finnigan family from Ireland. A "supergroup" consisting of Dave, Griffy, "JB" on bass, and Flanny himself on brass entertained us with music and haikus about red Miatas. The camera ban was lifted just long enough to snap some pictures of the aftermath. Flight of the Conchords took the stage and played two hilarious songs. And all that was just the opener.

The rest of the night was a whirlwind of music, comedy, "magic," roast-style Largo stories, and special guests. Through it all, the significance of this particular Friday was never far from the surface. Jon played right through his usual break between sets. Around 1:30, when Sean and Sara Watkins were onstage with Gabe Wicher, Jon instructed them to play a song while he went to the back and watched. They played "Say Darling Say" and were then joined by Benmont and Paul Bryan for two of Jon's songs, "Trouble" and "Same Mistakes," while Jon remained a spectator near the kitchen doors.

When he returned to the stage as the others left, he remarked that in twelve years he'd never gotten a chance to watch one of the Friday night shows. "And it's pretty fucking great!" As he took up his guitar, Jon introduced the next song. "Flanny just suggested I do this one alone, and I had been thinking of doing it too ... so that shows it signifies something." He proceeded to play "Waterloo Sunset;" just Jon and the guitar on the old Largo stage, in the familiar room, dark with its islands of candle light on each little table, silent except for the clinking of glasses and bottles from the staff at the bar. And as I idly glanced down at my watch, I saw with a jolt that it was a little past 2:00 a.m. And I realized, oh fuck, this was really it.

But it wasn't; not quite. As the final note of "Waterloo Sunset" faded away, the applause began. People stood up, the din swelled, and Jon put down his guitar and attempted to collect himself for some final words. I wish I could remember more of what he said, but what I really remember is how he said it. It was a short speech; choked and emotional and sometimes hard to understand through the tears. It was about how much this place meant to everyone. Jon left the stage and headed back through the kitchen doors, and the audience kept up the standing ovation as "Don't Dream It's Over" by Crowded House played over the house speakers. Soon Jon emerged, dragging a stilll-weeping Flanny out from the back, and pushing him toward the stage. They embraced, Flanny picked up a guitar, and Jon sat at the piano, remarking that we would be so pissed at Flanagan after this for never having played it before. A spare, gorgeous "All is Full of Love" followed, with Flanny on vocals. And that was really it.

But it wasn't the last time I'd set foot in Largo on Fairfax. As I said, we had a very busy Saturday.

Work hard, play hard

I'm currently in the middle of a whirlwind week in California. (I hadn't realized quite how fitting the last blog entry's subject would be for this entry, too.) By the time Sunday rolls around, I'll have been in and out of Los Angeles twice, and also briefly in San Diego. I'm based in San Francisco/Palo Alto during the week.

Already accomplished: Farmer's Market, Pinkberry and Tuttimelon, Jon Brion's last Saturday night at Largo, wandering around U's neighborhood in SF, my first Fillmore show (Malkmus!)

To be accomplished by Sunday: Jon's last Friday night at Largo, more Pinkberry (I'm just hoping here, although now I do know there are worthy substitutes), Britt Daniel, and more!

Oh yeah, there's also the middle portion of this, which involves 60 hours of work. Mostly at night. Sleep keeps asking me why I hate it so much.

They're finally up

All of my Australia and New Zealand trip photos, that is.


Feel free to take a look if you've got some time to kill. That's got to be the most photos I've ever sorted through - and hard as it may be to believe, I did actually weed out some duplicates and bad shots. Some.

Oh great ocean, oh great sea

I crossed the Pacific for the second time just five days ago, and still don't know if I've really had time to process the big adventure. However, time, tide, and basement shows wait for no man ... as the saying goes. I think I'd better get this done before the weekend.

On one of our last days in Auckland, Paul and I were discussing our answers to the question, "What was your favorite thing?" I protested that I hate questions like that, while Paul argued that even so, it's kind of a pussy move not to give some sort of answer. (Paraphrasing mine.) So, here's some sort of answer.

