Remote thoughts for a Friday after-evening

Okay, has anyone else heard the newest Black Rebel Motorcycle Club album? It could possibly be one of the most soulful records I've hear in a long time. It seems as if they're channeling Southern spirits of rock full of acoustic and pedal steel and harmonica. Oh boy, it's good.

Learning your old haunt (aka The Bird) no longer serves your "regular" drink, and had to remember how to make it (vodka, triple seq and lemonade - come on!) = downright depressing. After happy hour yesterday, I had to have a piece of malt shoppe pizza to soak up all of the evil inside my belly. I forget how quickly I get drunk now.

Okay - to review some rather old news, the Mike Doughty show almost didn't happen. I remember how much Amber enjoyed the show, but there was always the lingering thought of "oh yeah, I need some cash to buy a ticket...cash that I shouldn't spend." Ugh, I hate that contraction, shouldn't. Then the mighty Jeff Graham brought it back into memory and I went back and forth and back again. I knew I would regret not going, and I'll be damned if I regret anything I do (well, save for Spring Break 1999...maybe). So, off we went. Mike Doughty with upright bass? Pleasantly unexpected. The songs off of "Haughty Melodic" sounded great and he played MY song, Madeline and Nine! Along with a full cover of "Hungry like the Wolf" and a half-cover of "It's Raining Men", there were plenty of songs off of Skittish and another album (I think) that I heard for the first time and loved, including a nice Soul Coughing throwback or two. I danced, I drank PBR and had an awesome time with the boyz.

CMU was fun - good catch up time with some old profs and whatnot. And Ron Smerigan bought his first CMU t-shirt ever! School spirit five years late? Priceless.