Yes, I'm a Groupie

Went to an amazing concert yesterday at Iota. And since this is my own personal space for making whatever ridiculous pronouncements I wish to, let me say this: The Echoes and Brainfang rock. I adore them, and I am fast on my way to being a groupie.

Now I realize there are only like three people that read this blog, but if by any chance you happen to stumble across this - especially if you live in the DC Metro region - you really must check them out.

'Tis the Season to be Jolly

OK, I just have to say that I freakin' love the middle of December. Screw Chrismukah - I'm talking year-end lists! You know, when critics rank the best music releases of the year. I am basically wallowing in bliss. Today Pitchfork released their "Top 100 Albums of 2005," which I was pleased to note put my dear, dear friend Sufjan at #1, as did Amazon. I also dig the Onion AV Club's method of giving multiple reviewers a chance to publish their own lists instead of trying to compromise on one official ranking. Read, learn, and listen, kids!

Baltimore

Had a great time Sunday spending the day in Baltimore. Thanks to my friend Jan Louis I was able to experience the pleasure of a visit to the Dime Museum, a truly bizarre, creepy, and thus utterly appropriate homage to the dime museum of the late 19th Century and the carnival sideshow of the early 20th. Exhibits ranged from a stuffed two-headed calf to an aligator-woman in a glass case (as our guide said, "Feel free to be skeptical"). Very whacky but fun place - too bad it will be closing at the end of the year.

After a delicious dinner courtesy of Faith's parents, I then went with buddies Faith, Jan Louis, and Ray to the "Miracle on 34th Street" display of shocking Christmas excess on 34th Street in Hampden. It was visual cacophony, but awesome. Back in Los Gatos we had (still have, I guess) a house we always drove past on our way home that was super, super decked out for Christmas - it sometimes included a BMW M3 covered with lights (yuppie Santa's modern sleigh) and a roof lined with lights and programed to do a rippling sequence from top to bottom. That was cool too, but it would have been just another face in the crowd on 34th Street.