The beaches in Sydney, the cliff walk from Bondi to Bronte, and swimming in the Bronte rock pool. Looking up at the sky at the end of our walk back from a late dinner in Te Anau, actually exclaiming "Holy shit!" and stopping in my tracks because I couldn't believe how many stars I could see and how dazzling they were. We even tried to take pictures of them with our point and shoot digital cameras. We knew they wouldn't turn out, but we had to try. The beaches near Whitianga - Cathedral Cove and Hot Water Beach. Realizing that when they say "hot water" they are not kidding. Belting out "Six Months in a Leaky Boat" at a Split Enz concert in their home country, along with an arena full of bouncing Kiwis. Giving a kangaroo a drink of water at a farm outside Melbourne, and seeing the penguins come in later on Phillip Island. Spending the night on a little boat with eight wonderful people on Doubtful Sound, which is numbingly gorgeous. That's true of Fiordland in general. Your jaw is on the ground for a few hours, and then it's as if you just can't process it anymore. (Actual quote from Paul a few hours into our cruise: "Ugh, all my pictures are just going to be waterfalls and rainbows.") Visiting One Tree Hill, about which I once wrote an English class essay.

I'm proud of many things about the trip, too. Proud that I survived a month of travel and even managed to duck the overweight baggage charges on domestic flights in NZ. Proud that we planned and booked this entire trip from the ground up back in January, and our choices were overwhelmingly good ones. Proud of driving the winding mountain roads between Auckland and Whitianga on my first day in New Zealand, most of the Southern Scenic Route and Milford Road later on, and actually passing other cars on the road by the drive to Queenstown. Proud that I bungy jumped with no hesitation whatsoever. (Interestingly, although it was a very cool experience, for some reason bungy is not one of the things that stands out most in my memories of the trip.)


Other things I learned in Australia and New Zealand:

• You never know who you'll bump into on the street or in an airport. Just one example: Paul and I attended a bone carving workshop in Christchurch with two other people. Nine days later I spotted them waiting at the gate at the Auckland Airport - we were on the same flight from Auckland to Los Angeles.
  
  
• Whitcoulls: they're everywhere!
  
  
• Not that Heidi didn't tip us off, but New Zealand dairy products are far superior to ours. And I live in Wisconsin.
  
  
• People in Southland pronounce the "i" in words like "fifty" or "bit" in a unique way. Fush and chups!
  
  
• I could have explored the lanes and alleys of Melbourne for at least another two weeks. Also, eaten at a different awesome-looking place at every meal for two weeks and still barely made it off my street.
  
  
• People in Australia and New Zealand are serious about their coffee, and they do it well. They made me into a coffee drinker for a month. I never drink coffee in the U.S., but I was averaging at least one flat white per day.
  
  
• Sheep are awesome. Galloping sheep are awesomer.
  
  
• Children and teens in Wellington are crazy for skateboarding.
  
  
• You can buy the Best of Split Enz CD at virtually any petrol station in NZ.
  
  
• If I could bring any bird back from extinction, it would totally be the giant moa.
  
  

My trip by the numbers:

Planes, beginning with my flight from O'Hare: 17
CDs I bought: 1
Books I bought: 5
Shirts I bought: 9
--For myself: 7
Promotional concert posters I nicked: 2
Kilograms my suitcase weighed at the end of the trip: 29
Times we heard a random Split Enz or Crowded House song in a store, restaurant, or on the radio: 7+
Pavlovas I ate in NZ: 2
Times Paul or I randomly said the word "peninsula" with a NZ/Sean Connery accent: 50+
Times since I got home that I've been walking along and veered to the left instead of the right when faced with oncoming traffic: 5+
Pictures I took (including duplicates and duds): 1739

And here is a sheep sticking out its tongue:

Not quite

I should have been back in Chicago by now, but instead I find myself on one last unscheduled night of the trip - in Los Angeles at the LAX Hilton, to be specific. My flight out of Auckland was delayed for about an hour and a half - which was just enough to make me miss my connection. And everything on American Airlines was booked for the rest of the day. Therefore, I'm here until 6:00 a.m. Part of me is like, "Good God, I'm still not home?" But another part of me is appreciating the unexpected half day of solo decompression time between the big trip and real life. An afternoon in a cushy isolation chamber could be worse spent, I suppose.

