Dude, if I had wanted 90°+ temperatures and 80% humidity, I could have stayed in Florida.

Anyway, this is a request for advice from you good people out there. hobbitgrrl and I are going tomorrow to that Hedgpeth thing. I haven't gone to a big music fest of this type before, so I was wondering what tips y'all might have for maximizing enjoyment and minimizing discomfort. Just any suggestions at all for dealing with the huge crowds, the chaos, the heat, whatever. (Those of you who survived last year's Lollapalooza In Hell are especially encouraged to comment. Sadly, there will be no CTA cooling buses at this event.)

I doubt we'll get close enough to get any good pictures or anything of that sort; honestly, I think the most exciting possible result of the day would be for me simply to be able to return and report that I didn't die of heatstroke. Wish us luck!

Thank you again dear friends for all the lovely birthday wishes yesterday! To celebrate my special day I 1) skipped work; 2) ate sushi (mm, toro); 3) knitted a scarf; and 4) sat around. Pretty nice. And then today I took a short workday and am currently trying to figure out if there's some way to get me and hobbitgrrl onto the VIP list for that Hedgpeth Festival thing...

Okay okay so, those of us going to see Doughty on Tuesday should organize. What time should we meet? It looks like the last time I went to the Taste, I didn't actually get there until after 1pm, and we didn't get into line until after that, but we still got into the seated area.

So...1 works for me, although as usual I'm willing to go earlier. Then I was thinking, since we'll probably all be coming from different directions, whoever gets there first calls the others and then we just look for that person in the line and gather together? How do people feel about this plan? Critiques and suggestions are welcome.

Mike Doughty fans in the Chicago area, that is.

So anyway, he's scheduled to play the Taste next Tuesday—who's thinking of braving the crowds to see him? hobbitgrrl and I had discussed this a bit already, actually—I believe we decided if it's not blazing hot we'd probably go. As of now the weather report is looking favorable; the show is free; and you don't even have to show up that early to get a spot in the seated area, so I'm thinking I'm gonna do it—anybody want to join me?

Okey-doke, my trip to the zoo yesterday was quite successful. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that they've dropped the membership fee to $40 (from $50), and the lady also gave me an extra free parking pass, and then we went to the Big Cat House and got to witness the tiger and the lion yelling at each other, which was probably the highlight of the visit.

So, I now have tickets for the TMBG show for leahrosmerta and psyknife. The member discount price was $18 even, and it appears that anyone who has a member ticket may enter the park 15 minutes before non-members if one so desires. Let me know if you want me to mail your ticket or otherwise get it to you before the show date, or else we can just meet there on the day. (leahrosmerta, we'll probably see each other sometime before then anyway.)

I also asked where in the zoo exactly the show would take place, and was told they set up the stage near the flamingo pond. Then it's just sit on the grass or whatever you want to do. I hope the animals in the park enjoy the music...

Heh, that Dick Button is such a snippy old bitch. Speaking of which, ( I got tagged. )

( Confidential to hobbitgrrl and leahrosmerta. )

And, uh, I'm thinking of growing my hair out a bit. Because I'm too lazy to cut it.

EDIT: Ha! Wasting no time, Sasha Cohen falls on her very first jump. That's classic.

Check out my new icon: Hello Kitty's father is a rabbi! Or so I infer based on this image, which was printed on the back of the package of Hello Kitty strawberry Pocky I picked up recently.

Now, for hobbitgrrl and leahrosmerta, ( some Tweedy-related stuff. )

In other news, wallacecat cleaned some of our wood flooring with furniture polish, so now part of the hallway is extremely slippery. And you might think that a cat would nonetheless be too nimble to slip on a polished floor. To which I respond: until you've seen a cat slip on the floor and fall on his ass, you don't know what comedy is.

Whew! Thanks to wallacecat, who spotted a poster on campus this morning and emailed me about it right away, after a few struggles with various websites I've now managed to buy 4 tickets to Jeff Tweedy's upcoming solo show at the U of C. Naturally I'm holding one for leahrosmerta (unless she tells me otherwise)...anybody else interested?

This will have to do as an update for now...I haven't been too active here recently but I do have some comments I've been meaning to dole out. See y'all again soon.

Yay, Billy Bragg is finally coming back to Chicago! It has been many (well, more than 2) years since I last got to watch him play his songs and rant about politics in between.

CVB last night was awesome, as expected. I'll write more later, but my pictures (all 6 of them, one of which is irretrievably blurry) are now up here. I have a scan of my hard-won setlist up too.

Okay, Mates of State at the Metro on April 6...anybody want to come with? Ticket presale just started. And Sleater-Kinney better not schedule a show here on the same night like they did last time!