sleepy....

I am tired.

This has been a long and weird week - the kind where by Monday I already felt as if I'd worked a full week and it was just uphill from there.

And who woulda guessed I would've liked the Mariah show more than the Strokes show? Perhaps there's something to be said for lowered expectations.

And on that note, here are some upcoming shows I'm excited about:

• The Pogues (Fillmore, 10/9)
• Barbara Manning (Old I, 10/13)
  
• Yo La Tengo (Empire, 10/17)
• Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers (Raley Field, 10/20)
• Be Your Own Pet (The Library, 10/23)
• Matt Pond, PA (Empire 10/24)
• New York Dolls (The Independent, 11/8)
  
• The Damned (Harlow's, 11/15)
• Peaches (Empire, 12/15)

I'd also like to maybe see OK Go on Nov. 3 but I may be out of town and also Tara Jane O'Neil on Nov. 6 at Fools Foundation if I'm not too dead-tired...

This weekend it's Baby Grand (tonight at the Fox & Goose) and the Haints (Saturday night - either at the Fox & Goose or Luna's - I don't know as there's been some confusion over this one).

More than anything I really need to get in some sleep; back-to-back concert reviews really mess with a girl's sleep routine...

Ike-ugh...

Cory doesn't want me to tell you this, but we just spent FOUR hours at Ikea...

FOUR. HOURS. AT. IKEA.

That place? Truly evil.

If it's not the screaming kids then it's their bellowing parents.

If it's not the unhelpful clerks ("oh - it's way up on the top shelf? Then we're 'out-of-stock' until tomorrow morning') then it's the sorority sisters in their pajama bottoms, getting in your way as they do all that cell phone yapping.

If it's not the low, low, low prices, it's the overabundance of things - so many things that your head aches and you can't possibly decide upon which item the clerk will not help you retrieve.

I'm tired now.

And cranky.

Obviously.

Anyway, in addition to IKEA, this is what we've been working on all weekend...

stuff to consider

The new Ben Kweller album comes out Tuesday. You should buy it

Same with The Curtains record that comes out (on Sufjan Stevens' Asthmatic Kitty lable) on Oct. 24.

But skip the My Brightest Diamond disc (also on Asthmatic Kitty). It's pretty pretentious stuff.

Why aren't you watching The Minor Accomplishments of Jackie Woodman? This show is awesome. Like "Entourage" but sometimes even more raw. And sometimes even better.

Finally, Sophie had surgery this week (to, among other things, remove a mysterious, persistant cyst on her forehead).

She's already got her appetite back and seems to be making a full recovery. Plus she's got a punk rock haircut.

Damn, I love this cat....Send her good thoughts, please. She seems to be a cat with more than nine lives, but I don't want to jinx her good luck.

i crush your head!

I don't mean to undermine the seriousness of the situation and all.....but has Saddam Hussein been watching old episodes of Kids in the Hall?

Before and after....

Five years ago today Cory & I started the day in an argument. I left the house early and turned on the radio in the car. Heard something about a plane crashing into one of the twin towers. Thought it was weird. Went to the co-op for coffee where I heard more people talking about it but the details were still fuzzy.

It wasn't until I got in the car and headed to work that I heard about the other tower and realized something was very wrong. I called Cory at him and told him to turn on the TV (the argument was, in effect, over and I cannot, to this day, even begin to remember what the hell we were fighting about.)

These are things I always remember about that day:

• The way I immediately started to mentally divide life into Before and After (for some reason I always think about Kim & I looking at houses the Sunday before - how it was this perfect, pre-fall afternoon with golden sunlight and a cool breeze....)
• Watching countless TV coverage work
• Reading countless news stories and blogs trying to make sense of it
• Having to write a story about the use of blogs
• Ending the day by going to dinner with Cory & Bobby and then later to the True Love Coffeehouse. I think it all made us feel better to be around others.

I suppose I should wax phiosophic about how life has changed and how I've changed but I think that's an intensely private thing and, to be honest, there are still a lot ways that 9/11 affected me that I'm still dealing with.

I think we all are still dealing with it.

Baby ... or alien?

I hate to say this but it almost looks like this child is wearing a wig.

Could it be a baby alien outfitted with a custom-made Tom'n'Katie rug?

No, seriously, after all that,I guess it just looks like, well, a baby.

Boooor-rrring

tonight and ever after...

Baby Grand and the Spiral States
Where: at the Distillery (21st and L).
When: Starts around 10 p.m., I think.
Cost: Not sure...probably $5 or $6 (i.e., cheap!)

In other Labor Day weekend news:

This weekend I have to:

• Work on a story
• Do yard work
• Go to the paint store to pick out a color for the office
• Run a million errands

If I can muddle through all that stuff then:

This weekend i want to:

• Go to the fair (still haven't been this year - I know, shocking!)
• Go to the Crocker before the Escher exhibit closes
• Read / watch a movie
• Sleep! i feel like i'm coming down with a cold or the flu...

Hope you all have a lovely weekend....