Plus, thanks to the International Date Line, I haven't even caught up with the part of Saturday I already lived through. My goal is to be in bed asleep before I left Auckland.

Actual trip summation and rumination coming. At some point.

Back in Auckland

Tomorrow - well, today, technically - is my last full day in NZ. I can hardly believe it. You mean I have to go back to real life soon? What is that again?

On Wednesday morning I awoke on a small boat on Doubtful Sound in Fiordland. Later that afternoon I was jumping from a 43-meter bridge in Queenstown. That's an interesting juxtaposition for you.

Sunrise on Doubtful Sound:



I jumped off of this:

Wow from Te Anau

Posting here from the floor of the TV room at the Lakeview Holiday Park in Te Anau, our first internet access in a couple of days. You find yourself saying "wow" a lot when walking and driving around the South Island of New Zealand. We're here at the gateway to Fiordland now, and the wows show no sign of slowing. My pictures from the past couple of days are still on the camera, but here are two from Wellington. Mount Victoria, by the way? A bit of a taxing climb up to the lookout.

Totem on Mt. Victoria:


Flat white, with a heart:

Easter at Cathedral Cove

Thought it was appropriate.

Approved

Just before Christmas, I got some exciting news at work. My month abroad was officially approved (as you see above in a detail view of my official certificate.) Yes, ladies and gentlemen, come March I am bound for the land Down Under. Accompanying me for most of the odyssey will be Paul, and I'm not without hope that one or two other stragglers might be able to join in for part of the fun.

The flurry of planning a month-long trip to Australia and New Zealand - 25 days, to be exact - has just begun to die down. Paul and I have put in days upon days of research on flights, hotels, activities, and more. Although every second of our trip isn't planned out, I think we have a pretty good itinerary cooked up. In fact, we probably have enough ideas to happily occupy two or three months. I don't want to "spoil" our plans for you, because you can expect updates and photos along the way - but I can reveal that I personally booked nine separate flights for myself, so we'll be covering plenty of territory. On a not-unrelated note, we will also be spending a truly impressive amount of money ... but I figure that if ever there's a time to cut corners, this would not be that time.

Part of me still can't believe I'm really going to do this - and that it's happening so soon. I mean, two months from today, I will be - (checking calendar) - in Sydney. Hot damn. Unless something totally unforeseen happens to me, like being kidnapped by bandits.

(By the way, Part 2 of the Coblog is now up at Allison's site. Check it out!)

Tallies for 2007

And now for a tradition that is entering its second year. Here is the list of books I read in 2007, followed by some statistics:

