Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers - s/t

God has given me a headache as punishment. I'm not sure why.

We just left the New Pornographers show early. It was really boring. I'm not sure if it was the band, sans Neko Case, or the venue that made it so bad. The Barrymore is a Madison landmark. It is "the" venue in town. It is also the worst place that I have ever seen a show. I've seen some bad shows in some bad venues. Remember that strange movie theatre turned venue in Austin? My high school theater is nicer than the Barrymore. Its set up like your standard theater with the orchestra area as standing room only. That's a lot of seats. You don't need that many seats at a rock venue. They would be fine if they took out the seats downstairs and left the balcony seats. The acoustics are horrible, or the mix was bad. Either way, it didn't sound good. They have these old bouncers roaming the aisles with matching collared shirts. They're kind of pushy. I guess that's their job. They don't really need to be there. The highlight came when this guy walked up to me with his hand outstretched and said, "Hi, I'm Kevin Clark's cousin." Sure enough, it was Max. He came in from Milwaukee. Meredith and I have discussed that we may have considered staying in the midwest had we moved to Milwaukee instead of Madison. I never expected to feel this way about Madison when we decided to move here, but I do. I blame Kevin's family for this. They're such nice people and they're from Wisconsin.

I want to announce that we'll be moving to Austin this summer. I can't do that, because neither of us have jobs in Austin. If only. Was that a good teaser or what?

I got a haircut from a woman from Edinburgh. It was pleasant.

I've been listening to Morningwood a lot lately. They say that they make sexy music for sexy people. Strangely, they're right. I dare you to listen to this album and not get a little amourous. It's not possible. The singer, whatever her name is, is another in that proud tradition of faux-punk sex kittens. They have a fair amount of risque photos of her on the website. Meredith says that they're like the Donnas if the Donnas were good. I say that they are like a blend of the Sahara Hotnights and Imperial Teen.

I'm not going to Jefferson tomorrow. Rejoice.

I think Emily reads this now. That makes two Madison people who I know, plus the random belligerent Madison people who don't like that I dislike Madison. I think they want to win me over with their love.

I miss Austin. Saying that it's a warm winter day there doesn't mean that it's in the upper 30's.

I have a dilemma. If you've read this far, you know that I hate the Barrymore. In two weeks, Ray Davies will be playing there. It's $37.50, but there are seats, not assigned seats, just seats. I didn't like it at the place, but it's Ray Davies. It's fucking Ray Davies. Will I curse myself forever if I don't take this chance to go see Ray Davies. I saw him sing one song live. It was at SXSW and Superdrag was about to cover a Kinks song. Ray Davies came out and sang it with them backing him up. Superdrag was a boring band, but that was awesome. Fucking Ray Davies.

Update: There are many things about the prez that I don't like, but I don't see any real problem with this UAE ports deal. It makes sense in every regard minus political expediency. The UAE isn't somehow going to manipulate things to allow terrorists to attack us. They would lose a lot of money that way. They're just diversifying. Maybe there are good arguments against allowing foreign firms to run our ports, but the way arguments against this particular deal are coming out is simply bullshit protectionist rhetoric.