Preferred B

This makes me really happy for both Nels and Japanese fans.

This is so weird. A "greatest hits" album that's taken from two albums? With two extra tracks.

Weeeee...? ()

And Jen sent me an awesome variety of yummy fruity teas! They live at work, and I'm enjoying them as both morning hot tea and lunch iced tea.

Mine's gonna be about $70 plus tax per month. $75 plus tax if I get a text messaging plan. It's about $30 more than I pay now. It's kind of a shame because I don't even begin to use the minutes I get every month, but I know I'll use the data, so oh well. I ordered my phone today - they estimate it should arrive in about a week.

I know! I promise I found it before I read this. But now I'm feeling guilty, so I'm going to remove my link above. I'd have no use for the plane fare that's part of the prize package, etc. (The photo pass would be cool, though.)

Ha! I actually discovered this today and just added a photo. I'm sure I won't win, but it looked like a fun contest. Mine's not a Wilco shot, though. (Sorry, I didn't mean to steal your thunder, Bri-Bri! Very nice shot.)

I am perfectly happy right now.

I think I have the most in common with your list than any I've seen so far.

Or take it all the way up to Kenosha! You can visit the Jelly Belly Factory. And my parents. (The city really does have a cute lakefront downtown area nowadays, but you'd pass many others like it on the way.) Lou, your advice in here is great. I especially love your hints about the little-known places. Growing up an hour or so away from the city, I've done a lot of the main touristy stuff, but am constantly looking for new hole-in-the-wall eateries, shops, and sites to explore when I have the time.

Happy birthday! You've chosen a lovely day for it. Well done!

Not opening the show, no. The solo set was in the middle. Ish.

I also really enjoyed "Say it to Me Now" unplugged from the front of the stage. Is that something Glen usually does? It sounded great.

I saw the show last night in Madison and thought it was great. Anybody else seen recent shows?

I'm up for this, but I have a rules question - what if you don't want to submit 20? I haven't really started to think through this, but I think maybe after 15 or so my last 5 would be completely arbitrary. Would a top 15 muddy up the results? Because I can do arbitrary.

I wouldn't have known either, but I signed into MySpace for the first time in a couple of weeks and saw that she'd posted a bulletin.

Evangelista was supposed to play here in a couple of weeks when I'm out of town, and I was bummed. But it looks like that was cancelled because of Carla's hand. So I'm not missing it anymore, exactly, except of course I still am.

Nice photos, Maggie! Sounds like you had a great whirlwind week. I'm glad your Montreal plans worked out! I guess this is a good place to say I have a few photos from Madison and Chicago, here.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/c...0,5867380.story

Happy 21st, Rosie.

Happy birthday, Charles!

Plenty! I always loved Eloise Wilkin's illustrations, too, and there's also a lot from her.

Nels is playing a fest in Los Angeles on 9/1, and Glenn and the Kronos Quartet are playing at Ravinia on September 3rd, so European full-band shows around then seem unlikely.

If you were ever a fan of Little Golden Books, you should absolutely pick this one up. I'm loving it - anecdotes about the authors and illustrators as well as the company, and fantastic illustrations from Golden Books through the years.

Thanks to the ticket fairy, I was there too. I hadn't seen R.E.M. since 2003, and I really enjoyed this show. "Find the River" is one of my favorite songs, so it was great to see it again, but the major highlight for me was "Ignoreland." I haven't been keeping up with setlists at all, so I was completely surprised and thrilled when I figured out which song Michael was introducing.