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn - Betty Smith
The Thirteenth Tale - Diane Setterfield
In Cold Blood - Truman Capote
Mountain Man Dance Moves: The McSweeney's Book of Lists - various
Running with Scissors - Augusten Burroughs
For One More Day - Mitch Albom
The Secret History - Donna Tartt
Cage of Stars - Jacquelyn Mitchard
Leaving Mother Lake - Yang Erche Namu & Christine Mathieu
Wisconsin 24/7 - Rick Smolan & David Elliot Cohen
Alternadad - Neal Pollack
Love is a Mix Tape - Rob Sheffield
1001 Ideas for Color and Paint - Emma Callery
Historic Homes of America - Ernest Wood
Bill Bryson's African Diary - Bill Bryson
Ellis Island: Ghosts of Freedom - David Wilkes
On The Wealth of Nations - PJ O'Rourke
I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings - Maya Angelou
The Fortress of Solitude - Jonathan Lethem
Forever in Blue: The Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood - Ann Brashares
Slaughterhouse-Five - Kurt Vonnegut
Not a Genuine Black Man - Brian Copeland
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone - J.K. Rowling
The Children in Room E4 - Susan Eaton
IV - Chuck Klosterman
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - J.K. Rowling
Divisadero - Michael Ondaatje
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - J.K. Rowling
The Island of Lost Maps: A True Story of Cartographic Crime - Miles Harvey
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - J.K. Rowling
The Body Artist - Don DeLillo
After the Quake - Haruki Murakami
One Sunday Morning - Amy Ephron
Reading Lolita in Tehran - Azar Nafisi
The Cabin Faced West - Jean Fritz
Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War - Tony Horwitz
Disney's Winnie the Pooh: A Celebration of the Silly Old Bear - Christopher Finch
Poster Child: A Memoir - Emily Rapp
Da Vinci's Kitchen: A Secret History of Italian Cuisine - Dave DeWitt
Gravity's Arc: The Story of Gravity, from Aristotle to Einstein and Beyond - David Darling
The Tiger in the Attic - Edith Milton
Becky's Christmas - Tasha Tudor
Still Life with Woodpecker - Tom Robbins
The Curse of Ravenscourt: a Samantha Mystery - Sarah Masters Buckey
Shadows on Society Hill: an Addy Mystery - Evelyn Coleman
The United States of Arugula: How We Became a Gourmet Nation - David Kamp
Midnight in Lonesome Hollow: a Kit Mystery - Kathleen Ernst
Sala's Gift: My Mother's Holocaust Story - Ann Kirschner
A Spy on the Home Front: A Molly Mystery - Alison Hart
Jesus Land - Julia Scheeres
Away - Amy Bloom
Peril at King's Creek: a Felicity Mystery - Elizabeth McDavid Jones
Tests of Time - William H. Gass
Silent to the Bone - E.L. Konigsburg
The Little Friend - Donna Tartt
A Spy on the Home Front: A Molly Mystery - Sarah Masters Buckey
The True and Amazing Adventures of the Hunt Sisters - Elisabeth Robinson
Songs Without Words - Ann Packer
The Tenth Muse: My Life in Food - Judith Jones
Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain - Oliver Sacks
A Little House Christmas Treasury - Laura Ingalls Wilder
Eat, Pray, Love - Elizabeth Gilbert
The Child in Time - Ian McEwan
Snowbound with Betsy - Carolyn Haywood
The Christmases We Used to Know - Reminisce Books
Betsy's Winterhouse - Carolyn Haywood
Betsy and Billy - Carolyn Haywood
Back to School with Betsy - Carolyn Haywood
Betsy's Little Star - Carolyn Haywood
My Year of Meats - Ruth L. Ozeki
The 1927 Sears & Roebuck Catalog
The Stolen Sapphire: A Samantha Mystery - Sarah Masters Buckey
Betsy and the Boys - Carolyn Haywood
Betsy and the Circus - Carolyn Haywood
Betsy's Busy Summer - Carolyn Haywood

Total books read: 77

Nonfiction books: 32 (42%)
Fiction books: 45 (58%)

By female authors: 47 (61%)
By male authors: 27 (35%)
By both: 3 (4%)

Marketed for children/teens: 26 (34%)

Read previously: 16 (21%)

You should definitely read:
The Child in Time by Ian McEwan. It was a book that made me miss my days of studying literature in a classroom setting, because upon finishing I itched to go back and take notes on themes and motifs and things. I started out unsure of how the threads in the story would tie together, but ended up impressed by the way they did.

You also should definitely read I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou, but I figure I might have been the last person who hadn't already read it.

You absolutely should not read:
On the off chance you checked out my list of books and thought, "Hey, I should read some of those American Girls mysteries!" ... really, not so much. I mean, they're fine if you're nine years old. If you're not, I'd only recommend them if you need some palate-cleansing fluffy reading material featuring characters you first met when you were nine years old. And even then, the Carolyn Haywood books are a much better use of your time.

Overall, my 2007 reading stats are quite similar to those from 2006. I need to bust out with some crazy trends in 2008! Or, you know, just keep reading what I clearly enjoy reading.

Because I like lists and stats, here are some more for 2007.

Total concerts attended: 46, counting each day of multi-day events (like Hardly Strictly Bluegrass) separately

Seen the most often: Wilco, Andrew Bird, Jon Brion

Performers seen for the first time (headlining): 5 (Scott Amendola Band, Badly Drawn Boy, Joseph Arthur, Arcade Fire, Crowded House)

Performers seen for the first time (support or festival): 15+ (Carrie Rodriguez, Ferraby Lionheart, Jon Rauhouse, My Brightest Diamond, Low, Chris Mills, Blue Mountain, Liam Finn, Richard Swift, Art Brut, Dr. Dog, Buddy Miller, Emmylou Harris, Doc Watson, Kim and Kelley Deal, and many more)

Performers for whom I am a repeat customer: at least 20 (it gets hard to count with festivals)


Foreign countries visited: 1 (Mexico)
Foreign countries visited for the first time: 1 (Mexico)

States visited (for work, fun, or both): 17 (Illinois, Texas, New Mexico, Washington, Iowa, Florida, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Vermont, California, Colorado, Minnesota, Missouri, Kansas, Nevada)

States visited for the first time: 4 (New Mexico, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont)


Homes purchased: 1

I expect to surpass at least two of those totals in 2008. Though probably not "homes purchased."

A week in California (and Nevada)

Last week I was in Sacramento for work. Despite the long shifts it was actually a good time - dinner every night with coworkers, including lots of sushi and a fantastic Italian meal to finish out the week. On Friday I had some time to actually explore the city during daylight hours, and walked my way from Capitol Park to Old Sacramento, and back to Midtown and some cool little shops. I found a used copy of a CD I've been hunting for at least two years, history-geeked out over the old time-y buildings in Old Sacramento, and raced around trying to refill my meter every couple of hours before it expired. (I was always too late, but managed to avoid a ticket nonetheless.)


Soon Uyen arrived and it was off to Tahoe for Maudie's birthday weekend. I adored Tahoe. It was a perfect (for me) mix of campy "rustic" shops, restaurants, and hotels, swanky spas and boutiques, casinos that are, mmm, a notch or two below their Vegas counterparts ... and, in the background, this magnificent natural beauty everywhere. It was the type of place that made me feel nostalgic for childhood family vacations, despite the fact that I'd never been there on a family vacation. We made the most of our time in Tahoe: swimming, being pampered in spas, gambling (I won!), working out (a little), eating (a lot), watching girly movies, and just hanging out in our palatial suite at the Timber Lodge enjoying the scenery and the company. I hope Maudie has a birthday in Tahoe every year, and I hope I'm lucky enough to be invited. At the very least, another big blowout in 2017!


On Sunday evening, Uyen and I returned to San Francisco by way of Napa. We had a fantastic dinner at Ad Hoc in Yountville. As if the food weren't enough, we had a couple of celebrity sightings: Thomas Keller (chef and owner extraordinaire) was sitting at a table when we first arrived, and later Reese Witherspoon and Jake Gyllenhaal came in for a late dinner. I hope they enjoyed the meal as much as we did - I love letting the chef decide what I'm going to eat.


Monday I flew back home in the late afternoon, but beforehand I was able to squeeze in a nice walk down to the beach and the Presidio. Technically I wasn't supposed to be near the beach, as a sign indicated when I got down far enough. I had forgotten about the recent oil spill, and cleanup efforts were underway. But, not being an abider, I walked a little further anyway. I'm glad I did, because I got a great (if slightly hazy) view of the Golden Gate Bridge. After returning to U's apartment via Geary Street, she was kind enough to shuttle me to the airport. Is it wrong that I'm already trying to figure out when I can make my next trip to California? Nothing wrong with five or six times in a year, right?

How he rolls

This is the traditional way to celebrate one's 30th birthday at the Getty Center, I hear. After a delicious lunch at Pizzeria Mozza, that is.



Happy 30th, Paul!

Where I would go

A few weeks ago I solicited suggestions for countries to visit abroad. I've done some additional research since then, paging through many guidebooks, visiting websites, and pricing flights. In the end, though, the final contenders have emerged based on a gut feeling. When I think about visiting these places, I feel energized and excited. So, I think it's come down to:

Greece (and maybe Italy)


or

New Zealand (and maybe Australia)



My heart truly lies with Greece and Italy - I'm dying to visit both, especially Greece. At the same time, the diversity and all there is to do and see in New Zealand really appeals to me. Cities, glaciers, mountains, beaches ... and I feel like I'm much less likely to do a trip there independent of this month-long odyssey. I need to make a final decision at least four months ahead of time, which means if I choose New Zealand I have to make it official around the middle of October. I also need to decide if I'm going to divide my time between two countries (spending at least 12 days in each) or just go for a full month in one. Also, who can take (ideally) a month off to go with me? I know there's no shortage of people who would love to do so, but when it comes down to it, the logistics are not easy. I'd love to take my mom, especially if I decide on Greece and Italy. But part of me kind of wonders if either of us could take that much intense mother-daughter time, especially in a foreign country. Also, she's not going to go hiking or kayaking or bungy jumping with me. (I could go bungy jumping. You never know.)

Where would you go?

It's probably not news to anybody that I love to travel, and try to do so frequently. I've been lucky enough to visit some fascinating places over the past seven years or so, both in this country and outside of it. Soon, however, if all goes according to plan, I'll have a unique opportunity to get to know a new place - or places - for the first time.

If you had a month to spend in any country or combination of countries, anywhere in the world, where would you go? For me it needs to be somewhere I've never been, but obviously I'm looking for input about countries where other people have been. Money is a consideration, but I have a pretty generous budget to work with. I'm also interested in opportunities to work with a charity abroad.

I've already received suggestions ranging from France to South Africa, but I want to get as many recommendations as possible. Do you know how many countries there are in this world that I haven't visited? A whole lot.

(By the way, I get to bring a guest.)

What I did on my summer vacation

Well, what I did on one of my summer vacations. I'm not finished with this summer yet. Here is a handy bulleted list of some trip highlights and accompanying photos:

• Saw a great Wilco show at the Warsaw in Brooklyn. To pick one show of those I've seen recently, this was probably my favorite. The Warsaw is small, locally owned, and oozes quirky charm - from the paintings on either side of the stage to the pierogies and blintzes for sale in the back. The crowd was loudly enthusiastic, and the band trotted out a handful of rarer songs that were truly a treat. One was even an all-time first for me - and when you've seen as many Wilco concerts as I have over the years, that's really saying something. I don't expect the band to change things up too much from show to show - I could happily watch the three-guitar interplay in "Impossible Germany" or Nels and Jeff facing off at the end of "Handshake Drugs" or Glenn going crazy on the drums during "Via Chicago" a hundred times. If that weren't true, I wouldn't go. But unexpected songs thrown into the mix can really make an evening. In any case, seeing the same band play multiple shows on a given tour, one becomes a connoisseur of nuances. To those familiar with my love of detail, it should be no surprise that I take great pleasure in this. At the Warsaw, I enjoyed the following: the loud singalong during "Either Way" that made Jeff grin in appreciation, the guitar duel at the end of "Hoodoo Voodoo," singing "Happy Birthday" to Matrix, Jeff pretending he wasn't going to run at the end of "Hummingbird," Glenn wearing a rhinestone bling $ necklace and saluting the macrame owl, and pogoing with the rest of the crew in front during "Outtasite."
  
  
• Went to the best museum ever, in Shelburne, Vermont. It's a museum of Americana comprising many historical buildings (the round barn, an old general store, a lighthouse), collections (paintings, sleighs, chandeliers, Shaker furniture) and random things that are awesome (an opulent train car, a carousel, the steamship Ticonderoga.) All of these are located among little roads and paths on the picturesque museum grounds, and all are open for exploration and in many cases interaction. Really great stuff. I would have died if I'd visited this place as a kid. (Consider that Allison and I once tried to recreate a general store in my basement after a school field trip to the Historical Society. I think I still have some wooden candies we made to put in a jar.)
  
  
• Drove twice in NYC - only after 2:00 a.m., but it still counts! I also drove in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Connecticut. Given the scale of New England, that's not as impressive as it sounds.
  
  
• Spent a couple of obscenely hot and humid days in Boston, walking the previously discussed Freedom Trail, eating at the oldest continuously-operating restaurant in the U.S., wandering around Harvard, seeing a concert, and hanging out with Dave and friends at the B-Side Lounge.
  
  
• Stayed at hotels only twice over nine nights, due to the fabulous and generous Mart, Patti, Paul, and Kelly. Mart and Patti went way above and beyond the call of duty, plying us with Ralph's Italian Ices and Mendoker's donuts during our brief sojourn.
  
  
• Learned to imitate the hoot of the barred owl at the zoo in Florence, MA. Well, to be completely honest, nobody ever verified that Sooz and I were doing it correctly. But we sound so damned owl-like, y'all don't even know.
  
  
• Ate some delicious Thai food at Sripraphai in Queens, though their "medium" hot is probably something I won't be opting for next time. I mean, it was still delicious; it just made my lips burn and every once in awhile I'd get a mouthful that would be kind of lethal. I also found out I'm a fan of palm seeds in syrup.
  
  
• Became a member of Paul's all-girl band, the Foolish Nuns.
  
  
• Walked around Lake Champlain in Burlington, gazing at the Adirondacks in the distance, and almost fell off the end of a floating pier. Not because I didn't watch where I was going, but because, damn, those things really bounce around. The view was worth it, though. The water was ridiculously blue that day.
  
  
• Met, in Boston, someone who went to UW Madison and lived in the same dorm I did, though not at the same time (he noticed I was wearing my old Chadbourne shirt) and was introduced to someone from Racine in Vermont (when he asked where I'd lived in Ktown, and I told him, he actually knew what I was talking about!)
  
  
• Watched a guy juggle flaming torches, on a unicycle, on a tightrope.
  

I can't wait until next time!

Points east

That's a lovely bridge in Northampton, Massachusetts. Today I spent the day in Brooklyn for the first time, and I'm a big fan. Not that I dislike Manhattan, but Brooklyn is more my style. I saw a concert at the Warsaw (more on that later) and it was hot, sweaty, and really fun. Heading north tomorrow.

Fort Myers

Another week, another trip for work. I've been in Fort Myers for the past couple of days, working night shifts this time. The weather here in SW Florida has been (shocker) hot and muggy, although the ER is freezing. There's a nice pool in the hotel courtyard though. At least one advantage of working nights is that I can wake up around 2:00 p.m. and have some afternoon time free before going to work.

You'd think I might have made a similar seafood-only vow to my Pacific Northwest vow earlier this month. As it turns out, though, with the night schedule food options are pretty limited. I am bound for East Coast vacation fun starting tomorrow afternoon - plenty of seafood and shenanigans to follow. (Seafood and Shenanigans - the name of my future restaurant.)

Tacoma

The ghost of Mount Rainier, as seen from my hotel room window in Tacoma. Another business trip, full of twelve hour workdays in a lively ER. Fortunately, so far, also full of good seafood and gorgeous weather. I have to work over the weekend, but I have a free day Monday. Methinks I will be paying another visit to the EMP in Seattle. I wish I had enough time to make a trip up to Vancouver, too.

West Texas ... snowflakes?

And ice pellets, and sleet, and freezing raindrops, if the weather reports are accurate. So, I'm headed to Texas this weekend. Guess what it's supposed to do in El Paso and Midland on Saturday and probably Sunday night and Monday? SNOW! I honestly didn't know it did that in West Texas. I thought maybe I just didn't know what I was talking about, but I checked online and the El Paso tourism site says that winter average temps are 55-60, and the city only gets something like 8 inches of rain per year. So how do we wind up with sleet and snow and a bunch of driving to do? I don't know. I do know that I'm prepared to have an utterly miserable weekend. But hopefully the kind of miserable that just becomes really hilarious at some point. I figure I'll expect the worst (I'm having visions of canceled flights, for example) because that way if it doesn't suck, I'll be pleasantly surprised. And if it does, well, I ... win because I predicted it? Hmm. Well, at any rate, barring the whole canceled flight scenario, I'll be hanging out with friends. Actually, no matter what, I should be seeing Paul in Chicago. Wish me luck!

Let's have a ball

I had a great birthday weekend. Friday U joined me, piloting The Boat. We both managed to get some work done (her way more than me) and also Ate-a-Pita. Then Maudie and Trish arrived (yay!) and eventually we headed to Largo for my Jon Brion birthday show. We had enough people to fill both of our tables for four. I looked over the new menu items, but I'm still all about the Largo salad. Ditching an old standard dinner choice at Largo can be fraught with peril.

Jill Sobule opened for Jon, accompanied on most of her songs by Greg Leisz on pedal steel. It was my first time seeing either of them, and I wouldn't mind doing so again. Jon came on around the usual time - freshly back from England, according to Flanagan - and proceeded to play for about three hours without a break between sets. Happy birthday to me, indeed. U is, of course, the JB setlist queen, but I can mention some random highlights. Very early in the set, Jon gave us a little crash course and demonstration of all of his pedals and what they do, which I loved. I'm astoundingly clueless when it comes to gear, and Jon's nice, succinct summations of each pedal's function ("This one takes a sound this big and adds something this big down here") were very informative.

The first half of the set was, I believe, pretty much Jon's own stuff. I particularly adored the harmonica and toy piano (celeste?) version of "Knock Yourself Out". Then for the second half, Greg Leisz came back out on pedal steel, and Benmont Tench was called out to play piano. I was so happy to see Benmont. Favorite Benmont moments of the night: his solo during "I Don't Hurt Anymore"? Maybe? I can't remember now for sure, but I do know that I had a stupid grin on my face the whole time. Also, the part during another song (damn, I'm bad at this) when he started throwing some little celeste accents in along with his standard piano work. In the covers department, there was a lovely rendition of "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue", and a healthy dose of Beatles covers, including a sort of guitar riff medley by Jon. I also thoroughly enjoyed "Gigantic".

After the show, as we were leaving the club, we noticed a commotion a few doors down that was preventing us from walking to our car. "Hey, that ho-bag in pink. That's Paris Hilton," U said with a touch of horror. The ho-bag in pink stalked into a club, and we were able to pass.

Saturday's weather was absolutely gorgeous. We brunched at Hugo's, and then headed to the Getty Center. I thought the Getty was great: awesome views, impressive architecture, beautiful gardens, interesting water features, and of course, art. For free. I had no idea what special exhibitions were going on until we arrived, but one turned out to be paintings of Caspar David Friedrich and Gerhard Richter. Gerhard Richter is one of my favorite painters, so I was extremely pleased. There were also some excellent photography exhibitions. After an hour or two of art, we grabbed some drinks and spent a long time soaking up the perfect weather on a grassy slope overlooking the gardens. Children tossed paper airplanes and had rolling contests down the hill. I chose not to dwell on the fact that I'd be back in the Wisconsin winter the next day.

Saturday night, after some Persian/Irish ice cream, we saw ASSSSCAT at the UCB Theatre. Jello Biafra was the guest monologist, and he was fairly entertaining, if also fairly self-important. The improv was very funny. (I'm limbering up for the Second City marathon next month.) We finished up the night at an excellent cafe in Los Feliz, on Evonne's recommendation. Trish's friends joined us, and we hung around until closing time.

And then on Sunday I came back here and it was 40 degrees. The end!